Posts Tagged "renault"

 

It’s easy to be completely engrossed by the cars at the motorshow. Clearly, they should be the number one priority but, increasingly, stand design is important too, not only influencing how the cars themselves are perceived, but as a way of communicating brand values. Here are a few of my favourites stand details from this year:

Joe Simpson

VW’s Bulli is an exceptionally well-executed piece of design, evoking a spirit of a by-gone era. It’s especially impressive to see VW’s modern twist on the petrol pump with this electric charging unit that stands alongside the car, topped with a vast VW roundel. The petrol pump and station has formed such a strong part of the automotive-inspired architecture of the last century that it’d be sad to think we will lose that with the onset of the electric car. VW shows it needn’t be so…

Continuing the propulsion theme, Porsche chose to show what (isn’t technically) their oldest car, but one that makes a good story all the same. The first hybrid vehicle ever built, stood proudly on Porsche’s stand next to the company’s newest hybrid, the Panamera. Though many observers seemed to prefer its looks to those of the more modern car…

Seat showed off a simple, eye-catching way to display their range of colours, in this circle of mirrors. It’s not a new idea, but the bright and bold Seat palette was more notable for being somewhat more visually arresting than the IBx concept that can be seen behind…

Volvo’s accessories and stand displays often impress, and Geneva 2011 proved no different. Showing the company’s exterior colour range as a display of ‘jeans cut-outs’ made for a sweet and original display in the corner of the Volvo booth…

Audi is a master of stand design. This is a detail shot from the accessory range for the A1. Is it just us or is that checker-pattern reminiscent of fashion brand Burberry?

Elsewhere, the company’s quattro ice-block might be familiar to those who’ve visited an Audi stand before, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive…

We thought one Vision ConnectedDrive concept would have been enough, but BMW brought two Geneva 2011, fixing one to the wall of their stand. The display features a screen that rolls open or shut, depending on what aspect of the car’s technological aspects is being demonstrated…

We featured it in a previous post, but couldn’t resist sneaking in that half of a Renault 4 display again

…by cutting it in half. In its lime green paint, fixed to the wall of the Renault stand, this 4L struck an arresting visual image as you made your way up the stairs between halls one and two. And as Renault ‘drives the change’, we suspect there’s still much the company can take in inspiration from this innovative small car.

Joe Simpson

As many of you will no doubt know, Laurens van den Acker’s mission for his tenure of Renault design is to make people fall in love with the brand again. The DeZir (Z24) concept from last year’s Paris show was the first of six design steps to ensure this.

However, Laurens has gone one step further than most by also displaying his passion through his footwear. His ‘Z24 LOVE’ three-stripes are certainly eye-catching and with the new Captur and R-Space concepts making such a great impression, we may be ordering a pair too.

Owen Ready

Judging by the design chatter, Renault’s two concepts are stars of the show. While most seem particularly taken with the Captur concept, a Crossover SUV rumored to be foreshadowing a Clio crossover sometime next year, the R-Space showcases some interesting design cues in a small MPV package.

Rear ‘seating’ area

On the inside, the rear seating area is a beautifully abstract cubist arrangement (apologies for the art-based contradiction in terms), which sharply contrasts with the modern front seating and dashboard layout featuring lots of white leather, aluminium, and long sweeping curves.

Front seat area

This contrast is meant to epitomize the differences in viewpoint between children and their parents, and as as a way of summing up the third in Renault’s circle-of-life stages, ‘family’, it works very well. It also more accurately reflects a growing trend at Renault towards strong graphics in unexpected places.

These graphics as design elements reach to the exterior of the car as well, with those same long sweeping curves of the interior cutting a swathe across the side of the car, creating the rear door shut line and a unique DLO at the same time. This use of looping curves continues across the now familiar ‘new’ Renault DRG, as well as through the door sills, the lighting details, and accent materials.

Although the Captur is perhaps the more refined concept from a form and development standpoint, the unique use of strong graphic elements on the R-Space seem likely to be showing up on Renault vehicles in the near future.

Andrew Meehan and Joe Simpson

Do two examples of a design approach constitute a trend? Perhaps not, but we were struck by the conspicuous use of carbon fibre in many of the concept cars shown in Geneva, and what this appears to be allowing in terms of roof design.

Notably, the Mini Rocketman and Renault Captur both employ an approach which sees the normal transverse placement of strengthening members between a, b or c pillars replaced by a star-like format, with the cross-members meeting in the middle. On the Mini, they form elements of the traditional Union Jack flag roof, in the Renault, the elements twist back into a central spine that runs back through the car.

Joe Simpson