Design

Legendary car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro is responsible for cars ranging from the curvaceous Maserati Ghibli sports car to the futuristic DeLorean DMC-12 to the everyman's VW Golf hatchback. 

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Today's post on a school for car designers got me reminiscing -- I, very briefly, wanted to be a car designer.

Volkswagen has taken a surplus of criticism for moving away from physical controls to run with touch controls in recent years and has vowed to remedy the situation. We’re now getting a glimpse of what that looks like with the updated ID.3 Neo.

BMW has officially confirmed that it will be discontinuing the all-electric iX SUV for the United States. However, this apparently doesn’t represent the brand pulling away from EVs. The BMW iX instead looks to have paved the way for new models that will be part of the brand’s aspirations to further normalize electrified models.

Stellantis enjoys a long history of compelling vehicle designs and of nurturing the designers that produce them. The company’s expanding that legacy with its 2026 Drive for Design Junior contest for kids from kindergarten to ninth grade.

Jaguar Land Rover needs a new design boss after the departure of Gerry McGovern.

Last December, headlines blared across the automotive media landscape that Jaguar Land Rover had fired its Chief Creative Officer and longtime design leader, Gerry McGovern. However, no one would confirm it — until now.

What happens if you remove all the rules? For a designer, that means total creative freedom. Forget budgets or practicality. Throughout history, concepts have pushed the boundaries and questioned the blueprint of what makes a car a car.

So, what happens when designers are allowed to do whatever they want?

Perhaps you've heard the term "manspreading". It refers to when a man seated on a busy subway car spreads his legs so wide that it makes it difficult to sit next to him. Well, now we have "carspreading", thanks to the BBC.

Reports indicate that Jaguar let go of its chief designer, Gerry McGovern.

Assuming these reports are true, who should replace him?

Jaguar is really reeling right now.

LOS ANGELES -- Hyundai has gotten weird at the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show, thanks to the Hyundai Crater Concept.

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To paraphrase the late, great Charlton Heston, you can pry my Apple CarPlay from my cold, dead hands.

OK, fine, that's a bit extreme. But given GM's seeming desire to replace CarPlay with its own Google-based system, you can see why I, an iPhone owner, have some reservations. Especially if other automakers follow.

Update: “We are not making any changes to existing vehicles. If your car supports Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, that will continue. Both will remain available in all GM gas-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future. As we advance toward our centralized computing platform, we’ll gradually move to a better, more deeply integrated experience — a direction the broader industry is taking as vehicles become more software-defined," a GM spokesperson told TTAC in an emailed statement.

"This will happen over time, not overnight. We value our collaboration with Apple and Google and remain focused on delivering experiences customers love.”

Mr. Guy is on some serious design posting lately, and the other day we presented some in-car analog clocks for you.

Škoda has introduced a gaggle of unique concepts of late, with the reimagined Felicia Fun being among the most interesting efforts until the new Škoda 110 R Concept coupe was revealed. Being more attractive than just about everything else the brand has previewed, it's a shame the model will probably never see production.

There is arguably no OEM that has made more changes to how interiors are executed than Tesla.

Presumably part of it is based on the fact that as a comparatively young vehicle manufacturer (Telsa was founded in 2003; General Motors 1908; Mercedes-Benz 1926), its engineers and designers looked at interiors with comparatively fresh eyes.

As part of the debut of the 2026 BMW iX3, we’re getting a glimpse of the updated operating system going into the brand’s “Neue Klasse” vehicles. However, the reveal didn’t just show us an upcoming model. It also serves as the death knell of the much-praised iDrive knob, which future BMW models will not receive.

Car design is a long and complicated process. From initial discussions to a finished product rolling off an assembly line, it takes incredible amounts of work from a dedicated team of experts in various fields. Your shiny new car or truck didn’t happen by accident, oh no. It was practically brought to life.

Some EV interiors are grand, some are bland.

Which one is your favorite?

That new Range Rover logo sure is something, isn't it? And not, to my eye, something good.

Today Mr. Guy brought you a post on a few styling gimmicks that aged poorly.

Now it's your turn to pick some out.

Today we brought you some seriously ugly cars, using them as examples of design gone awry.

