Design Study

Frank Stephenson is well-known throughout the world as one of the most respected car designers in the industry. After countless requests from his fans to create a car for the GTA V, Stephenson obliged and set out to create a one-off design specially for Rockstar Games.

When you think of Porsche, most often you think of the Porsche 911. Saying that the rear-engine sports car is the brand’s most definitive model has turned into a trite cliché. A while back, we covered Frank Stephenson’s guide to Aston Martin’s three greatest designs. Now, as part of his YouTube series, he is giving us his take on the three greatest designs from Porsche.

When you think of iconic, classic American cars, Cadillac Coupe DeVille, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, and Dodge Challenger are, often, some of the first to come to mind. And while each of them has had their fair share of special editions, we can’t help but wonder what classic American cars can be like, with a European twist. Whether it’s their design or an unusual engineering solution, these are the most obscure American classic cars ever to exist.

Floating Motors is a collaboration between Pierpaolo Lazzarini and Jet Capsule, a company that specializes in manufacturing watercraft. They have now come together and aim to transform some iconic classic car forms into boats.

Tesla may lead the market when it comes to electric cars, but there is a sector there it is pretty much absent: the supercar area. The new generation Tesla Roadster announced new and impressive performance figures, but so far it has yet to go into production. So, on paper, with a 0 to 60 mph sprint time of 1.9 seconds, it could take on cars like the Lotus Evija or Rimac Never. In real life though, that doesn’t happen!

The long-awaited Nissan Z has finally been unveiled. With that out of the way, many wonder, what’s next? We know there will be a NISMO version at some point and, no doubt, there will be a facelift in a couple of years, especially if they make it as long as the 370Z (I hope not). Nissan has a rich racing history and the Z is a big part of it, which is why independent automotive designer and illustrator, JONSIBAL is introducing a JGTC-inspired version of the new Z.

Yet another high-performance EV, from a startup manufacturer is coming out. It seems Elektron wants to give us a new EV hypercar every year. In 2020, they showed us their Elektron One – an all-wheel-drive EV with 1,341 horsepower. One year later in 2021 – they announced a new project – the four-motor, 2,300-horsepower Elektron Quasar. Now, Elektron Innovativ is showing us their latest project – the Elektron Truva, which will be built in Italy’s motor valley, alongside brands like Ferrari and Pagani...

To rally enthusiasts, the Lancia Delta HF Integrale is a legendary vehicle that doesn’t need an introduction. To this day, the Italian hot hatch remains the car that has won the most World Rally Championships (WRC) in a row – six. Although in 2018, Automobili Amos came up with a modernized version of the Delta. It wasn’t the attainable hot-hatch we still crave. However, this doesn’t stop pixel artists from coming up with their own version of the icon and Matteo Gentile (aka mattegentile) has come up with something that would easily fit the bill in our time.

The idea of a new car that looks like a classic is not a new one, as many carmakers and design studios have been romanticizing it for a long time. However, it became most obvious around the early 2000s, with cars like the muscle car trio – the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, and cars like the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500, only to name a few. That said, while many of these concepts went into production, others did not. Such is the case with the 2002 Mazda Cosmo 21, which took the Miata NB and turned it into a faithful representation of the first Mazda to use a Wankel (rotary) engine.

I think we can all agree that the Lamborghini Huracan is a very capable supercar out of the box. Be that as it may, the people at 7X Design thought it would be a good idea to exploit the car’s hardware to its fullest. Moreover, with help from Envisage Group from Coventry, the Huracan received a bespoke new body that seems to have been inspired by the Miura. The results, both visually and performance-wise, are mind-blowing.

We can all agree that 911 is the definitive Porsche model. It’s the car you think about when you hear Porsche. But in times where everyone is heading towards electrification, one has to ask, what the future of the Porsche 911 is. A rendering done by Sandor Boldog gives us a good idea of what might be the future EV equivalent of the Porsche 911.

Rendering artist Jon Sibal is known for his wonderful creations. His latest project is the Aston Martin Vulcan Speedster and it looks stunning. The renderings come as part of Jon’s collaboration with Meguiar’s for an art series called “Portrait of an Icon”. This is the fourth installment of the series. The Vulcan in a Speedster avatar is a treat to the eyes.

It looks like steering wheels are going to go extinct soon. Not because autonomous vehicles will take over in the future, but because automakers are ditching the ‘wheel’ in favor of other shapes. Tesla introduced the F1-inspired Yoke steering on the production-spec Model S Plaid a few months back. Now, GM has unveiled a game controller-like steering pad. The automaker’s design team uploaded images of the steering pad on its Instagram handle.

Lamborghini revealed the new Countach earlier this month and it was the talk of the town for a long time. The automaker revived the moniker on its 50th anniversary and based it on the Aventador. While the new Countach came with a lot of elements from the yesteryear model, it wasn’t as old school as a lot of people expected it to be. For a modern car with retro vibes, it did well. But, for a moniker as beloved as the Countach, the car missed out on a lot of stuff.

Since the looks drew polarizing opinions, some rendering artists took it upon themselves to show us what the Countach could’ve looked like if it was a lot more retro and old-school. One of them is Siim Pärn who shared his renderings with us.

The Nissan Z is finally here and we are happy to see that Nissan kept their word. The concept was said to be 95 percent, the production car and it turned out to be true. As always, TheSketchMonkey gives us a YouTube video, in which he “fixes” the Nissan Z’s looks. What makes this video different from most other videos, we’ve seen is that Nissan might actually make these changes itself when it comes time to refresh the new Z.

Among the various special editions and artistic interpretations that have distinguished the MINI brand’s history, the most recent one in chronological order is the MINI Strip by designer Paul Smith. The car was unveiled in London a few days ago. It is a one-of-a-kind example based on the notion of sustainable design. The goal was to simplify the car as much as possible without giving the impression that it had been stripped down.

There are certain cars we would love to have modern-day versions of. The list is progressively growing, as manufacturers shift their focus from fun cars to crossovers, SUVs, and EVs. That said, some of our favorite cars are getting a spiritual successor in the form of virtual renderings and this time, it’s Top Gear Philippines that brings back an iconic and somewhat obscure (to some) Japanese hot hatch – the Toyota Starlet Glanza V.

Sometimes you see something on the internet and think “why don’t they make it in real life?” This is exactly the case, at least to us, for this Porsche Taycan RWB rendering, which looks like it belongs in the latest “Need for Speed” game. The project is actually done by a digital designer that goes by the name “Shashank Das”. In fact, not long ago, we featured another creation of his – an orange widebody Mazda RX-7, quite similar to what we see here, in terms of modifications.

Retro has definitely made a comeback, as we see an ever-increasing number of retro-futuristic vehicles. The Chevrolet Camaro, Alpine A110, and Mercedes SLS AMG are only some of the great examples out there. This makes us wonder, which iconic car will be next to get its own modern-day successor? It seems Lamborghini is currently busy making performance SUVs and transitioning to electric drivetrains, instead of giving us retro-inspired models. However, an independent design studio by the name ARC Design has given us a glimpse of what a Lamborghini Countach would look like if it was made in 2021.