Having penned the original Golf, possibly the most influential modern global compact car, Giorgetto Giugiaro and his Italdesign staff are revisiting the theme of forward-thinking, compact and subcompact hatchbacks for its new owner, Volkswagen. A sleek, C-segment three-door may hint at the look of future Golfs, but if so it’s a peek well into the future, as the Golf VII debuts later this year with a decidedly more evolutionary look. Ital’s designs shrink the front fascias of both cars to the width of their narrow headlights, improving aerodynamics and allowing a relatively open greenhouse… VW’s designs have been headed in this direction since the Duplo-block Golf III, and Giugiaro’s boys may be planning the stylistic endgame. Even the more upright subcompact concept has the same minimalist brow and unexpectedly curve-dependent, organic design language.
In any case, VW has not yet commented on the designs, so we don’t really know where they fit into the brand’s future. Still, it’s cool to see the house that penned the original Golf taking on the same design brief, decades after the original helped define a whole segment.
Like the golf design, but would prefer less of a rear slope. I assume that to cut down on rear drag.
I also find it interesting that the gas cap is on the left hand side since every VW I think I’ve owned since 1979 has had it on the right. Sometimes when I pull into a big gas station I get the idea that only VW puts it on the right.
This concept has a rear spoiler (not sure if that is the correct American term) to ensure flow separation. The rear slope is purely for ascetics and not aerodynamics.
In simple terms you ideally want to keep the flow attached along the length of the body to reduce drag but this would result in a very long rear slope aka 70’s / 80’s Saab 900, the next best thing is to have clean separation like this would with it’s spoiler. The worst thing to have it the air attach then separate as a function of the cars pitch as this can cause lift aka early Audi TT’s
http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Car-Aerodynamics-Have-Stalled/A_2978/article.html (scan down the the bit about Audi TT’s)
Of course, the drawback of this is that in the rain, road muck gets sucked up and plastered over your rear window.
colin42,
Love it: Purely for “ascetics,” as in “those who practice rigid self-denial, especially as an act of religious devotion.” Yes, I know it was probably just spell-check gone wild, but it probably is somewhat appropriate for those who require spoilers on their daily drivers.
By the way, I have an early TT identical to the one in the article you reference, and I have resisted getting the spoiler added [available for free as a recall] for reasons of aesthetics, so perhaps I qualify too. I have never had any problems with rear end lift at speeds well over 100, but then, I am not running around curves at those speeds either.
German, French and Italian cars have gas caps on the right side; Japanese, Korean and British cars have it on the left (both cases they are on the passenger side). US cars tend to be random, but the origin of the design may determine the gas cap location.
The Italdesign model actually has gas caps on both sides.
Mine has one on each side!
Very convenient at the pumps.
More evidence of the VW/Suzuki merger: The Golfsx4.
Do Germans now speak Japanese?
I can’t decide whether I like that or not. Currently I’m leaning towards ‘not.’
Me too, while the rear-view camera thingy in some of these slides is pretty cool, and while I applaud the design shop for a strong revision to model that has been around since the ’70s (and the highly incremental MkV, MkVI, and MkVII changes), I’m not a big fan of two elements in particular:
1) Sloping hatch; while I’d imagine it’s got better air-flow, this revision looks like it compromises one of the areas where the current Golfs excel over almost all of it’s hatch-competition: rear seat headroom.
2) The mid-rear spoiler. The only place where dividing the rear-window can be excused is an ’80s vintage CR-X. Why devote all of that design element to open up the sky and visibility, only to compromise rear visibility?
Nice FIAT on the top image and some Mitsubishi-Colts underneath…
Boring and soulless.
My immediate impressions are of a deceptively neat+clean design, true to VW’s increasingly conservative design language, with some futuristic flair and some function following form.
Case in point: those absolutly friggin’ enormous windowlettes aft of the A-pillar. The flight deck-like dash must dwarf the Honda Civic’s, and all that interior space is wasted while the driver sits needlessly far behind the windscreen, killing forward visibility. Frankly, there are plenty of attractive-looking hatches out there that don’t resort to such silliness.
This really reminds me of the Fiat Grande Punto…
Ah, Giugiaro designed that one too.
The lack of a massive rear bumper won’t fly in the US. Looks like the euro focus.
All I can say about that design is this.
I mean, really.
Wow – that is some comparison… how on earth did you visualize that? You are absolutely correct of course, proportion wise it does look identical!
I don’t know; I owned a guinea pig about 20 years ago, and… I just looked at that car, and yelled, “GUINEA PIG!”. And then it squealed, fled into its cardboard tube, and pooped five times.
It was kind of strange, actually.
Edit: OK, I just had to do this. It works out better than I thought it would…
So, Issusu is bringing back the Impulse?
Overall I like it much more interesting than the boxy recent models. I like how it leans forward giving the interior more room. Though front “vent” windows seem to be a trend aka Fit,Civic and SX4 but also remind me of GM Dustbuster vans or Renault Espace. Mid-Rear spoiler shades of 80’s era VW Sirocco.
BTW Vent windows are worth a thread.