While the automotive industry is gearing up to pivot toward “software-defined vehicles,” there hasn’t been a surplus of clear explanations on what exactly that will entail. Oversimplified, it just means that manufacturers want to start building automobiles where all functions are controlled via software, rather than being determined exclusively upon the mechanical hardware they came with — and I have a sinking feeling they are going to be just awful.

Volkswagen rightfully caught a lot of criticism over its move to turn most physical controls into touch-based buttons in new vehicles, but the automaker has apparently learned from that mistake. The company’s head of technical development, Kai Grunitz, told Autocar that VW was working on a new dash design to address the issues and focus on more traditional driver controls.

Americans and Europeans don’t agree on everything, but a recent statement from Volkswagen China’s CEO shows we’re alike in at least a few areas when it comes to vehicle design. The executive said that European buyers want “tactile controls, long-term durability, and driving dynamics” instead of a ton of touchscreen buttons, which is something American enthusiasts have been shouting about for years.

General Motors is touting its new design studio in the United Kingdom by also showing an electric Chevrolet Corvette concept.

Volkswagen has seen sweeping criticisms for moving away from physical switchgear and has apparently learned a valuable lesson as a result. The brand has promised that future models will be reintroducing traditional buttons, including EVs prioritizing minimalist designs.

Last week Matt P. brought you a report showing the chief of design at Mercedes-Benz grumbling about the proliferation of screens in modern automobiles.

The world lost a great automotive designer in September, as it surfaced earlier this week that Bruno Sacco passed away at the age of 90. An Italian by birth, Sacco’s career and indeed the majority of his life took place in Germany. There, his flair for serious and orderly designs were put to use on the exclusive luxury wares from Mercedes-Benz.

I got a press release from Aston Martin today about the opening of a high-rise condo building in Miami that bears the company's branding.

Of course, the 66-story, 391-unit building is opening in time for next week's Miami Grand Prix Forumla 1 race.

The world lost one of its preeminent car designers today, as Marcello Gandini has passed away at the age of 85. Though perhaps best known for the flashy and outrageous Lamborghini Countach, Gandini’s pen was applied to many other Italian, German, French, British, Japanese, and Swedish concepts and production designs. Gandini’s prolific portfolio of work made a permanent mark on automotive design.

Updated European safety certifications may discourage global automakers from leaning so heavily upon touch controls in the future. While not a formal government regulator, the European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is extremely influential in a manner similar to the United States’ Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These are the entities testing the crash worthiness of modern automobiles, or bench-marking industry safety standards, and Euro NCAP has elected to make distracted driving a major issue moving forward. By 2026, any vehicles sold within the European market will need to include physical controls to be deemed truly safe.

Yesterday we brought you the details on the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The Santa Fe's new duds are quite blocky, just like those of the Land Rover Defender (Hyundai claims this is a coincidence. Other blocky SUVs on the market include the Ford Bronco. Other Land Rover/Range Rover models are squared off, too. Kia, which is a corporate sibling to Hyundai, has been selling the blocky Telluride for a while now.

While Milan Design Week is primarily focused on showcasing the latest representations of furniture you couldn’t possibly afford, sometimes a car or two gets thrown into the mix and Alfa Romeo had one hell of an entrant prepared this year. But it wasn’t a new design.

Instead, the Italian automaker rolled out the Carabo concept from the 1968 Paris Motor Show. As one of the first vehicles to pioneer the wedge shape that became synonymous with supercars in later decades, the Alfa holds a massive amount of historical significance. However, there may be more going on than the automaker simply wanting to take a trip down memory lane.

I wrote yesterday that we need a truce among car people when it comes to interior design -- specifically, knobs vs screens -- and I told you folks that, generally speaking, I prefer a mix of the two.

Now it's your turn.

Motor 1's John Neff recently wrote a screed defending the proliferation of screens in cars, and as he anticipated in his concluding paragraph, his take went over about as well as a stinky release of flatulence during high tea with the royal family.

Automotive enthusiasts and journalists, as well as consumers, pushed back hard, at least from what I saw on the socials.

As we’ve already seen, BMW is building a record number of variants of its next-generation 3 Series, including “GT” hatchback and X4 “Sport Activity Coupe.” But as this photo shows, there is at least one other Dreier bodystyle that we hadn’t heard about yet: the long wheelbase sedan (top). Given the brand’s post-Bangle swing towards extreme styling consistency, the decision between a LWB 3 series and a 5 series seems to have serious head-scratching potential… but it’s not something we’ll have to worry about. The LWB sports sedan will only be sold in China, according to Auto Motor und Sport, where upmarket buyers favor chauffeurs… even in the Ultimate Driving Machine.

