February saw a downpour of some cutthroat and drool-worthy automotive designs at Yanko Design. Each automotive was innovative, bringing to us something we had never seen nor experienced before. From killer speed to dashing good looks, to impenetrable safety standards, every automotive we featured at YD broke some design barrier for us, and hopefully, they did the same for you as well. Hence, we’ve curated a collection of automotive designs that we feel were the best of the lot – from an Apple Car concept that had our pulse racing to an amphibious all-terrain Audi concept, each design featured in this list is sure to secure a spot on every automotive fanatic’s wish list!
Maserati and the racing DNA of the luxury carmaker go all the way back to the 1950s in the Grand Prix era. The nostalgia of the 250F Formula One race car or the grit of the legendary drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss is what shaped the Italian brand over all these years. And the trident logo based on the Fountain of Neptune designed by Mario Maserati in a way defined the brand’s superiority over other automotive players. 2020 saw the Italian automaker introduce the halo supercar MC20 and to spice things up designer Salvatoreandrea Piccirillo has come with an electric Gran Turismo supercar concept, he likes to call Maserati Neptune. The designer penned this concept render in collaboration with FCA Group as a part of his training course at IED Transportation Design. The concept borrows the driving position from the 250F Formula One racer and the negative space down the bottom middle is something that’s unique. Maserati Neptune is powered by the Formula E racecar platform with the battery positioned behind the front wheels. The Gran Turismo car has a splitter located at the front and a big diffuser on the rear, giving it a very speed demon-like character. Salvatoreandrea has designed the concept keeping the driving pleasure, sportiness, and comfort in mind – and that’s evident from what we see here.
On the inside, the Apple Car is more like a luxury lounge with infotainment displays all around (even on the doors), gesture controlled-entertainment systems, and the holographic display traverses the riders into a completely different reality. You would not expect the car to have a driver seat in the year 2076 which coincides with the vision for the Apple Car just announced. So, the Cupertino giant can take some healthy inspiration from Ali’s design. Access to the cabin is via touch ID sensors and presumably, Apple ID is going to be used here. The gull-winged doors give the car a very futuristic appeal, ready to take its passengers for a smooth ride actuated by magnetic levitation technology. Yes, the one you see on maglev trains. Although the final Apple Car will be electric powered and the maglev dream is a bit far-fetched for now, this concept by Ali Cam that could rival the edgy Tesla Cybertruck design refreshes things up in anticipation of the Apple Car that’s slated to come sometime in 2024 or 2025. And of course, the real one is going to have wheels, so you can muster up the design with wheels on this one. Things are seeming exciting already, aren’t they?
The Phantom is one of Erdem’s more recent works, surfacing on his portfolio page just a few days prior. Designed using the BMW S1000RR superbike as its base, the Phantom builds on the sinister appeal of the bike, amplifying it to almost a ‘cyberpunk executioner’ level. The bike comes with a crouching stance, sticking to the ground as much as possible. There’s hardly any ground clearance on the front, but most of Erdem’s bikes fall within the ‘salt flats racer’ category, making it a non-issue, really. The bike comes with some spectacular panel-work that looks Cybertruck-esque, with its edgy angular design. Designed more in the vein of a moving sculpture than a production bike, the Phantom doesn’t really sport a dashboard, rear-view mirrors, or even a seat! However, for what it lacks in functional details, it definitely makes up with its bold, brutish design!
Lancia Stratos is an iconic car that keeps pushing the imagination of automotive concepts for its sheer timeless proportions and the styling that was way ahead of its time. The ride’s masculinity and that hint of metrosexual character make it popular among enthusiasts to date, and for a good reason. The Bertone-designed Stratos Zero further escalated the car’s face value a notch higher. Decades have passed, but the edgy four-wheeler is still alive in the subconscious of automotive enthusiasts like Shane Baxley. Having his feet deep in the Hollywood community (his work features in movies like Captain Marvel and The Predator), Shane is creative in designing automotive concepts. His latest work is the Bertone Stratos Bax – a remake of the Bertone Stratos Zero in an upbeat modern makeover that’s utterly desirable. Renders of Baxley’s latest concept are jaw-dropping, as I already want to open the gull-winged doors of this beastly supercar and drive it on the open roads. He has contoured the ride’s ultra-sharp edges just at the right places in the right proportions to give it that hot appeal. The flowing design and the fat tires with the hollowed-out rim lend it a very street-legal racer DNA, ready for any challenger on the other side of the lane!
