Posts Tagged "premium"

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

The Mission L is Skoda’s newest concept, and one that follows closely on the heels of Geneva’s Vision D in both design and philosophy. The new Skoda logo features prominently on the hood of the car, anchoring a very smoothed-over interpretation of the now familiar “new look” DRG. The crisp angles and carved volumes border on the simplistic, but overall create a feeling of elegance and subtlety that should be a strong seller, but risks very much losing Skoda’s core market of families looking for practical, easy, and affordable transportation.

The interior is classic VW group, with high-gloss white accents on the IP accenting a beige version of  VW’s famous soft-touch interior, and very refined and subtly textured seats rounding out the design.

Although the first impression of this car is one of borderline blandness, the Audi-referencing feature lines and taught surfaces say that this look is Skoda’s fight to push upmarket, and the interior materials and colors put the car squarely in VW territory. How those two “budget premium” brands will live together in the future is not completely clear.

Posted by Drew Meehan