The Curious FellowJJs on about design

Norman E. Timbs designed the superb, extravagant curves of the Buick Streamliner in 1949. 60 years later they have resurfaced thanks to David Cruise.

Quirky concept for  Alfa Romeo by Bertone from the Geneva Motor Show. The broken shard detailing on the rear end and the wheels is superb. However the doors may be problematic if you have a garage with a low ceiling.

If you like it, there are more pictures here.

I am sad to say that our lovely A2 is leaving us. I thought I’d write a little eulogy to this stunning modern day design icon in its memory.

Four things I love about the A2:

1. The styling

The A2 was a surprise when it debuted only two years after the original Al₂ study. Many initial reviews commented on the design. Autocar’s initial drive verdict: “The best thing about the A2 is that it isn’t merely a design exercise. Yes, it’s a great car to look at, sit in and touch, but it’s also a riot to drive”.

The A2 won Audi’s first Design Oscar, germany’s most prestigious design award. It’s designer Luc Donckerwolke is now one of the world’s most respected car designers. After breaking the mould with the A2, he went on to head up the design team at Lamborghini and design both of their recent stunning models; the Murceliago and Gallardo.

2. The technology

The overriding theme in the design and engineering of the A2 was summarized by the then Audi UK product manager in an interview after the car won a design award in 2001 as “create a small Audi, not a cheap Audi”, and the creative brief is said to have been “Transport four people from Stuttgart to Milan on a single tank of petrol”.

The A2 is built using considerable aluminium and aluminium alloy content, providing significant weight and fuel efficiency advantage over similar sized cars. This helps the car to be significantly more economical than vehicles using traditional steel monocoques. As one of the first car ever to be designed as an aluminium car the A2 can be considered a trailblazer for the many recent aluminium-based vehicles, such as the second-generation Audi A8 (D3) and Audi TT, and the X350 Jaguar XJ and 2006 Jaguar XK.

3. The Interior

The A2 has a huge interior space for the exterior dimensions, including a boot, at 390 litres (13.8 cu ft) with the rear seats in place; they can be folded or even completely removed to create a truly cavernous load space. This is significantly larger than the luggage space of the next model in Audi’s range, the Audi A3. The boot also has a really clever double (false) floor where items can be hidden from thieves.

Another neat feature, which is amazingly handy, is that the headrests also do not need to be removed from the rear seats when they are folded. Each seat even has it’s own carrying handle for when it has been removed – now that’s attention to detail!

4. The service hatch

The front of the car included an unusual but brilliant design feature called the “Serviceklappe” in German — this translates to “service hatch”. Behind it are the filling points for oil and screen wash fluid, and the dipstick. Thanks to these features, in the daily use of the car the bonnet does not need to be raised so you don’t need to root around in the dirty engine bay when refilling any of the fluids - superb!

That’s all folks!

So, there you go. It’s a deserved design icon brimming with detailing that has delighted me ever since we got the car. It’ll be sorely missed but we hope it’ll go to a good home!