Autoblog

What A Body!

Some years back I got to meet Giorgietto Giugiaro, the ultra-famous Italian car designer. "Gosh," I gushed, "you certainly are a visionary. Twenty years ago you said that the one-box design would become the dominant body style in the future. And you were right."

"No, you're wrong," he corrected me matter of factly, "I said that thirty years ago."

Giugiaro knew that getting the "mostest with the leastest" is the greatest challenge a designer faces. And he knew that a one-box design provides the greatest amount of interior room with the smallest exterior package. So, he openly declared that in the future more and more cars would adopt one-box designs.

A quick tutorial here for the uninitiated in designer lingo. A one-box design is just what it implies, a box on wheels, like a cargo van. A two-box design is like a station wagon, with one box for the passenger compartment and one for the engine compartment. A three-box design is like a traditional sedan with one box for the engine compartment, one for the passenger cabin, and one for the trunk.

For most of automotive history, automakers stuck with the three-box design. Traditionalists to the core, they never ventured too far from what was popular. But while the mass manufacturers stayed with the tried and true, others did dare to experiment.

John McElroy is host of the TV program "Autoline Detroit". Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers. Follow the jump to finish reading this week's editorial.

Gallery: One-box Designs

Click above for a full high-res gallery of the Italdesign Quaranta concept

Italdesign Giugiaro has been releasing teaser images of its Quaranta concept at an agonizingly slow pace for weeks now, but has finally dropped all its got on the car just days before it will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The Quaranta is actually inspired by the 1968 Bizzarrini Manta concept, and the two take the wedge shape to an extreme. The Quaranta's claim to fame is that it houses a mid-mounted hybrid powertrain supplied by a Toyota. The 3.3L V6 combined with Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive produces a combined 268 horsepower and 212 pound feet of torque, which Italdesign claims is good for a 4.05 second run to 62 mph in the lightweight and perfectly balanced Quaranta. At the same time, its pair of fuel tanks integrated into the frame can hold nearly 16 gallons of fuel, good for a 621-mile range. The entire opaque roof is also comprised of solar panels, which run the interior electronics and charge the batteries. The concept can employ two- or all-wheel-drive depending on the conditions, and can also raise its ride height up to a maximum of 9.17 inches. The cockpit of the Quaranta is also a study in far out design, with a 1+3 seating arrangement that places the driver front and center, with two more seats on either side and further back, and a small child seat directly behind the driver.

The Quaranta is a well thought out concept with every aspect of its design backed by a reason and a function. From its shape to its powertrain to its interior ambiance, it will debut in Geneva as a rolling resume for Italdesign's services. And after reading through the lengthy press release that describes every complex system contained in the Quaranta's wedgy shape, we'd be happy to be listed as a reference.


[Source: Italdesign Giugiaro]

click either image to view high-res

If you couldn't tell by all the previews for Geneva we've been posting, the upcoming Swiss-based motor show is a big one, one of the biggest of the year in the world. Italdesign Giugiaro has been building concept cars for shows like this one going on 40 years now. It made a huge splash at the 2006 LA Auto Show when the wraps were pulled off of the Giugiaro Mustang, so now any car under cover of Giugiaro has our curiosity piqued. The Italian design firm has begun releasing teaser images of its latest concept that will debut in Geneva, and from the veiled glimpses we get, it's looking pretty sharp. The unnamed concept (it apparantly ends in "ANTA") is appearing in conjunction with Giugiaro's 40th anniversary, so we expect a stunner. The Giugiaro Mustang, however, is a tough act to follow.



[Source: Giugiaro]