Renowned designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, whose 80th birthday falls this year, has taken to the stage at the Geneva Motor show with a new concept car that combines his classic (and quirky) design philosophy with futuristic flair.
Giugiaro is most well known for his automotive designs – which include the DeLorean DMC-12, the Maserati Merak, and the 1966 Ford Mustang concept – but he's also designed watches, firearms, cameras, and more. One of the most prolific designers of our time, Giugiaro worked in design houses like Bertone and Ghia in the 1960s, and then independently from the 1970s to today. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame during his career.
The GFG Sibylla is a collaboration between Giugiaro'a studio, GFG Style, and smart energy management company Envision. The concept honors Giugiaro's mother, known as Maria "Sibylla" Giugiaro and the ancient Greek sibyls – female oracles who were called "Sibylla" by Latin-speaking Romans.
GFG studio, which is headed by Giorgetto and his son Fabrizio, has created an airy, panoramic feeling in the interior with the use of an unusual bulbous windscreen and glass roof. When the doors are opened up front, the windscreen slides forward over the hood, opening the entire top of the car for easy access to the low electric sedan. The rear doors, similarly, have the upper glass lift like a sort of dutch door gullwing, where the door opens forward normally but the glass above lifts upwards. Neither strikes us as particularly practical, but both are beautiful to see.
The concept's exterior design pays homage to the 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Testudo Bertone, one of Giugiaro's first designs which appears alongside the GFG Sibylla at Geneva. That 1963 concept had the windscreen tilting forward, along with much of the canopy, to ease access to the interior upon entry and egress.
In contrast to the largely smooth and unadorned Corvair concept, the GFG Sibylla's sleek futuristic look is marked by well-defined lines, deep cuts in the bodywork, and an aggressive cooling intake around the grille.
Inside, the GFG Sibylla has seating for four with technology taking center stage throughout. Screens appear at both the front and rear center consoles as well as behind the front seats. Most of the dashboard readouts and gauges are also digital.
Running as an all-wheel drive, the car is electrically powered with a 100 kWh lithium-ion battery (about 75 kWh usable), outputting 400 kW (536 hp), and a claimed 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) speed of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of over 200 km/h (124 mph). Range is estimated to be about 450 km (279 miles).
The battery pack and management system is designed to provide power to the grid or a smart home when required. Also innovative is a front-facing stop lamp which illuminates when the vehicle is stopping in order to give pedestrians visual assurance. That light doubles as a communications device to indicate the car's charge status and capacity.
Source: Envision via PR Newswire