The Tipo-E reminds me of a Honda E, despite (or because of) the fact that it uses a version of the '88 106/306 body - I think it’s the smallest one (with the 2.2m wheelbase).
2 Likes
An Important Notice on design language of Electric Vehicles
As I have been lurking in channels on discord, I’ve been seeing preliminary designs of what people have been coming up with for this challenge and I’ve come to the conclusion that I haven’t been clear enough in what exactly Arco is looking for in terms of electric car design and how their own design language is set up. Firstly, the badge for Arco is oriented with the arrows facing up. This is to mimic the letter A and the mountain ranges around the area in northern Italy where the Arco headquarters is located. Second, and honestly most important, the badge of ALL Arco cars goes in the center of the grill on a very long and thin triangle.
This grill arrangement is present on all of their cars and is a trademark of the brand. It is similar to how the kidney grills are a mark of a BMW or the central shield grill is an identifier of an Alfa Romeo. The same goes for the louvers inside the grill. They have been present in all models and are a key identifier. Those grill slats bring me to my next point of clarification of what I said in the original post. Electric car grills are not just bland sheets of featureless plastic! They have texture. A surprising amount of it in fact. This is an excellent place to incorporate the trademark Arco grill design, even if the grill itself is nonfunctional. One of the things that will factor heavily into the judging process is your interpretation and use of Arco’s design language. If you put something in front of them that couldn’t fit in with their current stable of cars or doesn’t pull from their heritage to make something that looks like it would be the progression of Arco’s design language, they’ll not be happy with you. They are willing to push their release date of the Tipo-E back a bit if they don’t find anything appropriate from what they receive.
Now onto the details of what I mean about electric cars still having texture in their grill designs. Take the new designs for the BMW i4, Electrified 7 series, and Volvo XC for example.
Are their main grills functional and open? Not in the slightest. However, they still have the texture of a traditional car grill that helps them transition the viewer from the expectation of a car having a front grill for cooling and air intake to a slightly more futuristic design. This keeps the cars approachable and doesn’t push away traditional customers. Even cars like the Audi A6 E-Tron and Cadillac Lyriq have texture to their grill areas while being overall more closed off and more EV feeling designs.
Even the Mercedes EQS, as egg shaped and not pleasent as it is, has some texture to the grill blob, radiating circles out from the iconic tristar badge. Even at it’s most minimal, that texturing helps bring life to an empty expanse of a faux grill.
This brings us to what Arco very much doesn’t want to see grill design wise, aka a complete lack of grill(They have all been marked with big red X’s for your convienience. X3). While these smooth designs may have their places elsewhere, they do not belong anywhere near an Arco vehicle. Arco is not trying to go for a futuristic smooth tron utopia design with the Tipo-E. They’re trying to ease their customers into the inevitable electric future with something that still holds onto the designs of their past cars while pushing forward. Total rejection of the normal grounding points of car design like these are doing will not work here.
The last thing I feel the need to clarify is what I mean by a production concept, which I labeled the Tipo-E as. By this I mean essentially a car that is almost production ready, meaning only small things like some of the interior trimmings or rim designs might get changed before the car is ready to be bought by customers. This also means that stuff like headlights and taillights need to be production ready. I know that LED matrix technology is coming a long way compared to what it has been, but projector style headlights are still much more common and are what is needed on production cars. This means you can’t just get away with an LED ring or line and call it a headlight. That can be your DRL design sure, but the majority of the example cars I showed you (baring the pure concept cars like the Opel) have actual projector headlights.
I know I’ve shoved a lot of info at you all in this post but the TL:DR of it all is that in my challenge channel lurking I started getting worried I hadn’t explained myself properly in my original challenge post and wanted to clarify Arco’s design iconography shown in the example images, explain that they want the grill area to at least have some texture to it like actual EVs have been doing, and that just having the equivalent of DRLs for headlights is a big no. The deadline has now been extended to the 29th make up for any time lost in people reworking their designs. And as with all my challenge rounds, you can resubmit your entries as many times as needed before the deadline. I hope you all read this and aren’t too upset with me for these clarifications. X3
16 Likes
Since we’re doing EVs, are the entries mandated to use a certain transmission type?
