Bachelor in Transportation Design – a.y. 2009/10

2020 McLaren

2020: IED Design Vision with McLaren Automotive

Looking ahead to the year 2020 to imagine how McLaren’s car design identity could develop.  Getting an inside view of the reality behind the business plans and design ethos at the famous sports car manufacturer and how the designer interacts with the engineer. Creativity and sympathy for the McLaren brand: all in a single concept. These were the starting assumptions for the students of the 3^rd year IED Turin three year post-diploma course in Transportation Design – Car Design, who prepared their thesis project for the academic year 2009/2010 in collaboration with McLaren Automotive.

This was the design brief: the production of a 4WD, hybrid super sport utility vehicle, with a central engine, open top and luggage space for two people based on McLaren’s unique carbon fibre chassis, the MonoCell. Though based on a conceptual approach to the future, the students in their final year worked on a vehicle that could potentially reach the market in 2020: a car capable of combining sports excellence, driving thrills and the McLaren performance characteristics both off- and on-road.

Understanding the world of McLaren was the first step, with the car designers exposed to McLaren at the company’s world famous McLaren Technology Centre, in Woking, UK.  The entire class visited the brand’s headquarters in the company of Frank Stephenson, McLaren Automotive – Design Director.  They watched a brand philosophy presentation prepared by the car manufacturer along with a tour of the factory and the McLaren boulevard that displays world championship-winning racing cars adorned with legendary names such as Senna, Prost, and Hamilton. The opportunity to see McLaren’s working environment helped to develop each student’s understanding of the true values behind the brand; a brand that has always been known for its dynamic and sporting focus.

This introduced a brand research stage which kicked off the project, involving a conceptual investigation of the history of McLaren and its leading role in the high-performance sports car segment.  Through the subsequent  design research stage, the car designers honed their ideas for presentation in the year 2020, which suggested an evolution in the internal cockpit and exterior bodywork design of the vehicle concept in line with the brand language.

Of thirty-three individual proposals presented, eleven were selected for further development. The car designers then worked in  groups to develop the concepts further, both for interiors and exteriors, right up to the final stage which involved the creation of 3D videos of these concept cars. The decision to make a virtual presentation of each project was taken in order to ensure that every aspect of the vehicle could be assessed, including all  transparent surfaces and openings.

A second selection finally led to the short listing of the three projects which best satisfied the requirements of the initial brief:  HOLON by Emanuele Mattia NAVA, Federico PISCHEDDA and Roberto TESTOLIN; TOROK by Michel DI MARCO, Andrea INVERNIZZI and Shariq VIRANI and BIO RENOVATIO by Salvatore CUTAIA, Vasily KURKOV  and Jesus Adrian SOLIS GARCIA.

The three projects were then produced in 1:4 scale models thanks to the Institute’s collaboration with Cecomp and are now on show at the IED Turin premises in via San Quintino, 39.

The thirty-three students who took part in the project worked under the supervision of Fulvio Fantolino, Coordinator of the Three year post-diploma Course in Transportation Design – car design.