Rendering Comparisions: 2014 BMW i8

Rendering Comparisons: This was a fun one so I wanted to show a little bit more of how I come up with my ideas. You'll notice 3 before and afters below. This is something I may do from now on in these comparison posts, but it takes a lot longer to set up! So let's see how this one goes ... :)

With the seductive BMW i8 finally getting down to business with details and pricing, BMW looks to have a bona fide hit on their hands.

Comparison of M6 Donor with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

Comparison of EfficientDynamics Concept Donor with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

Comparison of Production i8 with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

I really liked the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept but was doubtful if it would ever be produced. I figured this vehicle was a test bed for new tech, with the design ideas presented to "trickle down" into the product stable in future vehicles. I wondered then if we'd see some of the design cues on the next 6 Series Coupe - which would be the nearest size car in size and function.

Much to my surprise the revised, renamed and gorgeous Z4 ended up with a lot of the design cues, especially with the trademark "twin gills". This wasn't enough for me though as I still wanted to see how the design would look "wrapped over" the bones of the 6 Series coupe. So, taking matters into my own hands, this was the result.

Now that I've been ogling over the new i8 for a few weeks now I went back to my rendering, done over 4 years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of my thoughts and ideas translated pretty well to the production i8 look and feel. Good stuff :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on 2014 Impala

Personal File: Where to start... I'm a little bit excited and a little bit saddened by the 2014 Impala. I think overall it will be a hit out of the park and a vehicle GM desperately needed (triggering the death of the w-body)! Visually speaking, the front 3/4 is a bold American style with great proportions. As you make your way to the rear end though, things take a decisively bad turn. In what I can only describe as look-a-like syndrome, the rear end looks more like a Hyundai Sonata than an iconic American sedan.

Since I felt that was missing, I wanted to try my hand at bringing in some of that classic/retro American DNA to the rear and and this chop is the result:

• new trunk and decklid - lowered and reshaped along with trunk lines to give it more of a muscle car look
  
• revised tail lights that are longer and revised trunk back - both done to enhance the classic over the Korean look
  
• reworked the "quarter panel" crease to flow into the top of the trunk line for a more unified look. Helps give a hint of late 60s Impala as well.
  
• revised c-pillar glass trim which now echos slightly the new Camaro
  
• angled belt line with door handles down slightly towards the back door which allows it to meet up with the quarter panel crease for better visual flow. Again, his helps hint at the late 60s Impala.
  
• Zl-1 Camaro wheels
  

For grins and giggles I went full-on retro and came up with this version that has the iconic 3-lens tail lights from the early 60s Impalas. A little over the top, yes, but it was fun to play around with the design elements.

What do you think? Are you as disappointed with the rear end of the Impala as I was - especially after how well thought out the front end was designed? Oh - and one last thing - what is up with that steering wheel?

All source photos copyright original owners

Rumored: 2014 Chevy Cruze MCE

Personal File: Lot's of recent rumblings online of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze getting a 'rush job' MCE to visually align it with the new Impala and upcoming SS sedan designs. GMInsideNews and a few other outlets have released renderings that tease of what that could look like in various forms.

I was surprised to see this as I had been dabbling with something like it just for fun myself back in June. Never having liked the Cruze visually, I was exploring what could be done to update it and 'bridge the visual gap' between the two very differently designed 2013 Malibu and the future 2014 Impala sedans. My rendering combined aspects of both vehicles into a clean and sharp MCE.

Coming back to this chop again after the rumors started surfacing, I wanted to put a little more polish on the rendering. Here is a list of what has been done to a 2012 RS Cruze:

• revised c-pillar
  
• new wheels from Malibu
  
• hood and headlights and grille from Impala heavily brushed
  
• lower fascia heavily modified from Malibu heavily brushed
  
• reworked tail light shape
  

What do you think? Will GM will do something like this or are all the rumors just that - bunk?

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on 2013 Chevrolet Malibu

Personal File: This is a post I've been working on for quite some time as I really can't get past the 'bangle butt' on the recently unveiled 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. Don't get me wrong though, this car is amazing and the interior is top notch. I just don't care for some of the high level exterior details.

Not one to leave a stone unturned, I wanted to see what I could do with it. So I created two different looks for the rear clip:

1. Clean and Contemporary Look (simplified rear fenders, more integrated trunk lid, adjusted rear passenger window cut line, and simplified tail lights)
2. Retro-inspired (mid to late 50s) Look (completely rescultped rear fenders, trunk lid, adjusted rear passenger window, and further tweaked tail lights)

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and modified the front end as well. IHMO, I feel it too is a little over designed.

• Here is my simplified front end idea. This would not only clean up the front end but also align the vehicle visually with the Chevrolet Cruze LTZ as well.