Nope. This is predominantly a design challenge, with the only reason there is an hp target at all being to get wheel sizes and stuff right. The actual drivetrain will be handled by Arco themselves, including the transmission.
1 Like
THE FUTURE STARTS NOW
2023 Arco Tipo E
by LaVelle Studios
22 Likes
24 Hours Remain!
Don’t forget to send in your designs before midnight PST
4 Likes
Completely forgot about this whoops could of sworn I had posted about it
ZRD Arco Tipo E
uh it has a big curve screen glowy glow and cool seats and looks extra cool please buy 
Various stats I now cannot look at because I’m on 4.2, just pretend it’s good.
9 Likes
Arion Tipo E by Studio Ogna
Yes much retro, very nostalgia, hand beaten in a shed outside Bergamo.
It has a 1.3 inline 6, because why not, when the engine doesn’t matter, get something fun (yes, RWD).
More info & photos
Very customisable, as we know customers love paying top £ for some painted plastic so Arco’s designers get to feel important making “special” editions, like a tricolor stereotype. How about a SUV or delivery van, we got those too.
It’s also totally aerodynamic, like a drop of water, aerodynamics guy said the creases and grill pattern also help. He also said “trust me bro” so it must be true, whatever the numbers.
Inside there is vegan leather, AC and a big touchy screen with physical knobs for important funtions, keeping it a little oldschool with wood. We put 4 big orange dudes in it and and they fit very comfortably, but it’s too narrow for 5.
We almost sent something completely different earlier, but noticed last second it had too long a wheelbase. So won’t get bin for that at least.
This old reject instead got a few light touchups
3 Likes
Arco Tipo E
The brand new Arco Tipo E, a modern urban EV with retro flavour.
3 Likes
Reviews!
Yes I know these are quite late. Holidays are a thing and so is depression.
After many weeks of waiting, the design team at Arco finally called a meeting to discuss the results of their outsourced work on the Tipo E. They had all gathered in one of the larger design lounges so they could display each proposal in full size on one of their volumetric projectors. Even the eccentric head designer had come out of his light, alcohol induced stupors up in his office to come see the presentations. The room had been booked out in advance for quite a long period and many of the team had cleared their schedules for this turning point in the company’s image. However, they were surprised to see only 8 names on the screen, having expected a few more. The first design proposal was brought up in the middle of the room.
“First we have a…”, the design lead selected to run the presentation began, suddenly frowning, “MPV? This isn’t supposed to be here! Who let this through? Ah, and it’s supposedly trying to get us to divulge our EV platform to another company. Nice try, but no.”
The lead quickly deleted the file and the angry grey box vanished.
(Binned due to being a MPV body and not a coupe or hatchback. Even if it had been an approved body type, it just feels bland and angry at the same time. Arco is wanting with something pizzazz and this is not it. Also, trying force a joint venture with a separate brand like this not a good way to make a company like you. It feels greedy and like the company is trying to push their own agenda instead of making an actual thoughtful proposal. I suggest not doing this in the future.)
After recovering some composure, the lead brought up the next design proposal. An egg-like yellow hatch appeared in the display space. There was some general murmurs through the gathered designers with the impression of a mixed reception. Then from the back of the room came a loud guffaw. The head designer, who had been silent the whole time, was shaking with laughter.
“Prima un monovolume e ora questo? Hanno anche letto il nostro brief di progettazione? Cos’è questo? è del 2006? è più vecchio e rotundo del nostri disegni. Lo detesto. Comincio a pensare che tutta questa faccenda sia stata una perdita di tempo.”
The lead running the projector blanched at this comment and hastily removed the yellow blob from the screen, trying to reassure the head designer that this hadn’t all been for nothing. Having these first two proposals be duds he should have screened out before this meeting was getting to him.
(This is not a particularly bad car. It does have some of the typical Arco design cues, though they do feel slightly out of proportion. The main reason, however, that Arco isn’t considering it is that it literally looks like it’s from the early 2000’s. This challenge was looking for a car that’s for 2022 and beyond, so the blobby, under-detailed looks of something from 2006 is not going to cut it here.)
