In the absence of all-new concepts or production models to show – most were eco variants of existing models – the most interesting talking point on the Mercedes stand at Paris was the fifth in the brand’s thoughtful sculpture series.

Called “Aesthetics S” the sculpture is more of a wall fresco – only 140mm deep – with a few carefully raised feature lines hinting at the profile of the new S-Class. Onto this surface, a slick video is projected to show how the brand’s heritage in large limousines – from the 1950s Adenauer right up to the current W221 – relates to the new shape through clever morphing from blueprint-style digital lines one moment to fire and water storms flowing over the silhouette the next.

Head of advanced design Steffen Kohl told Car Design News: “it’s fibre glass underneath with a white carbon and marble effect almost like ivory. We didn’t want something that would appear shiny.” Kohl also revealed that Mercedes has a plan to make an exhibition of all these sculptures at some point in the future, when a critical mass of them has been created.

Tucked away in a viewing booth on the Paris stand it has less chance to have an impact than the large and physical three-dimensionality of the Aesthetics 2 sculpture say, but Kohl said the new sculpture’s video aspect made it perfect to be aired on You Tube for impact beyond just showgoers.

Again, it’s a unusual way to create interest in future product without taking the predictable production teaser concept approach and is becoming a unique and sophisticated brand identifier for Mercedes. More please.

By Guy Bird

Motorshow stands can be dull, generic and often harshly lit places so coming across the subtle soft light-filled Renault space was a visual relief to the retinas. Hanging from the ceiling are hundreds of slightly squashed, almost ovoid, large light globes that emit various soft shades of yellow, orange, red and pink.

Bathing the cars below – mainly versions of the smart new Clio – in this warm glow, the whole stand took on an even more magical air when the globe lights started bobbing gently up and down like colourful balls on some invisible dark sea.

Got a sneaky feeling the lights are blown glass by the esteemed British designer Jasper Morrison for Flos – which is a sophisticated choice – but if indeed they are, I hope for Renault’s sake in the current economic climate, the brand managed to negotiate a good fleet discount on the overall price (or only hired them for the duration of the show) as those Flos lights don’t come cheap, running to more than a few hundred euros each!

By Guy Bird

The new, 4th generation Range Rover unveiled in Paris is quite exceptional in many regards. We know it will perform peerlessly and it has to work in new markets, for customers who demand an ever greater level of luxury and refinement. We know it will do all of these things with aplomb. And generally, this is a very well executed piece of design. The detailing, for instance, instantly links it with Evoque and also brings the car up to date. The old car was looking a little tired in this respect. Meanwhile, the belt line has remained mercifully flat, the face is softer, yet still well-resolved and recognisably Range Rover. While the lower feature line gives the car a degree of balance and harmony – even if we aren’t fans, taste-wise of the chrome highlight it creates – which is particularly apparent on the darker-hued cars.

Yet there’s a fundamental proportional change here. The car is sportier. It ‘leans back’ further. The rear overhang is much more obvious. And you sit ever-so-slightly lower – that classic low belt line, relative to your body in the car, is less apparent. To us, that up-rightness, the last vestiges of utilitarianism in the design and the beltline relationship were core to what made Range Rover. They may be tiny things and they may have only been reduced slightly, but we’ve a nagging sense that the regal, really overt British-ness of the last car, has got slightly lost. Blame the Range Rover’s status as a massive export vehicle – one that will sell in greater abundance in Shanghai and LA, than it will in its home market. It’s still a good piece of design, but make no mistake, there’s more than a subtle-shift to this Range Rover’s design than the pictures might first suggest.

By Joe Simpson

Lexus’s recent show cars have all been “must see to appreciate” models, and the LF-CC that Lexus brought to Paris is no exception. Covered in unique and complex surfaces, folds, and creases, this preview of the upcoming IS brings something new to the table in a show where following the leader seems to be the norm.

Of particular interest are the details around the headlamps and tail lamps, where the traditional cut lines are turned on their heads, instead resembling folded paper that overlap and cut each other to create new and interesting interactions. The tail lamps themselves are a fascinating criss-cross of light that liven up the entire rear end of the car and extend all the way down into the rear wheel arch cut.

