(cover image: Venturi Volage Concept by Sacha Lakic)

Concept Car Drawing by Ana Zadnik

auto(r) is the first automotive design conference ever held in South East Europe (SEE). The conference theme is "Professional automotive designers from SEE" (born or originated).

The title "auto(r)" has been chosen because it combines two words - automobile and author. The mission is to present designers as authors of automobile designs.

The Conference will be held from 26 to 29 March 2009 in Zagreb (Croatia) at the Dom HDLU, a monumental art gallery built in the 1930s.

During the conference there will be an exhibition of drawing and sketches, photos and production cars designed by speakers.

Car Drawing By Robert Gotic	Fiat Scratch Sketches by Uros Pavasovic

Among the cars on display there will be the Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Aerodinamica Spider or Aerospider, built by Jankovic brothers in Rijeka between 1934 and 1937.

Mitsubishi Concept X exterior drawing by Omer Halilhodzic	Ford Iosis X Interior drawings by Kemal Curic

The Conference will also host a design contest, open to anyone who is not professionally involved in automotive design.

C5 Airscape Concept Drawing by Domagoj Dukec

The theme is "Design a car for generation born in 1990" and the submission deadline is next 9 March 2009.

The list of speakers includes:

• Mladen Barbaric - CEO of Pearls Studio, Canada
• Sinisa Brigljevic - Designer at GM in Rüsselsheim, Germany
• Kemal Curic - Exterior designer at Ford
• Domagoj Djukec - Exterior design supervisor at Citroën
• Lou Gasevski - Designer at Chrysler, creator of the Dodge Zeo Concept

• Uros Pavasovic working on Super Yacht Range Rover

  Georg Gedl - Freelance designer, worked for Audi and BMW
• Robert Gotic - Designer at GM Europe
• Omer Halilhodzic - Mercedes-Benz Designer - Mitsubishi Sportback and Concept-X concepts
• Tome Jovanoski - Exterior designer at Chrysler
• Sacha Lakic - Freelance designer, design partner of Venturi
• Robert Lesnik - worked for Volkswagen and Kia
• Elvir Mesalic - GM exterior designer, assistant at College for Creative Studies
• Milen Milenovic - Project Lead Designer at Nissan - Nissan Pivo 2 Concept
• Uros Pavasovic - Designer at Andrew Winch Designs
• Goran Popovic - Team Leader at Pininfarina - Ferrari 550 maranello interior
• Ernesto Rupar - Design Manager at Ford - Opel GTC Concept
• Yovan Vujacic - Exterior designer at GM
• Ana Zadnik - Exterior designer at Renault
• Dragan Zegarac - Senior studio engineer at Volkswagen

For more information visit www.automotivedesignconference.com.

Domagoj Djukec at the drawing board	Sacha Lakic working on the clay model of the Venturi Fetish Concept

About the Alfa Romeo Aerospider (6C 2300 Aerodinamica Spider)

The Aerospider is the most important car for the history of automobiles in Croatia. It was developed starting from a project by engineer Vittorio Jano, and for its construction the Jankovic brothers collaborated with Ferdinand Porsche and famous aerodynamicist Paul Jaray.

The Alfa Romeo Aerospider (Source: classicandperformancecar.com)

Among the revolutionary innovations were the layout - three seat in a row with a central driving position - the mid-mounted engine, the streamlined body with integrated wings and the extremely reduced height - just 82 cm, the lowest pre-war automobile.

The start of WWII prevented the Aerospider from being further developed. In 1946 the Jankovic brothers managed to escape from Rijeka thanks to the Aerospider's performances and during the restauration of the car there were found bullet holes in the body.

The car was sold in the 1970s and was then on display at worldwide contests such as Pebble Beach and Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.

Today the Aerospider is estimated to be worth about 1 million Euros.

For additional information read the article at classicandperformancecar.com.

(Source: auto(r) Design Conference)