The design lead again swapped to the next proposal, hoping that this time it would be something a bit more presentable and up to date. As the cream and burgundy coupe loaded, he was much relived. He was surprised tho when the car stopped loading before he expected it to. This was shaping up to be further from a production ready concept and more towards a standard concept car. A murmur of agreement washed through the crowd of designers and the coupe was relegated to the no pile.
(I applaud you for going after a body from the classic side of things. The general concept of what you were going for could work pretty well if it were a bit more production ready. As it stand it’s just that, a concept car. It feels too loose of a design to be road ready, to fit in with the modern image of Arco and what they’re hoping to project towards the future. The wheels you chose make the whole thing feel like a scaled up hotwheel and the grill makes the car feel like it’s sneering at you, not something that makes the car feel approachable. The wedge you stuck on the front also doesn’t help matters, really breaking up the flow of the whole car. You also missed out on a prime opportunity that would’ve had you place a decent bit higher. You used the exact same body that the original Civetta was made on, as shown in the inspiration pics of the rules post. That would’ve been an excellent chance to use the same grill set up from the Civetta, paired with your idea of painting it the italian flag and such, and it would’ve made things so much better. Also putting the Arco badge upside down didn’t help. All in all the design is good, but too much of a concept to make it any further.)
Loading up the next proposal, the design lead was a bit more hopeful. Again the rendering stopped loading a bit earlier than expected, though this time the computer started loading what felt more variants of the same vehicle. A total of 4 cars loaded, all a variation on a simple hatchback with what seemed to be a screen in place of a grill and tail lights. It was simple, but still in a modern way, with essentials like reflectors and door handles set flush to the body. The general consensus of those gathered was that this was a promising idea for how to proceed with the project until someone piped up with a “Hey isn’t really similar to what Honda just put out?”. After that revelation, the proposal was removed and also put in the no pile.
(I think you suffered a bit from submitting the car so early in the round before I made that clarification post. While I do like the design and it does follow Arco design language by very much drawing from the Peluria, the design is a bit too close to replicating the Honda E to be viable. The lack of definition in the front grill area also hurt you a bit, but if that area is an actual screen it could be made up for, again a casualty of early posting. Also why did you make the badge from scratch instead of using the one from the mod on the workshop? It would’ve saved you the time and tedium of making it. I do like your ideas for the other versions of the car, very classic fiat feeling.)
As the design lead loaded up the next proposal, he let out a deep sigh. So far they had gone through entry after entry and found only bits and pieces that they could use in the final Tipo E, but not something they only needed to tweak for production like they hoped. When a light blue hatchback appeared on the display, he let out another. Though obviously inspired by their Ermellino Rallye from the '70s, this proposal was going in some confusing directions. The rear was relatively tame, taking similar cues from the Honda E but in a more derivative way. It was the front where the main questions were. After puzzling over it a while, the room decided to reluctantly put in the steadily growing no pile.
(This car is very much a mixed bag. I liked the interior well enough and the back makes sense while being a bit underwhelming. The front is where I’m just left scratching my head. You went for the look of round headlights, but also put in a big oblong light through it that is the actual projector. I can see the inspiration from the new fiat 500 in that, but on the 500 the lights are on two sides of the bonnet line and is only the round shape. On this it could be a similar bonnet split, but the way you have the hood doesn’t flow nicely enough for that to work. If you had kept the projector only in that bottom half of the circle and separated out the lights next to it into their own thing, it would’ve looked much better. The solid color wheels are an odd choice, especially since they’re painted almost white. I get that it’s a more retro looking choice, but it also ages the car a bit. It feels more like it’s from 2012 than 2022. It’s a good build, just with some really odd choices.)
@titlegy1
The design lead was really hoping things would get better, as he could feel the piercing eyes of the head designer gouging into him from the back of the room. As he opened up the next proposal though, he felt the urge to cower behind the podium. On the display was a extremely detailed car, looking practically production ready. The only problem was that it looked like someone had taken a piece of paper, crumpled it up, and used that shape to build the body of a car. The crowd knew from their previous attempts at making highly organic designs that the engineering team would deem this umber ball impossible to make. It had some of the design cues of an Arco model, but they were set into such a mess of plastic undulations that using this was out of the question. It was a relief to pull it off the projector.
