Lexus Nuaero: Self-Absorbed Car Designers Rejoice
Jon Rådbrink’s Lexus Nuaero concept
Ah, car design students, they’re pretentiousness embodied. Aside from actors, there really is no more self-absorbed group. Young Swedish designer, Jon Rådbrink, presented this concept at the Royal College of Art graduation show in London last month. This really is function sacrificed at the altar of faux-futurist form.
It’s called the Lexus Nuaero, and instead of a transmission, it has individual motors located at each wheel. That design also allows for open, catamaran underbody, since there’s no driveshaft or trans under there. There’s also no brake or gas pedal, all the controls are in an airplane style steering wheel. To apply the brakes, you push the wheel away from you. That’s actually all well and good, new design is interesting and shakes things up, what bothers me is the designers idea of what defines quality.
See, the Nuaero is 15 and a half feet long, 6 and a half feet wide, 4 feet high, with a 11 foot wheelbase…yet it weighs 1700 pounds, about the same as a Smart Fortwo. It seems like a stiff wind would loft this car up like a kite.
“I believe that this design paradox of low weight and large presence could be the way we’ll define premium in the future,” the designer says.
Really? Because that’s actually how most human beings intuitively define “low quality”, the exact opposite of premium. Low weight + large presence = no substance. It’s just a big hollow plastic form. But then again, maybe I was a little harsh, what do you think?
Here’s the pics and a video:
You’d have a hard time getting me to pay Lexus money for something like this. I don’t know— call me old fashioned but I like my cars/trucks to look like cars, not a wave or space ship. Looks like the same thing “designers” have been kicking out for years, thankfully no executive has let them have the keys to the plant yet.
Words by Joe on August 27, 2008 at 4:36 pm | #
fricken awsome i want this car GOOD JOB AMERICA NEEDS THIS CAR
Words by fernando on August 29, 2008 at 6:56 pm | #
Its a new and interesting creative use of form and space. It’s more of a show piece, but lacks current practicality. However, I commend the effort to look beyond the box and challenge the future of car design.
Words by RJWiill on October 21, 2008 at 11:23 am | #