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Automotive Industries,  Feb, 2001  by Cheryl Jensen

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Which concept vehicles are wowing the industry's top designers? Tour the Detroit auto show with them to find out.

Automotive designers attending last month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit had every right to wonder if someone had activated a cloaking device for trucks.

Oh, there were a few trucks around, to be sure. But most of the introductions this year involved cars or cross-over vehicles.

And there was variety.

"I think it's good we're not all following in the same direction -- all doing round shapes at the same time, all doing hard shapes at the same time," says Kevin Hunter of Toyota's Calty studio in California.

"There were times we said design was boring," adds Anne Asensio, of General Motors' Brand Character Center. "But now the fact that every automaker is getting a pretty good portfolio they really try to diversify design. Design is supporting the brand identities. I'm thinking of GM for sure, but also Ford."

Automotive Industries asked some of the industry's top designers to tell us which production and concept vehicles at the show they found the most interesting--other than those from their own companies, of course.

The Volkswagen Microbus concept and the BMW Mini Cooper were the most popular. And while Chrysler concept vehicles received the most superlatives in past years, that was not the case for the second consecutive year in this unscientific poll. But we'll let the designers elaborate.

Porsche 911 GT2:

"It's getting Porsche back to that more serious design DNA. It's less superfluous styling and more about pure function, which is what Porsches were always about. They had a Teutonic engineered quality about them. And this one strikes me as though it was done by Germans -- even though it wasn't."

Audi Steppenwolf:

"They took the design DNA of the TT, mixed it with a sport utility, and ended up with a very nice little cross-over vehicle that has an excellent stance and ruggedness and solidity about it."

VW Microbus:

"The number of people who said to me, 'That's a minivan that I would drive,' says how that vehicle resonated. People were speaking emotionally about a-vehicle that could seat more than five people."

Pontiac Vibe:

"The Vibe was one of the nicest GM products that I've seen in recent memory. I like the cleanliness, the fact that it was almost cladding-free."

Toyota Highlander:

Mays thinks its size and packaging make it interesting. "It appeared to look quite compact. It was a size up from the RAV4 and it was slightly more grown up."

BMW Mini Cooper:

The new Mini is "superb," he enthuses. "I like the exterior styling a lot, and it's just about the right size for this marketplace. The interior is extremely good. I think it's a little inaccurate in its homage to the original, but that may not be a bad thing."

VW Microbus:

"It is going to appeal to an incredibly wide group of people who think young -- everyone from echo boomers to my dad. It was well-proportioned and well-balanced on its wheels. There's a sense of purity about the design. The fact that it's a one-box shape -- it was done very successfully. It was done by my old team and I was very proud of them."

GMC Terracross:

"It had a very bold identity, very strong, very clever usage of body panel design."

BMW Mini Cooper:

"I like the size and proportions. I think they are right on the money with the design, the style." It's not designed just for men or just for women, he notes. "It's designed for fun people."

Nissan Z:

"It's the best one of the concepts they've shown so far. It has very good proportion, good stance, good attitude. It has very good execution of its lines."

"A lot of companies are looking for new niche vehicles. Mainstream -- sedans, SUVs, -- are popular, of course. But for future innovation, companies are trying to find the next new innovative category."

Some are combining a sporty theme with sport-utility ruggedness, he says. The Mitsubishi ASX (Active Sports Cross-over) is one example. Another is the Chevrolet Borrego, "which is not pure truck, not pure car, but something in-between."

This "something-in-between" theme extended even to minivans, "with vehicles that are not as tall as a minivan, but not as low as a wagon, and look durable enough that they could go off road." The GMC Terracross concept and 2002 Isuzu Axiom are examples.

VW Microbus: "It's beautifully made; it's nicely designed. It's not entirely retro. There is enough modernity in it. It could stand on its own, even if there wasn't an original Microbus."

Ford EX: "It's very honest -- a completely fun car for going off-road. It's not pretending it's going to drive down the street much. All the mechanical parts on view were nicely done. The styling was minimal, but the whole construction exudes quality."