(The main reason this car is as high up on the list as it is is due to the level of craftsmanship shown in it. The fixtures mesh well together, it has plenty of detail, and does incorporate Arco styling elements in an interesting way. However, and I rarely like to use such strong language in reviews, but this thing is hideous. It literally looks like a crumpled wad of paper, like someone took a fiat 500 and melted it, leaving it shrink wrapped to its underpinnings. If this was a design for a Japanese company, i could see this possibly working. It should also work as some odd French thing, but as something for Arco it misses the mark by several miles. It is still a really well built car though, and that you should be proud of.)
Actively defensive now, the design lead brought up the next proposal. He breathed a sigh of relief as the dark green hatch loaded. Here was something a bit more tame. It was shown with a very digital version of the veined Arco grill and quite modern wheels. The designers were actually getting excited over this proposition. It was modern while still having some '80s flair from the overall shape. Before they got too carried away, someone voiced their concerns over how low the lights were and the legality of that set up. Instead of putting it in the no pile, the design lead set it aside to be referenced for later.
(I very much like this design. Modern without being simple, retro without being too outdated. However, the front and rear facias are super low on the car. This throws off the modernity of the design, though this is in part due to the iconicness of the Renault 5 body. This design treatment put onto a different body that allows for it all to be higher and therefore more modern feeling would have been even better. For a concept that is heavily rooted in the '80s though it’s stellar and doesn’t fall into typical electric car design pitfalls.)
The design lead loaded up the final car and a hush settled over the room. The light green hatchback in the middle of the room had stunned them out of the tittering they had been doing over the previous proposals. It had the aire of the classic '70s and '80s Arco hatches, but took their boxy shapes and catapulted them into modernity with architectural protrusions and deep vents. The lights carried the louvered pattern of the grill into themselves with their projectors that were surrounded with energetic DRLs. The rest of the car was just boxy enough to evoke the past, but still round enough to be looking forward. The only things that they were hung up over were the rear wheel covers and the use of solely cameras instead of traditional rear view mirrors. Those were some minor things that wouldn’t take very long for their designers to fix in the final version. A sudden clap rang out to break the silence. The head designer was grinning and clapping, giving his complete approval. The rest of the design team started to clap as well, slowly one by one. The consensus was clear.
(Honestly, you knocked it out of the park with this one. There are some minor things, primarily the wheel covers and blending of the front vents into the rest of the body that would need to be addressed before the car goes into production. You nailed integrating Arco’s design language into a modern EV package, making it expressive and approachable. The other issue I have is something I think I had with your entry into my Midlands CSC round. You place the seats in your cars entirely too high. They’re hovering a good 10+ inches off the floor of the car, making them feel odd. A good rule of thumb is to have the top of the main part of the seat just stick up over the edge of the side window. This makes them feel more realistically placed, and you can move the 3d placed floor up to meet them if need be. Other than that, this is a wonderfully executed design that hits all the boxes for this challenge.)
And the winner is....
@azkaalfafa!!!
(As if there was any doubt from the way things were written)
Honestly I was surprised how many of you went with trying to fit retro styling onto a modern body. I’m also surprised that nobody went with a coupe body. That would’ve opened up so many opportunities for interesting designs. I am relatively content with how the challenge went overall and hopefully everyone had fun participating.
The final finishing order is as follows
1st:@azkaalfafa
2nd:@Riley
3rd:@titlegy1
4th:@kookie
5th:@Mikonp7
6th:@Ludvig
7th:@EnCr
8th:@the-chowi
I’m looking forward to seeing what the next round holds and if it will be run on 4.2 or not.
11 Likes
Well that was unexpected. Thank you @Portalkat42 for hosting, this round really was an interesting one.
As for the next challenge, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass it down to @Riley due to a series of assignments I have to attend to.
Given the sheer number of bugs still present in 4.2 as of now, I’m expecting CSC 47 to run on 4.1.
I can’t host due to similar reasons (uni) so I will pass to @titleguy1
Thanks for hosting, it was an interesting round, and yes I was limited by the body overall with how modern I could make it.