The 21st century has been particularly kind to the Hyundai Motor Company, though this was hardly a matter of chance. Originally known in the West for providing bargain automobiles that were surprisingly competent, it wasn’t long before the South Korean brand was giving Japanese mainstays stiff competition. By the early 2000s, Hyundai was working hard to differentiate itself from the recently acquired Kia and opted to make its products more luxurious and saw massive gains in the U.S. market that have more-or-less continued until today.

In 2020, Hyundai Motor Group unveiled the Prophecy concept EV which everyone immediately noticed had embraced an alternative, almost opposite, design language from the angular 45 concept. The latter model went on to serve as the blueprint for the Ioniq 5, whereas the Prophecy has morphed into the Ioniq 6 you see before you.

Lexus’ first EV, the RZ 450e, will reportedly be debuting with a yoke-style steering wheel that will be coming to the United States as an optional feature. While we’ve seen yokes on dedicated racing vehicles, their adoption by companies producing mass-market automobiles is fairly novel, and global firms have been generally hesitant to use them inside North America.

Lexus won’t be following suit and has already confirmed that its yoke will be available to RZ shoppers living in the U.S.

Hyundai Motor Company has revealed teaser images of the Ioniq SEVEN, an all-electric SUV concept scheduled to debut at AutoMobility Los Angeles later this month. The model is supposed to preview the automaker’s future design and technology innovation as it transitions toward electric vehicles, potentially previewing the upcoming sport utility vehicle to be added to the brand’s Ioniq lineup. Though it doesn’t resemble the Ioniq 5 all that much and we were under the impression that was the model foreshadowing the brand’s upcoming EVs.

No matter. Hyundai has a lot of uniquely designed models that share just enough to make it apparent that they’re still part of the larger family and most of what we’re seeing of the SEVEN concept is of its comfy, cozy interior. These teasers really make you want to curl up inside the SEVEN with a Tolstoy novel and a blanket to see how long you can get by uninterrupted.

If anybody has a soft spot for wedge designs and the automotive future envisioned during the 1970s, it’s yours truly. While mainstream vehicles being manufactured during the Malaise Era often left a lot to be desired, the concepts were sublime and led to some of the most unique-looking production cars in automotive history. I’m talking about cars like the Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit, BMW M1, De Tomaso Pantera, and DeLorean DMC-12. Toss in the digital dashboards that were gradually appearing in standard passenger cars during the 1980s and you’ve reached the point where I would probably claim automotive styling reached its zenith after a few stiff drinks. But I’ve been told by those who can distinguish fetishization from appreciation that those designs weren’t perfect and kind of look the same when there’s enough squinting is deployed.

Apparently, someone took that premise and used it as a template for a modern prototype intended to help sell shoes. Though the company focused entirely on the basic shape of wedge cars, settling on a vehicle that resembles what a Countach might have looked like in a video game from two decades ago should the assets fail to load. Known as the United Nude Lo-Res Concept Vehicle, it’s probably one of the more-unique automobiles ever built and it’s yours for the taking now that the Petersen Automotive Museum doesn’t want it.

Lamborghini introduced the Countach LPI 800-4 over the weekend, undoubtedly hoping to rake in some of the wealth that’s been amassing in the upper echelons of society. Supposedly retailing somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million, the vehicle is effectively an Aventador with some retro-inspired bodywork with the powertrain of the new Sián.

While a 6.5-liter V12 and electric motor providing a combined maximum output of 802 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at, there was some level of expectation that the Countach design might even outdo the truly wild Sián FKP 37 Lamborghini previewed in 2019. But producing something striking is difficult when you’re simultaneously attempting to marry the concept with a 50-year-old design everyone has been fetishizing since before they were old enough to learn what that meant.

The 2022 BMW 2 Series coupes are on their way. Dynamic testing, drivetrain, and suspension tuning on the two-door compact are nearing conclusion. Production begins in the late summer of 2021.

The Hyundai Xcient is on its way to becoming the first mass-produced hydrogen-powered, heavy-duty truck. Design and performance improvements have made it more competitive with those expected from Mercedes-Benz, Toyota-Hino, and Nikola.