Coches que no nacieron

Algo Cadillac pero muy interesante!!

Esa propuesta, ¿para qué año? Porque me inspira aires de los 90.

Rover 55

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/TGSUHV3Hi4I/AAAAAAADMW4/IYyUpBXggE4/s800/1997-Rover-55-Study-01.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/TGSUKYGMKJI/AAAAAAADMXA/A1ajdBpY0C0/s1600/1997-Rover-55-Study-2.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/TGSTot-LoRI/AAAAAAADMWg/viAw7apcjFw/s1600/1997-Rover-55-Study-1.jpg

Once upon a time, back in the days when the MG Rover Group was alive and fairly hopeful for the future […] in the hands of BMW, the Bavarian carmaker was dreaming up a new lineup for the British company. Among the plans was one for the development of a replacement for the outdated, fifth-generation Honda Civic-based, 200/400 series, later called the 25/45, positioned under the 75 in Rover’s car lineup.

We remember many proposals and concept sketches for the car from the period, but the folks from “Aronline” managed to secure some exclusive photos of a full size clay model that we’ve never seen before. Named the R55, it’s a design proposal for a compact sedan slightly larger than the BMW 3-Series said to have been completed back in the Spring of 1997.

The crew from the British blog talked to the designer of the car, Richard Woolley, who had this to say:

“Yes, I think it was shaping up well. Considering it went from sketch to clay to model in one shot, I think it still looks pretty good nearly 13 years on. But, of course, I may be a bit biased!”

“The car sat on a long wheelbase (c.2800mm), giving maximum rear accommodation, but with an overall length less than R75 – the North South installation enabled a much shorter front overhang. The clay model was completed in Gaydon, spring of 1997, and the composite model build was contracted out to Futura in Birmingham with completion that summer.”

The R55 sported a dynamic design with very short overhangs, a clamshell-style bonnet and a relatively low roofline – something like a British flavored Chrysler 300. Only thing is the 300 was introduced as a concept model some six years later, at the 2003 NY Auto Show…

Sure the styling might be polarizing, but in our opinion (feel free to disagree) it still looks fresh today especially when compared to current offerings in the segment.

In any case, the R55, which was supposed to spearhead Rover’s attack in the premium segment along with a slightly larger replacement for the 75 (think BMW 5 Series+) was ditched as where many other plans to revitalize Rover in the years to come.

este es el SsangYong Rexton

http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rexton_12.jpg

e este es el  MG Rexton

http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/mgroverrexton_01.jpg

http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rexton_08.jpg

http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rexton_01.jpg

http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/rexton_06.jpg

IT’S fairly common knowledge within the industry that, when BMW and Rover cut their ties in 2000, there a certain number of conditions were imposed about the future use of certain marque names. For one, BMW decided to allow MG Rover to use the Rover marque name on its own terms – by licensing it to the British company. Although, outwardly, this might seem like a strange decision, there was a sensible reason for it. In order to make its books appear to balance more favourably following its British adventure with Rover between 1994 and 2000, BMW decided that it couldn’t keep hold of Land Rover and so sold the Solihull company to Ford for a whopping £1.6bn.

In order to protect Ford from MG Rover producing a rival off-roader, one stipulation of the convoluted licensing deal involving the Rover marque was that Longbridge could not produce an off-roader or four wheel drive car bearing the Rover name. After all, customers in international markets might confuse a Land Rover 4×4 with a Rover 4×4 – and, if you think that sounds implausible, remember that, in the USA, most drivers call their Rangies ‘Rovers’…

However, the restriction did not deter MG Rover from looking at the alternatives during its five-year run. The main source of new metal for MG Rover would come from collaboration with manufacturers – and producing MGR versions of vehicles already in production. This thinking clearly resulted in the CityRover and MG XPower SV but could also have produced a number of other interesting vehicles.

Here are just seven cars that could have become MG Rovers – and those are the ones that we know about:
■Matra M72
■Renault Espace
■Fiat Stilo
■Proton Gen2
■Fiat Multipla
■ Lancia Musa
■A great little mid-engined TATA Indica with MG TF 180 running gear

Another car that was seriously evaluated at Longbridge was the SsangYong Rexton but, because of the no 4×4 stipulation from BMW, it would have had to be badged as an MG. Given that marque’s sporting heritage, there’s no doubt that an off-roading Octagon-badged SUV might cause marketing problems. However, that didn’t stop Peter Stevens’ stylists reluctantly agreeing to have a close look at the idea on behalf of Longbridge. It wasn’t the first off-roader to be evaluated by MGR, either, as the test and development engineers who put miles on the aborted Rover 75 Tourer 4×4 (using Freelander running gear) will attest to.

Peter Stevens recalls: ‘To try and keep the dealers on side Kevin Howe had a plan to get them all up to Longbridge and show them how bright the future was – hence the mock-up of RDX60 that was done at the Dove Company in very quick time! However, at the last minute he didn’t think that would be enough (too true!), so he asked me if we could take a Rexton and make it into an MG for next Friday.