Although perhaps not an entirely successful design, especially the enormous “spindle” grille and extremely odd headlamp treatment, there is a lot to admire in the attention to detail of this concept that will give a big bump to Lexus design if successfully translated into production.

Drew Meehan

The Opel Adam and Renault Clio might not seem like comparable cars on first acquaintance, but the differences and similarities make for an interesting comparison. Opel is clearly hoping to take some of the 500/Mini/A1/DS3 market with the Adam (as an aside, from a UK perspective it seems distinctly odd for a car to have a man’s Christian name, which we wonder about in terms of an impact on sales – let us know your perspective in the comments). Following the Citroen DS3, which itself followed the Mini/Fiat 500 template, the Adam is smaller than a Corsa but likely to sell for more – model-against-model – thanks to an extensive set of personalization options.

The tick-boxes for ‘premium’ small car personalization are all present: wild array of body colours, different coloured mirrors, roof and wheels. Extensive chrome accents, full width, interchangeable IP in various colours and an ability to add numerous personalization ‘bolt ons’ – including via the touchscreen which works with your mobile – mean most Adams will be unique for each customer. Yet the Adam is proportionally un-distinct. It appears, at first sight to simply be a collection of elements from the existing premium small car collective of Mini, 500, DS3 and A1. And – presuming its price is pitched higher than the Corsa (or is with personalization options) – who is going to buy one, instead of a Mini or DS3? We’re struggling to get our heads around that, particularly given the Adam’s a seeming clone of an idea Citroen cloned from Mini, 3 years ago.

The Clio on the other hand, is – on the face of it – a very mainstream, normal B-segment. But its 5-door only format broadens its appeal to families and older people, while the hidden rear door handle and sculpted body side gives it a good dose of ‘could be a 3-door if you half shut your eyes’. Critically though, you can personalize the Clio with a range of stick-on-graphics, it too comes in wild colours, the upper IP pad can change colour, as can the door cards and seats. Add an array of chrome-meets-gloss interior elements (such as the vent surrounds and door fillets) and Apps via the R-Link touchscreen system and suddenly the Clio is a lot more personalizable than it might first appear.

The Opel is overt, where the Renault is subtle. But the Opel feels like a car behind its time – it appeal to a very specific market, but they already have a lot of choice, and tend to value brand above much else – something Opel/Vauxhall may struggle with. Three years ago we’d have celebrated it, but now it brings little new to the party. It’s not bad, it’s just that we can’t see how it’ll be the profit leader that Opel so desperately needs it to be. The Clio might not be perfect, but for two companies deep in the financial mire, we reckon that the Clio might actually be the cleverer of the two pieces of design/marketing. What do you think?

by Joe Simpson

We live in a world of micro-niches. The Mini Paceman perhaps illustrates that most effectively. A blown-up, outsize variant of a car that was initially conceived to be the most efficient automotive form of packing possible, engorged into some West Coast-targetting automotive bauble and presented as a (distinctly un-packaging efficient) Coupe/SUV crossover.

One would think that, given the exploitation of the niche, we’d be celerbrating the variety of different conceptual formats on show. And yet, looking around Paris, what appears to be happening at a macro level, is convergence.

Everyone appears to need a B-sector sized (or based) SUV/Crossover. B-sized hatchbacks must have a touchscreen to compete. Lexus is playing with some interesting surface language, but ultimately just chasing Audi and its successful ability to hit the ‘sweetspot’ in every segment in which it competes. Likewise Jaguar – whose roll out of a ‘long-needed’ coupe is cause for celebration – ultimately, simply shoots calculatingly between Cayman and 911 and wraps things up in a saccharine sweet, pretty but largely predictable coupe body.

The cars that define – or once defined – their segments: Range Rover, Golf, Clio and Mondeo – present new versions that in the most parts, are simply subtle evolutions of their previous incarnations. 10% better every which way, but nothing more than predictable.