What do you think? Do my adjustments look better? worse? or just different? :)

All source photos copyright original owners

What if GMC received a Canyon based on the new global mid-size truck platform?

Personal File: I really like the new Chevrolet Colorado Concept revealed this year at the Bangkok International Auto Show. I don't yet know if it will make its way to North America, but I have been wondering what if they created a GMC counterpart. I would assume the Canyon brand name would be kept and the vehicle would integrate design cues found on GMC XD, Granite and All Terrain concepts shown over the past few years.

I've been contemplating doing a chop of this for a while and my brother finally convinced me to put my thoughts down "on paper". Using the GMC Granite as the main donor base, I combined its GMC cues onto the Chevrolet Colorado concept. The results of which I think look outstanding! What do you think? Should GM build a new Canyon on the global mid-size truck platform?

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the 2011 Honda Accord - Update

Personal File: Been a LONG while since I've posted - been really busy at work - but I wanted to put this chop together at the request of a commentor on the previous Accord post (thanks JustCorey!)

Having more time to think about the design of the Accord and after reviewing JustCorey's comments, I came back to this chop a second time. I've integrated an additional full light bar and turn markers across the trunk instead of a "reflector" stripe that is on the car now. I moved the license plate location down and added more brightwork into the rear end above the license place opening. Everything else I had already done from the last chop tied together nicely with these new updates.

I can't take all the credit however; most of this donor tail light came from the last-gen Honda Odyssey minivan and surprisingly fit the theme. With some modifications and a little bit of custom brushing, I feel this new chop shows more of what the Accord should have looked like with the established Honda DNA.

What do you think? What the Honda designers are doing now isn't working, so I hope they will seriously consider revamping the Accord sometime soon.

All source photos copyright original owners

A Chevy Kappa - what GM could have done with the platform...

Personal File: Like many others who are passionate about the automobile, one of the most painful parts of the GM bankruptcy/buyout last year was the loss of the KAPPA platform. If given another development cycle, I think GM could have had one of the best small two seaters available on the market. We'll never know what would have happened if things turned out differently, but it is fun to ponder if GM had deemed the platform a necessity to keep.

Since Chevy would have no small coupe or small convertible ready for the 2011 model year (no Cruze coupe or convertible would be available), I bet GM would have slotted the Saturn based KAPPA into that segment void. Since it already has a lot of what I would call 'Corvette DNA' in the design, a rebadged Saturn Sky would have fit nicely into the lineup.

Using a Sky Redline mixed with a little of the WTCC concept from a few years back, and some custom brushwork, this is my take - the Chevrolet Stingray. What do you think? Quite a looker I must say and something that would not be out of place slotted underneath the Camaro and Corvette!

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the 2011 Honda Accord

Personal File: Let me first preface my post in saying my thoughts and prayers go out to the Japanese tsunami victims.

On to the post - I noticed the slight visual updates to the 2011 Honda Accord at the Chicago Auto Show and immediately noticed they added "retro" style tailights bars that go all the way across the trunk lid. This is obviously a nod to older Accord models, however I think adding this feature has made the rest of the existing tail light look sorely out of place.

So what is a guy like me to do? I went in and adjusted the outer tail light and the side beltine to better integrate the new retro tail light additions. To better show these adjustments, I've done something new and created an animated GIF. If you click the image above, you'll now see the changes in animated form.

What do you think - do these mods put the vehicle in better alignment and proportion or should they keep it as is?

All source photos copyright original owners

Life following art? Thoughts on the new Nissan Murano CrossCabrolet

Personal File: So I was finally going back through my brochures from our annual Chicago Auto Show trip and came back upon the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet. Having done an early look at what it might have looked like for InsideLine, I was very impressed with what Nissan had actually done with the vehicle.

It seemed to be a hit with the ladies at the show, especially the younger female demographic. This got me thinking, since women influence over 3/4 of all vehicle sales, what if this vehicle concoction takes off? Would other manufacturers take note and start to offer SUV convertibles?

As I was pondering that question, I couldn't help but feel I've already seen this done before in the past. After a bit of digging around, I stumbled upon this old chop I did for a monthly design contest on GMInsideNews about 5 years ago. We were asked that month to chop the 2003 Centieme Concept and I went hog wild with a 2-door retractable hardtop convertible.

Funny how things work out ... I can now compare a 5 year old chop to a real life convertible SUV. Life imitates art or something like that ... ha ha ha

What do you think - should other manufacturers hop on the bandwagon? Would you consider buying a convertible SUV from Nissan, Buick, or any other brand if one was offered? Has Nissan just found their own BMW X6 niche? Time will tell :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Backwards Car Shenanigans

Personal File: So I'm ice and snow bound at home today and my brother sends me this funny link on AutoBlog about backwards cars.