‘Once again the great guys at the Dove Company did the impossible with my brilliant ‘right hand man’, Ian Moreton in charge. This took just nine days and, I have to say, it had great wheels and tyres. Kev had heard that SAIC were planning to buy SsangYong and thought the vehicle would be a great idea. You would think that, while doing something like this, he would have mentioned the idea to SsangYong. Well no, actually he didn’t.’

The MG version of the Rexton looks surprisingly good – much better than the car it’s based on – and may well have had potential but three prototypes are now all that remain of the idea. Interestingly, the Security Guards at Longbridge are currently using one of those prototypes on the site and SAIC was apparently unaware of the existence of the project until the merger with NAC last year.

aronline

[img width=1024 height=384]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/01-Peugeot-208-Design-Sketch-06.jpg
[img width=1024 height=384]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/01-Peugeot-208-Design-Sketch-08.jpg
[img width=1024 height=384]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/01-Peugeot-208-Design-Sketch-07.jpg
[img width=1024 height=384]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/01-Peugeot-208-Design-Sketch-05.jpg
[img width=1024 height=768]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/02-Peugeot-208-Design-Process-02.jpg
[img width=1024 height=576]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/02-Peugeot-208-Design-Process-05.jpg
[img width=1024 height=648]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/02-Peugeot-208-Design-Process-04.jpg

[img width=512 height=768]http://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2012/05/02-Peugeot-208-Design-Process-03.jpg

More:
http://www.carbodydesign.com/2012/05/peugeot-208-design-story/

Jokejoe

Pues el primero y el segundo son preciosos…

Me quedo con el rojo…

El rojo la trasera parece un seat

LM003 Borneo or Galileo – the STORY

During the ownership of Automobili Lamborghini SpA by the Indonesian group, a study was made to put the gargantuan LM002 off road Lamborghini back into production.

It was known that the LM002 had his flaws but it still was a steady low volume seller, therefore a United Kingdom based company was contacted to design a successor to the LM002, but later this job was handed over to SZ Design, a company based on the remains of the Zagato Design Studio.
This was to become the LM003, named Borneo or Galileo, depending on what market it was offered on, the LM003 model was actually a confusing name, because an LM003 did already exist in the past, it was in fact an LM002 with a Turbocharged Diesel engine installed into it instead of the massive V12, but because the complete car was very underpowered with this engine configuration only one prototype was ever made and never left the factory.

A preliminary drawing was made for the new LM003 project which you can view at the top of this page, but an in dept market research study revealed only a small interest would exist in the new LM003. Most Lamborghini customers or future customers were not exactly waiting for a new off road vehicle from Sant’Agata, a much more wanted car would have been an Espada successor like the L149 project or a new Diablo successor.

Therefore the Borneo/Galileo never even made it into a prototype, this drawing and a few others made by Zagato exist, together with some technical proposals were about all that ever came from this try out although an actual full scale mock up was created of the LM003.

The shape of the Borneo looked much like the current Range Rover at that time, probably to biggest competitor for the new LM003 during that period, the Range Rover was about the only high-end luxury pseudo off road vehicle in existence, the Mercedes M-series, the Lincoln Navigator or the Hummer did not exist yet. As you might notice, all cars in this market area use a similar layout, using a type of station car look, just like the LM003 was designed to, although Michael Kimberley decided the new LM003 would be presented with three different body configurations, one like the drawing shows here, a ‘normal’ four door version like the previous LM002 and probably a third looking much like the open top Hummer which appeared later.

The new LM003 Borneo would become a joint venture between Timor, and Indonesian based automaker and Automobili Lamborghini SpA, again the body shell would not be made in Italy but in the Far East. The LM002 bodywork was in fact made in Spain when it was still in production.

A closer look at the LM002 Estate page will show you in fact a modified LM002, this LM was converted into a similar looking shape to this LM003 and is currently located in the United Kingdom.

In my personal opinion the market is currently open for a new high end luxury off road vehicle, the sales for the Mercedes M-series and Lincoln Navigator are quite well, so a new Lamborghini Off road vehicle could still make sense in a marketing point of view, naturally a small engined V-8 car to succeed the Jalpa would sell better, but the very high end market is where Automobili Lamborghini SpA could make a difference.

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003.jpg

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003borneo3.jpg

The Lamborghini LM003 Borneo, off road design study by SZ Design (Zagato)

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003front.jpg

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003borneo.jpg

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003galileo.jpg

A Japanese publication during the Nineties published this drawing of the Italian Rolls Royce among Range Rovers, a V12 powered MPV by Lamborghini

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003gemini.jpg

http://www.lambocars.com/images/prototypes/lm003mockup.jpg

Opel Vectra

http://panick.free.fr/etstyle/opelvectra96-projets2.jpg

Omega

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6523/opelomegamaquettecopia.jpg

Corsa Spider
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6524/opelcorsaspider1copia.jpg