In the midst of this we wonder whether the ‘different by design’ philosophy is dead? A decade ago, Renault was in its wheelhouse of flamboyant, anachronistic design – Megane II, Avantime and Vel Satis leading the wooing customers in some markets, repulsing them in others. BMW was undergoing a surface-based design revolution under Bangle, which challenged even the most avant-garde-leaning customers. And we were treated to cars like the Mazda RX8 – a conceptually unique rear-drive Coupe, whose rotary engine brought packaging advantages that meant four, adult-sized seats fitted in a coupe body style and which then threw in suicide doors for good measure. Today, the Megane is dull, the Avantime and Vel Satis dead, BMW is becalmed – chastened even with the sensible, front wheel drive Concept Tourer, while the RX8 is no more – its rotary engine consigned to the bin thanks to regulations.

There are perfectly good, financial, environmental and hard-nosed business-logic reasons for all of this. But from a design perspective – and especially when we look beyond the superficiality of exterior graphics, details and surfaces – there is little to excite, spark the imagination or truly challenge. Even Lamborghinis are predictable, lacking the shock factor they once had. In a crisis, it seems, no one can afford to create a car which risks challenging – and therefore ultimately failing – in its market. But we can’t help but hope that somebody, somewhere soon takes a risk – and remembers that conceptually innovating can often be the fastest way out of the abyss.

Joe Simpson

This morning, Wolfgang Egger unveiled the VW Group’s only concept for the Paris show, the Crosslane Coupe. The compact 2-door SUV concept is clearly a preview for an upcoming Q2, but, more importantly, it showcases a new design language and DRG for Audi SUVs to come.

According to Egger, the current Audi style, which has been honed for several generations of vehicles now and has become ubiquitous on the roads the world over, needed a change. That change has come in the form of a new “sculpted” approach which Egger claims is the logical next step in Audi’s design evolution. The headlamps and DRG are chiseled out of a solid form rather than being graphics laid over a smooth volume, and results in an aggressive, chunky, almost brutalist front end.

The car as a whole is an exercise in precision however. Not a single line or surface is out of place or unresolved, and the concept feels production ready. According to Egger, this DRG, with massive integrated polished grill surround, bold logo surround, and new vertical LED lamps, will become the face of Audi’s “sports SUVs”, with a different variation used for each of the A, S, and family Q lines.

On the interior, brightly colored leather and integrated structural components complete the look and also indicate a willingness by Audi to change the game, just as others finally threaten to catch up.

While we’re still digesting the new look, it’s good to see Audi moving their design forward and not resting on their laurels. It may be an angry new face for Audi, but at least it’s not a tired one.

Drew Meehan

Of course this isn’t really the first time we’ve seen the Ford Mondeo – we saw its stateside twin, the Fusion back in January in Detroit. Interesting to see it in Paris in Euro spec. Most mainstream media is running with the ‘Aston Martin for the masses’ headline thanks to its outline grille. Do doubt Ford is glad of this as it distracts from the fact that the Mondusion (Fusdeo?) is in fact an Audi emulator. Who isn’t currently?

If imitation is the highest form of flattery then the guys in Ingolstadt will be beetroot red.

Its DRL signature is a kink shy of the A6′s, the hatchback’s profile a facsimile of the A7 and the lower mask treatment strikingly similar to the outgoing A3.

Unfortunately the quality of these pre-production cars spoils the illusion. Huge panel gaps (you can actually see into the engine bay on one of the show cars) and poor interior quality (console bin lids stuck open, sharp trim edges) just aren’t good enough. I for one remember the previous generation Mondeo being leagues ahead in terms of perceived quality. It’s little wonder Ford has drafted in Amko Leenarts – the man responsible for turning around Peugeot’s interiors – as its new Director of Global Interiors Design Strategy.

Ford was, at one time, a company very much leading the gaggle in terms of design direction, but the Mondeo feels disappointing in its lack of clear identity.

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Carbon, copper, dot matrix displays. The Onyx is yet another strong concept from Peugeot. Video with lead exterior Sandeep Bhambra coming soon.

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