What a fun concept I thought as I sifted through the gallery. Not to miss out on the fun I decided to put one together myself and could think of no better car than the classic '63 Corvette. Swapping front for back at the beltline was so natural for the car it was almost scary. I did very little work to the car itself to make this picture. I did more brushing on the background than the car! ha ha

Thanks AutoBlog for the inspiration, it is good to just goof off and be silly sometimes :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the Nissan Juke - Finally!

Personal File: Finally - after a few months of staring at this chop sitting half finished on my desktop, I was able to put together a solid design. The results turned out even better than I had hoped for as there was no way to know where the design would lead.

The original design, when introduced at Geneva in '09 as the Nissan Qazana, was full of crazy design elements yet had some impressive dune buggy qualities to it as well. However as an automotive design fan, in countless times before, watched as a concept model became a watered down for production vehicle. The blade running/turn lights bloated up, the extra details on the grille were removed, along with the cool headlight LED ring treatment. I didn't care for this production look at all and felt compelled to try to "fix" it in some fashion.

After trying to put it all back like the concept, I took a step back and went another way - to make it more truck-like. Traditional headlights, traditional foglights and grille treatments were my focus. With that said, the remaining unaltered design elements seemed to actually flow together better. As a result, I think the Juke feels more like a real Nissan product instead of a one-off design study.

What do you think - better or worse? This time I showed a before and after inside the same picture with a 50/50 split.

All source photos copyright original owners

If 2011 is year of the minivan, what about the mini-minivan?

Personal File: I've been hearing a lot of talk lately about how 2011 may be the year of the minivan thanks to the revamped or all news models from Chrysler/Dodge, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota. I've personally never liked minivans but I cannot argue with their functionality and how much they have improved over the last few years.

And it seems the sub-compact car class is firing up for 2011 as well with Ford throwing down the gauntlet with the Fiesta and Mazda with the Mazda2. This got me thinking about what kinds of minivans exist in the North American market that are smaller than those listed in the first paragraph. The Mazda5 comes to mind immediately and I read recently that Ford is bringing over the C-Max microvan next year.

Not a lot of options but I wondered what Toyota might do in response if this segment would take off. Could they capitalize? They seem to offer vehicles in almost every possible segment. However, with vehicles like the Mazda5 and the (now defunct) Kia Rondo, the nearest competitor Toyota has to offer would be the Matrix 5-door or the Rav4 - not exactly apples to apples comparisons.

So I wanted to take a stab at rendering a mini-minivan that could slot in as a direct or even smaller competitor to the Mazda and the Ford offerings. Based on styling cues from the Sienna, but rolling on a stretched sub-compact platform, I call it the Toyota Previa - a name that should look familiar haha.

What do you think? Would Toyota ever consider something like this? Is there a market for mini-minivans?

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the refreshed 2010 Honda CR-V

Personal File: I hit the Indianapolis Auto Show today with a buddy and his family and I happened to notice a few styling changes on the Honda CR-V for 2010. I don't really follow Honda that much but I was surprised that the updates were very subtle. I've never liked this generation CR-V (starting in 2007) and I was disappointed more wasn't done with the 2010 refresh. So in lieu of the new year, I put this little chop together this evening of what I think would have been a proper refresh. I'm going for a little more previous generation front fascia treatment but I think it adds a better top to bottom balance and looks more "put together".

What do you think - better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners

My wish list for the 2011 Buick Regal

Personal File: I recently read on GMInsideNews that production of the Buick Regal will be moving to Oshawa Canada starting in 2011. This is great news as there is a possibility that the vehicle could receive a few more Buick design cues. The only major change moving it from Opel to Buick for 2010 was the grille change.

In the hope that something more may come of this production switch, I wanted to put together a "wish list" of items I feel would truly integrate the Regal for Buick North America.

Edits include:

• Revised profile - sweep-spear profile added similar to LaCrosse and the Opel downturning swoosh in the front door has been removed
• Revised tail lights - to reflect similiarly, but not exactly, to the LaCrosse
• Redefined trunk cutline - this is just a pet peeve of mine! The current trunk line is very awkward so I tried to adjust it to a more pleasing line that extends up from the bumper cover trim/cut line until it reaches the back window glass
• Revised trunk chrome bar/badges - cut off parts of both sides of the chrome bar that extended into the lights and slightly moved badging to further bring similiarty to the LaCrosse
• New wheels - the current wheels are terribly drab so I grabbed the wheels from the LaCrosse concept for proof of concept.

Now I think it looks like a proper Buick! What do you think?

All source photos copyright original owners