Featured project: Lancia Delta Concept

Tags: new designers, lancia Published on 21 September 2006 | 25,469 views 
We present a very interesting concept vehicle created by Italian designer Giangiacomo Barbero for the 2006 "Stile Italiano Giovani" design competition. It is based on the Brera platform and features an original layout, with rear sliding doors.

The Concept

Lancia Delta Concept - Interior details Lancia Delta concept - Racing Martini WRC version

As Giangiacomo Barbero explains "For the 100th anniversary of the Lancia brand, my goal was to design a car that could express all of the brand’s hallmark elegance, together with the competitive spirit that made it celebrated in the 70s and 80s and won the hearts of millions of racing fans the world over."

Lancia Delta Concept by Giangiacomo Barbero Lancia Delta Concept by Giangiacomo Barbero

Lancia Delta Concept by Giangiacomo Barbero

Design

The treatment of the car’s proportions and volumes was aimed at combining elegance with competitiveness in a wholly dynamic blend.

The side surface rises towards the rear, raising the beltline and flowing into the lines of the backlight.

With their taut, muscular surfaces, the front and rear wheel arches seem to “pull” from both sides of the car, giving it an edgy sense of equilibrium.

With a length of 440 cm, the Delta Concept stays it between the midsize and upper midsize segments.

These proportions enabled to move the occupant compartment backwards, leaving more space for the hood and shifting the weight of the power-plant more towards the center than in the past, but still providing plenty of room for four people.

Lancia Delta Concept - Alfa Romeo Brera - Size comparison
Size comparison between the Lancia Delta Concept
and the Alfa Romeo Brera

To keep manufacturing costs down, the car could use the Alfa Romeo Brera platform with a few minor modifications.

Details and interior design

Considerable attention also went into selecting colors and materials, where the idea was to create a balanced contrast between the “emotional”, albeit sophisticated, colors of the bodywork, and the brushed aluminum finish (created using applied films) used on the roof and exterior details such as the rear view mirror pods, handles, front air intake, and exhaust outlets, and the parts consisting of more high-tech materials such as the carbon fiber front and rear appliques.

Lancia Delta Concept - Interior rendering

For the interior, the contrast is created using the same cool aluminum tones combined with hand-stitched leather and colors that warm the whole interior and the light that pours into it through the ample greenhouse structure.

Five-Doors layout

The car creates the impression of having three doors, though there are in fact five.

The rear ones run on a sliding mechanism, with rails located inside the door so that they do not affect the body side’s lines.

Lancia Delta Concept rendering Lancia Delta Concept rendering
Lancia Delta Concept rendering Alias StudioTools screenshot

This is a feature that will come in handy in many day-to-day situations, such as stopping to pick up passengers in busy traffic.

For this project Giangiacomo Barbero developed the entire design, from the preliminary concept sketches of the car’s interior and exterior, until the creation of a complete 3D mathematical model with Alias StudioTools software.

Alias StudioTools screenshot Alias StudioTools screenshot
Two screenshots of the 3D CAD model created with Alias StudioTools
Design details Body dimensions
Design details Body dimensions


Giangiacomo Barbero and
Marie Anne Bertone at Palazzo Birago

About the Author

Giangiacomo Barbero received his Bachelor's Degree in Transportation Design at the Istituto Europeo di Design of Turin in 2005.

In 2006 he had an Internship at the Idea Institute (Turin, Italy). He was finalist in the "Anfia stile italiano giovani 2006" design competition with the Lancia Delta concept and in the 2005 Canadian Autoshow "World Automotive Design Competition" with Alessi Bubble.

In 2005 his Ferrari Fiorano was one of the finalist projects in the "Ferrari - Concept of a Myth" Competition. In 2004 he has won BRABUS' Wheels design contest.

His professional works include freelance wheels design for various companies, official package versions design for Alfa Romeo, Suzuki, Toyota and Fiat.

For Car Body Design Giangiacomo Barbero has written the tutorials "Quick sketch in Photoshop" and "Presentation rendering in Photoshop".

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