My first TTAC-exclusive rendering for 2008: Toyota's eighth incarnation of the Celica. Toyota has already given us a few tips regarding the looks of their next sports car via the FT-HS Concept. However, the concept car has lots of “show-thingies” that are as unfit for market release as the vowel-less name. Gone will be the “hybrid-synergy-drive” hood scoop, the fancy roof or the unnecessary rear air intakes. Other parts like the expensive carbon-fiber compound wheels or the tiny mirrors will be replaced with components better fit for mass production and road-use. I also believe that the front air intakes will be a bit larger, as proper cooling is very important in a performance car. I added two extra intakes underneath the front lights, because I thought they will temper a bit the original “yacht-smile” of the FT-HS. The lights will feature more conventional technologies, the usual H9 and or Xenon lamps + LEDs for signals, that giving them a slightly different look. As always, we shall see what we shall see…

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The future VW Touareg will be no big surprise in terms of design; it's expected to follow the current VW design line. I think it will borrow some “youth” from the kid-brother Tiguan, but display it with the macho attitude we are used to from the Cayenne/Touareg duo. The desert landscape in my rendering is intended to be in harmony with the dry-post-holiday-hangover-feel some might experience. Happy New Year!

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The Porsche Boxster is an amazing car to drive, but I never liked the design. I’ve always found the roadster's front/rear proportions to be the automotive equivalent of Dr. Doolittle's Pushmi-pullyu. In fact, if the original Boxster didn’t have a windscreen, you couldn’t tell which end was the front. (The 550 Spyder never had such a problem.) Porsche has gradually sculpted the Boxster's sheetmetal towards a more forward-going form; I'm assuming they're going to continue the evolution. I think a side line that descends towards the front will solve this problem entirely, giving the car a more aggressive stance and moving it towards its rightful place as a "mini-Carrera GT." The old Boxsters blend classic design elements with modern touches in a strange way. The elements that “scream Porsche," like the round headlights, were changed, while other, less relevant for the brand were kept. My design tweaks a little bit the ingredients used in the same neo-retro recipe. Here's hoping the right design (and some more power?) will reignite sales of Porsche's purest product.

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This is not the first rendering of the future 5er to appear on the net, But I didn’t like any of the images I’ve seen so far. I also dislike the E60. I guess all BMW fans older than five crave for a design with the beautiful simplicity and the character of the E24 6 Series… I don’t remember spending so much time on a rendering in quite a while. As a BMW fan, I felt obliged to take my time with this one and tweak it until it felt right. I tried to blend the things that first come into my mind when I think BMW, with the flame-surfacing-stuff they’re doing these days. Note the side line, tribute to the BMW 2002, and the “kidneys” that move into the future with more attitude and guts. The front lights were the tricky part. Some think that the E60 overhanging lights will or should make it onto the next 5-Series. I tried about four or five sets of those, but none of them looked right. So I felt obliged to use a conservative approach with just a little of the flame-surfacing-overhanging-stuffing. Enjoy!

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Subaru is hard at work on the successor to the legendary Impreza WRX. Spy photographers recently caught several camouflaged test vehicles strutting their stuff. The shots lead us to believe that the new car will be a hatchback, drawing its design inspiration from the ’00 B5-THP concept car. The change from four doors to five will throw the WRX STI against cars like the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Opel Astra OPC and Ford Focus ST. Do the European and American hot-hatches stand a chance?