Car NEWS log

posted by admin on Jan 27

Buick Riviera Concept

There was a generous amount of environmental concepts at the Detroit Auto Show, like the trio from Saturn, the offerings from Chevy, the plug-ins from Ford. All well and good. But, it’s always the wacky ones that I’m drawn to. The colors, shapes, and the images they drum up for me. I find it inspiring. A few of my favorites…

Mazda Taiki is the fourth in Mazda’s series of concept cars that are inspired by environmental forces like wind, water and sand dunes. The theme of Taiki is flow.

Taiki (translated as atmosphere in Japanese) is a two seat sports car with the next generation rotary engine, a drag coefficient of .25, Ozone silver paint that glows from within and doors that open like a vampire’s cape. Sitting on 22-inch tires, this otherworldly design was inspired by elements as disparate as a raked Japanese garden to the legend of Hagoromo where a celestial maiden uses her cascading robes to fly through space.

The interior, motivated by the visual cues of colorful carp streamers decorating the May skies in Japan, has a white lounge chair for the passenger and a black seat for the driver. Why black? It helps concentration. A transparent roof brings in the light and all of the switches are integrated into the steering wheel so the driver can keep her hands on the wheel.

The gull-wing, front-wheel-drive Buick Riviera concept coupe was developed with design input by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, a joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.

Engineered to accommodate a new hybrid system that will go into production this year at Shanghai GM, PATAC designers looked to Buick icons and Eastern influences.

I was wild for the colors. The logo, hood strip, headlamps, side mirrors and rocker covers all have “icy green” backlighting available at night, matched by backlit logo and exhausts at the rear. The metallic silver exterior color used light blue accents to highlight the coupe’s curves. On the inside, the celestial theme is played up by a glass roof and strips of green light on the console and door liners.

This is one for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thought up by a trio of young designers, the open air Hummer Hx concept is a 4-person convertible with removable roof panels and doors. Powered by a 3.6L SIDI V-6 E85 FlexFuel engine with six-speed automatic transmission this land shark can be configured as an SUT (with the roof assembly removed), a hip slant-back or a wagon.

And I was drawn to the plump shape of Hyundai’s Veloster (a play on the words velocity and roadster) Coupe Concept outfitted with FWD! Described as a classic 2+2, the sportster has a panoramic glass roof and gets power from a 2.0-liter DOHC Theta inline 4-cylinder 5-speed automatic.