Design Study

Since the Mercedes-AMG One supercar is still in hiding, pixel manipulators are taking matters into their own hands. The latest one to do so is Rain Prisk, who imagined a hypothetical Affalterbach born and raised supercar aimed at the Audi R8, as he puts it.

You could argue that the arrival of Maserati’s MC20 sports car has been a sort of breath of fresh air for the Italian carmaker. While every static review, vlog, or walkaround of the MC20 has been ecstatic (pun intended), there have been people arguing that the MC20 is far from the animal we knew as the MC12.

However, perhaps some of the naysayers could be silenced if Maserati decided to build this GT Targa.

Saab, the now-defunct Swedish automaker known for its quirky models and its original parent company, also known as Saab, that made fighter jets among other things was never big on racing. While the company took pride in the myriad of technical innovations that saw the light of day in Saab’s cars, the track was never Saab’s main development lab. That’s why this brutal-looking Saab 900 Turbo is the stuff of dreams as it takes us to an alternate reality where Saab not only had a proper presence in the U.S. in the ’80s but also decided to spend money developing a race car for the popular GTO/Trans-Am rules that brought together American sedans and coupes as well as Porsches, Ferraris, and Audis.

The Tesla Cybertruck is, without question, one of the most polarizing vehicles in recent memory. It doesn’t abide by traditional design norms of a pickup truck, and yet, it’s the audacity in Tesla’s design that has kept the Cybertruck in the headlines.

Tesla got us talking about the Cybertruck more than most vehicles, and, at least to a select few, it jump-started enough creative juices that we get to see different renderings and “interpretations” of Tesla’s upcoming all-electric. One of these interpretations comes to us by way of automotive 3D concept artist Shubbak 3D.

Pininfarina is responsible for some of the most provocative-looking cars in history. From legendary machines like the Ferrari F40 and Ferrari Enzo to staggering custom creations like the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe Hyperion, BMW Gran Lusso Coupe, and Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo, Pininfarina’s design DNA can be found in some of history’s most attractive rides. Automakers far and wide have come to Pininfarina for their automotive design needs, and the Italian design house has proven time and again that it’s the go-to firm for those needs. A big part of the studio’s success rests on the designers that it has in the fold.

One such designer, Daniel Gombo, technically isn’t employed by Pininfarina, but he did just finish his master’s thesis under the supervision of the Italian firm and part of that thesis required Gombo to design a vehicle.

In the late ’80s, you most likely had either a Ferrari F40 or a Lamborghini Countach poster hanging on your wall. The likelihood of someone having both of these supercars hanging on his or her walls is slim simply because these were such different cars.

While the F40 was all about form following function, the Countach was the polar opposite as the over-the-top styling was not matched by either the driving experience or the performance. So, how do you feel about Abimelec Arellano’s attempt to blend the two into one?

Back when Toyota threw the Corolla into the fiery pits of the World Rally Championship, it had big shoes to fill: the Corolla’s predecessor, the legendary Celica Turbo had written history for the Japanese carmaker. But so would the Corolla, although to less resounding extent.

Debuted in 1997 during Rally Finland with underpinnings taken from the E110 road-going Corolla, the rally car won four rallies (Monte Carlo, Catalunya, and New Zealand in 1998 and China in 1999) and secured the World Manufacturers’ title in 1999.

But what if the Group B was to make a comeback and Toyota built a rally car to do battle there?

If the car industry has learned us anything so far it’s that carmakers like to play with concept vehicles but they’re also part work. More often than not, a concept car has led a car brand’s direction and approach for the years to come and we’re not only talking about design cues and whatnot, but also that brand’s vision of mobility.

In that context, we can’t ignore two of Mercedes-Benz’s most stunning concepts, the 2015 F 015 prototype and the more recent Vision AVTR, unveiled at the 2020 CES in Las Vegas. Both are about luxury first and foremost but also about a new avenue that might spur other carmakers to join the bandwagon: a reinterpreted interaction between human, machine, and nature.


Then we stumbled onto this unofficial design study, dubbed the Mercedes-Benz Vision Duet Concept.

Big automakers usually employ tremendously skilled designers, but production cars are rarely as exotic as the concept many of these artists create. There are many reasons for that, and most of them have to do with practicality and costs. Independent designers, on the other hand, aren’t limited by regulations like these, so they often produce more extreme and spectacular digital models. The Project 411 by Mossawi Studios is one of them. A tribute to the iconic Porsche 911 Spyder, it could be a glimpse into the 911’s distant future.

The 1969-1970 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 arguably marked the end of an era, as the GT500 began to be built in-house by Ford. Carroll Shelby’s actual involvement in the design of the car was reduced, somewhat telling of the colder relationship between the two sides that was further underlined by the fact that Ford raced the Boss 302 at the same time - not a Shelby model. But all that gets put aside when you look at the renders of Rostislav Prokop that has envisioned an unusual mid-engined Mustang: one that keeps the proportions of the front-engined original.

One of the most successful racing cars ever just got a digital makeover that will make purists cover their eyes and run away screaming. We, however, decided to meet the creation with an open mind, something we advise you to do as well. That said, meet the Bugatti Type 35 that got a hefty American twist.

The Grand Wagoneer Concept looks every bit like the production model that we can expect to see in dealership showrooms in 2022. But 2022 is still a ways away, and as we wait for the production-spec Grand Wagoneer to arrive, we can spend that time admiring all the renderings that have already been released, a lot of which show the hulking SUV in different forms and functions.

One rendering, in particular, caught our attention, not because of who created it — Abimelec Design — but because of what he created. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Jeep Grand Wagoneer Woody, a creation so nostalgic you can smell the air of the 1980s from your computer screens.

Earlier this week, someone spotted a rather weird looking Rolls-Royce prototype on public roads. Hidden under camouflage, it looked familiar up front, but the rear end looked more like a hearse or a really boxy wagon model. It also appeared to have beefier wheel arches. The spy video sparked rumors that Rolls-Royce may be building a new one-off model, and some went ahead and rendered a shooting brake version of the Wraith. And it looks surprisingly cool.

Thank the coronavirus pandemic for the recent rise to fame of esports. The nasty thing we hate that goes by the name of COVID-19 has acted as a catalyzer for online sim racing, although the movement still existed before the virus.

And it’s about the time when big-name carmakers are joining the fray that you know there’s a lot of potential (money, too) in this form of racing. Yet, perhaps one of the most appealing selling point of esports is the audacity of some race cars. Enter Team Fordzilla’s P1 concept.