In Memoriam: Marcello Gandini, an Automotive Design Master

The world lost one of its preeminent car designers today, as Marcello Gandini has passed away at the age of 85. Though perhaps best known for the flashy and outrageous Lamborghini Countach, Gandini’s pen was applied to many other Italian, German, French, British, Japanese, and Swedish concepts and production designs. Gandini’s prolific portfolio of work made a permanent mark on automotive design.

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Dodge Confirms No Manual Transmission for New Charger

With the 2024 Dodge Charger having finally been previewed, driving enthusiasts have been arguing about whether the all-new model is an improvement from the original or a grotesque misstep. While it looks similar to its predecessor, Stellantis opted to abandon V8 powertrains for a turbocharged I6 or 400-volt electric architecture. The car has also fully embraced all-wheel drive at the expense of rear-drive variants. Considering the above, it should be no shocker that the brand likewise snubbed manual transmissions — with Dodge having just confirmed the decision.

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Automakers Sticking with Screens Are Going to Receive Bad Safety Ratings in Europe

Updated European safety certifications may discourage global automakers from leaning so heavily upon touch controls in the future. While not a formal government regulator, the European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is extremely influential in a manner similar to the United States’ Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These are the entities testing the crash worthiness of modern automobiles, or bench-marking industry safety standards, and Euro NCAP has elected to make distracted driving a major issue moving forward. By 2026, any vehicles sold within the European market will need to include physical controls to be deemed truly safe.

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Mercedes-Benz EQS to Adopt S-Class Styling Cues

Mercedes-Benz will reportedly be offering the all-electric EQS with a traditional grille lifted from the S-Class sedan. The brand’s all-electric flagship has failed to unseat the true king and the company has taken steps to try and incorporate some of the older model’s charms into the EV. Moving forward, the EQS will have a more traditional exterior as an option — perhaps signaling that the entire EQ line will soon be abandoning its overtly electric design language.

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Report: Future BMW I3 Will Be Less Weird Than Original

As BMW’s first mass-produced “zero emissions” vehicle, the i3 boasted a predictably quirky design that seemed to underpin most manufacturers early attempts at fielding an electric car. But the model fell short in terms of range and luxury, especially in relation to MSRP, resulting in a de facto city car for those who liked the idea of owning a BMW-badged EV.

While the vehicle implemented some novel features, the model has aged rather poorly due to advancements in battery technology. It could be argued that the i3 ended up a failure due to the fact that BMW never figured out how to produce them cheaply enough to be a volume vehicle. However, it may have also been too odd to garner true mainstream appeal — something the brand says it doesn’t want to happen for the i3’s successor.

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Toyota May Have Leaked the 2025 Camry UPDATED

Toyota may have revealed the design of the next Camry sedan in an unrelated video. The supposed leak comes via a rather straightforward clip from the automaker explaining the difference between buying and leasing. It uses the Camry as its demonstration vehicle, usually represented by die-cast toys scaled to fit in the palm of the hand.

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Acura Debuts Performance Electric Vision Design Concept

While Acura recently unveiled its first production EV, the 2024 ZDX crossover, during Monterey Car Week, the model didn’t quite reach the ridiculous levels of extravagance the event is known for. Fortunately, the company had something in its back pocket with the “Performance Electric Vision Design” concept it teased in tandem with the all-electric ZDX. 

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QOTD: Going Blocky

Yesterday we brought you the details on the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The Santa Fe's new duds are quite blocky, just like those of the Land Rover Defender (Hyundai claims this is a coincidence. Other blocky SUVs on the market include the Ford Bronco. Other Land Rover/Range Rover models are squared off, too. Kia, which is a corporate sibling to Hyundai, has been selling the blocky Telluride for a while now.

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Infiniti Launching Design Language at Pebble Beach

In what our Managing Editor rightly described as ‘mild news’, Infiniti has announced they will use the unspeakably pompous Pebble Beach Automotive Week to show a concept vehicle they claim previews the brand’s next-gen design language.

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Lexus Continues Teasing Next-Gen GX SUV

With the 2024 Lexus GX forthcoming, the manufacturer has been issuing teasers to whet the public appetite. Thus far, it seems like the company will be offering a boxy design hoping to balance a rugged aesthetic without sacrificing a sense of luxury. But the initial teasers looked extremely aggressive, undermining the premium nature of the brand. 

But Lexus issued another teaser image this week, offering a better sense of the vehicle that’s slated to debut next month. 


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BMW's Concept Touring Coupe Rumored for Limited Run

BMW introduced the Concept Touring Coupe at the 2023 Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza in Italy. Clearly intended to be a throwback to the convertible M Coupes of the past, the design has metamorphosed the current-generation Z into a shooting brake.

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Report: First Chrysler EV Won’t Be the Airflow

With the Chrysler Airflow debuting during the CES expo in 2022, practically everyone assumed it would be the brand’s first all-electric model. The concept looked more like a prototype than some fantastical model intended for production decades down the road and even came with a limited spec sheet offering figures that seemed to exist within the confines of reality.

But it’s not the vehicle the brand intends to lead with. Stellantis’ chief design officer, Ralph Gilles, has confirmed that Chrysler’s new CEO, Chris Feuell, wanted something completely different that would differentiate the brand from everything else on the market.

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Alfa Romeo Displays Carabo Concept, Speculation Abounds

While Milan Design Week is primarily focused on showcasing the latest representations of furniture you couldn’t possibly afford, sometimes a car or two gets thrown into the mix and Alfa Romeo had one hell of an entrant prepared this year. But it wasn’t a new design.

Instead, the Italian automaker rolled out the Carabo concept from the 1968 Paris Motor Show. As one of the first vehicles to pioneer the wedge shape that became synonymous with supercars in later decades, the Alfa holds a massive amount of historical significance. However, there may be more going on than the automaker simply wanting to take a trip down memory lane.

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Mercedes-Benz and Moncler Unveil Collaborative Abomination

Designers from Mercedes-Benz and Moncler have put their heads together to create one of the weirdest automobiles seen in years. Revealed at Moncler’s “The Art of Genius” show held during London Fashion Week, the Project Mondo G is the result of Project Maybach designer Virgil Abloh and Moncler’s Genius label asking the age-old question “what would it look like if someone put the G-Glass inside of a giant puffer jacket?”


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VW Group Snags Porsche Design Boss

While we don’t generally rush to mindlessly parrot news about executive changes at major car companies, this one is worth noting. After all, with this shakeup in Germany, it means VW Group and Porsche are about to share a design chief – but one with a familiar face.

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  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!