I think most people went for hatches since the practicality of a small and easy to park vehicle (while also less weight for a faster car) was the main inspiration.
2 Likes
I’ll be glad to host, just gimme a bit to come up with a (hopefully) good idea and if I can’t then I’ll pass down to Mikon.
5 Likes
Hey! Your car designs are very awesome, are you interested in joining Pilati Automobili? We designers, design a car and then give it over to an engineer to finish it, and if we need to we can JBeam design it. Then after we have a complete car file, we post it on the BeamNG Repository with credits to all who participated in the project. We dont have a loss of members, but we could use somebody like yourself, if you have a company too, then you could design for both if you have the time, or if you just do designs without a name or company, then you can do designs for us and for yourself, your schedule won't be busy at us. If you're interested my offer is available anytime, even if you change your mind. The idea is you are free to leave or deny, free to design anything else, and free of speech. From time to time we have joke nights, these happen randomly and could happen at any time, we kinda just do jokes or memes and put some music. Very fun around here
[THIS IS FOR THE 4.2 (ALPHA) VERSION OF AUTOMATION]
[THIS IS FOR THE 4.2 (ALPHA) VERSION OF AUTOMATION]
THE BACKSTORY
Pilati Automobili S.p.A. Headquarters in Vicenza, Italy
After recently being rescued from the brink of bankruptcy in 2017, Pilati wants to make a strong comeback to the supercar market, reinvigorated by the new cash injection and brand new manufacturing facilities. What better way to do that than by reviving their Invicta flagship for the 2018 model year?
Always a fan favourite, the Pilati Invicta’s formula of a FR V12 layout, agile handling and a competitive top speed has worked ever since the first iteration in the 80s. However, the last generation Invicta GT was criticised for having lost a bit of its DNA and being too soft to be a “true” Invicta. Pilati is keen to put that firmly in the past with the new Invicta, having worked extensively on the engineering to achieve the right mix between GT cruising and raw performance without losing any of the DNA.
There is one problem though. Due to its prior financial troubles, Pilati had to let go of its chief designer and is now struggling to rehire him because, in his words, “I make better money criticising German concept cars on YouTube.” Therefore, they are looking to partner with an outside design studio on the new Invicta.
THE BRIEF
Pilati is looking for a rather elegant design that follows the prominent design cues and design DNA of previous generations, much like the engineering they have developed for the new Invicta. It should be modern enough for 2018, but not too futuristic, and it shouldn’t be filled with sharp angles and creases like a certain tractor manufacturer. This is only the “regular” Invicta, so huge wings and splitters would be unnecessary.
PILATI'S BADGE
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS
1988 Pilati Invicta S480 Turbo
GIF
1995 Pilati Invicta S555
GIF
2002 Pilati Invicta GT
GIF
REQUIREMENTS
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Must have a front longitudinal and RWD layout
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Must have either a 2-seater or 2+2 layout
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Must be between 2.5m and 2.7m wheelbase (inclusive)
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Must be able to fit a V12 between 5 and 6.5L (you don’t need to make an engine for it, just use common sense)
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Engineering choices don’t really matter but they should be realistic for the car you are designing
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No convertibles or targas
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Model and Trim years must be 2018
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Engine and Variant years must be 2018
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Model name: CSC47 - [your forum username]
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Trim name: Pilati Invicta
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Engine family name: CSC47 - [your forum username]
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Variant name: whatever you want
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Interiors are always welcome but not strictly necessary and will not be judged
DEADLINE
Since this is my first time hosting a challenge, I’ll allow until
Sunday, January 23rd @ 9:00AM UTC
so any issues can be ironed out. After that, the round is open and I’ll be accepting submissions through forum DMs until
Wednesday, February 16th @ 10:00AM UTC
I will accept unlimited resubmissions. When the deadline passes, the latest submission will be judged. As always, please post an ad showcasing your entry in this thread. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just the name of the car, a few pics, and some details on the design will do.
A couple final notes:
If you missed it at the top, this round is being held on the 4.2 (Alpha) version of Automation.
PLEASE regularly back up your designs. There have been a few instances of the fixture merge glitch destroying people’s designs in 4.2, and it would be a shame for that to happen again.
15 Likes