Ford’s Evos introduces the catchily-titled ‘Kinetic 2.0′ design language, stepping off from what the company has been hinting at recently with the Start and Vertrek.

The overall vehicle fails to startle in the way that many of the concepts in Frankfurt do, but what’s most interesting about it is the ‘premiumization’ of Ford’s design language. It might not be exciting, but there’s a lot of Aston Martin tones in the haunch and shoulder line. More pertinently, the new and more aggressive DRG is – we’re told – close to what we’ll see on the next Mondeo.

If this is true, Ford is intent on moving its DRG closer to the the premium brands, with its future cars. Blue collar premium anyone?

 Posted by Joe Simpson

Back at the Geneva motor show, we were subtly impressed with Laurens van den Acker’s custom Adidas tennis shoes that paid homage to the DeZir concept. Fast forward to Frankfurt and yet another pair of custom three-stripes have been rolled out. Suitably finished in three shades of green, the ‘Z27 Work’ shoes are a worthy successor to the red items he sported back in March.

Posted by John O’Brien

Posted by John O’Brien

The new Fiat Panda has caused a bit of a stir here in Frankfurt. There’s a split view on the exterior design. Some designers we’ve spoken to have bemoaned the loss of the pure, utilitarian form of the previous generation car. Others, however, think it’s an intelligent update, one that brings a more high quality feel without sacrificing any of the last car’s charm.

One thing they all agree on is the impressiveness of the interior design. The Panda is the most obvious example in car design today of taking a theme, the squircle (a slightly rounded-edge square or squashed circle) and simply running with it. Nowhere is this more evident than in the interior, which is an absolute joy to behold by small car standards. The squircle shape is everywhere – it forms the door pull, the HVAC controls, the gauge pack instrument surrounds, even the seat height adjustor.

You get in and just smile. That’s before you notice little details – like the plastic grain on the door tops, whose graining actually spells out Panda in miniature.

The VW Up may have taken small car quality, in a Germanic sense, to a new level, but the Panda shows that the Italians can still teach the world a thing or too about how you do small cars on a budget. Bravo!

Posted by Joe Simpson

Amidst the furor of the new 991 launch was a small reminder of the origins of the car. Neatly  juxtaposed against a series of new blue and silver 911s was an elegant and effortlessly cool 1963 Typ901. There may have been a rush to see the latest 911, but it was the car launched at this motor show 48 years ago that stopped me in my tracks.

Posted by John O’Brien

We’re not entirely sure whose idea this was, but the Jaguar ‘growler’ adorning the DRG of the C-X16 appears to be wearing some sort of sunglasses. Cool cat? Not quite…

Posted by John O’Brien

Posted by John O’Brien

Posted by John O’Brien

Posted by John O’Brien

Posted by John O’Brien