|
|
VW Italdesign Giugiaro GO! and Tex: The Future of VW Design from the 2011 Geneva Auto Show. Find out more about this new car design.
Earlier this year Volkswagen group bought their longtime design collaborators Giugiaro Italdesign. To say the partnership between Italdesign and VW is important would be a major understatement: Italdesign was behind the original Golf and Scirocco which set the standard for Volkswagen's from the mid-1970s on. At this year's Geneva Auto Show Italdesign displayed their first concepts under their new ownership, the GO! and the Tex.
The Go! is an MPV built on what VW calls its "modular transverse architecture." This new platform allows a wide range of drivetrains including gas, electric, and diesel powerplants. In concept form the car is motivated by a Blue-e-motion electric drivetrain which can propel the car 150 miles per charge.
The wheelbase of the Go! is the same as the Passat, but its shorter front and rear overhang keep the total length down to about twelve feet. The car's beltline is very low with chrome inserts in the side and hatchback windows. The grill resembles those of current models except the VW badge has expanded to the point that is intrudes into the hood, and the headlights have an added brow-line of LED running lamps. The rear doors slide backward like those on a minivan to reveal a pair of bucket seats instead of the normal bench seat. However, the rest of the interior is strictly show car with a flat-bottomed steering wheel and a center-mounted LED screen with little else in the way of controls.
The Tex takes the styling of the Go! and sharpens it for a more aggressive look appropriate to sporty hatchbacks like the GTI. The side windows are raised to a more conventional height, but the chrome insert remains in the rear glass. It also uses the modular transverse architecture platform, but the coupe replaces the electric drivetrain with an extended range hybrid system that can move the car twenty-one miles before switching to the gasoline-fuelled 1.4l turbocharged four cylinder.
Will we see these designs on production cars? Yes, but they might not come here. With VW introducing North American versions of the Passat and Jetta we may start to see a split in design allowing the brand to use styling that better fits our market. The Go!'s chrome accents only allow the lower portions to roll down, making them impractical to use with drive-thru windows: This won't be a big deal in Europe, but it's unlikely this styling cue would carry over to American models. Even if we don't get the styling, we will definitely get the underlying platform and its multiple drivetrain solutions.
Look at these cars from the 2011 Geneva Auto Show.
Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
Rolls Royce 102EX Phantom Experimental Vehicle
Saab PhoeniX
2011 Koenigsegg Agera R