As an outdoorsy person, you always dream of one vehicle that can satiate your adventure lust, whether it be on land as well as water. That ideation of an amphibious vehicle that can tread the demanding terrain on land as well as dive in the water like a submersible has been a pipedream a bit too far for practicality aspect. However, Slovakia-based Andrej Zachar with the Audi X travel companion wants to change that notion with her future-forward concept design that’s feasible enough to get excited about. An amphibious four-wheeled vehicle that draws inspiration from the heavy-duty off-road monsters, sleek electric Tesla Cybertruck, and the ambitious moon rovers. Basically, an amalgam of everything good about four-wheels stocked into a ride that’s compact and venturing enough to make sense. The Audi X travel companion can easily scale any mountains, ride in thick snow, and sinking sand on land – thanks to its unique wheel mechanism that scoops loose snow/sand as the wheel comes in contact with the surface. The pod-like interior of the vehicle can be configured in a two-seater or three-seater orientation depending on the number of riders.
Neeraj Jawale from Pune, India has thought of the BMW D-05T bike concept that brings the fun of riding and the deep-rooted emotional connection between man and the machine to the forefront. Leveraging the advancements in technology, the bike will have the capability to make the detailed plan of the next adventure trip based on the experience of the explorers who’ve treaded the terrain before. The service hubs located in remote locations provide the swappable batteries or other travel essentials so that rider has to carry less. The bike has a watchdog in the form of a drone that keeps updating people who care about your current location status and also boosts the signal for you to have one thing less to worry about. When the night hits in the woods, the drone also keeps an eye on any predators to send timely alerts. Coming on to the bike design, it has magnetic detachable storage on the rear and magnetic holders in the front for hooking the add on’s. Moto GP-like the character of the bike is so BMW in every aspect and truly made for adventure seekers who view their motorbike as a companion for getaway riding.
While you might think this two-wheeler has the Tesla connection, it doesn’t. The brainchild of two transportation designers, Drake Nolte and Jack Donald Morris, this conceptual bike design imagines a decade down the line, the state of personal commuting amidst dense California traffic in the year 2030. Taking the best from both worlds; the two-wheelers and cars – the concept dubbed ‘Tesla Model C’ is a rare combination of road safety, driving comfort, compact size, and driving dynamics! The duo put a lot of thought into designing the bike concept with a driver sitting position adopted from the four-wheelers. The steering column of the revolutionary ride extends out horizontally like that of an F1 car in handlebar-like form for superior grip at all times. The motorbike aesthetics are evident in the shape of the rear swing-arm and the two wheels’ positioning. Perhaps, the most exciting bit of the design is the flexibility in the parked position, which allows the driver to comfortably get out of the Tesla Model C and decreases the vehicle’s footprint for parked spaces. Now, isn’t that ingenious or what!
The star of the Back to the Future series is going to shine again, without a doubt. To fuel our imagination and prep us all for the 2021 DeLorean DMC-12, designer Ángel Guerra has awe-inspired automotive design with his version of the DeLorean 2021. He summed up the motivation for this concept in his words – “This is a thank you to an icon and a movie that marked my childhood. This is, too, a new DeLorean for my son’s generation.” As his tribute to the iconic design, Ángel has mustered up this super dope DeLorean for the 40th anniversary of the brand that captured the imagination of an entire generation. The gull-winged car has a lot of character – making it look nothing shy of a supercar of the current generation. Nothing is overdone and every little edge or curve seems well-thought-out. Perhaps, it comes from his culmination of childhood dreams and the subconscious desire to own a DeLorean one day. In fact, his automotive design journey was triggered by the dream-like cars of the 80s and the designs of the following decades.
The Lancia Cargo Stratos, as the concept is called, builds on the Stratos Zero’s wedge design, albeit with a lowered nose to help increase downforce. The concept sports a more streamlined design, embracing curves as well as straight, edgy lines to create something that looks like a wind-tunnel test brought to life. The car’s sides come with continuous metal paneling, hinting at the obvious lack of traditional doors. To enter and exit the vehicle, the windshield opens outwards, revealing the fighter-jet-style 1+1 seater cockpit beneath… just like in the original Stratos Zero. Two headlights sit flush on the car’s surface, right ahead of the fenders, and come fitted with LEDs. The car’s rear comes with linear taillights too, giving off a very cyberpunk vibe.
Designed specifically for racing, the Helvezzia Tipo-6 seats just one person with a pretty advanced-looking dashboard featuring a steering wheel with gauges and switches, and a secondary set of gauges behind the steering. The car comes with a nice, tubular body, an open cockpit, and wheels that pop out of the bodywork, with hubcaps covering the rims entirely. There’s even a step knee located to the left of the driver, headlamps with their own covers too, and by far my favorite detail, that ridiculously beautiful chrome grille on the front, added purely for vanity purposes because an EV wouldn’t really need a radiator. Finally, the Helvezzia Tipo-6 caps off with a chrome rear, giving the entire car quite a unique retro-meets-modern vibe from front to back!
