Global influence hits car design

Detroit —Nicholas David, a young designer from the General Motors studio in Los Angeles, was explaining his Chevrolet Tru 140S concept car at the Detroit auto show when the energy secretary, Steven Chu, passed by.

The car, painted a sensual, velvety white, has a dramatic wedge-shaped body. David was telling a journalist that the Tru represents the "affordable exotic" that future car buyers are dreaming of.

The energy secretary paused briefly, looked impassively at the car and then moved on with his entourage. David seemed relieved that Chu, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics, remained just out of earshot and had not heard the designer describe the Tru as "a $20,000 Lamborghini."

But in his interview David also emphasized the car's practicality. "With a 1.4-liter Ecotec engine," he said, "it gets about 40" mpg.

If wild, experimental concept cars were scarce at Cobo Center, it may be because designers have been coming to terms with a new automotive world order. Their horizons have expanded for several reasons: Not only are the Detroit companies selling more cars outside the United States, but one of them, Chrysler, is controlled by a foreign automaker, the Fiat Group. Also, the most successful examples of smaller, efficient cars are found overseas.

The freshest U.S.-branded cars at the show reflected the melding of design influences from around the world. The single-minded exuberance of past design themes out of Detroit — whether it was the tailfin, the boxy SUV or the aero look — has given way to a more sophisticated, eclectic approach that could be called American Global.

The Tru was imagined as part of a wider research effort under Frank Saucedo, the director of GM's advanced-design studio, to broaden the brand's appeal. "We need to establish the Chevrolet brand in places where it is not as well known," said Bryan Nesbitt, the China-based vice president for international design at GM.

Ford has historically relied on its European studios to design smaller cars like the Focus and Fiesta — "world cars" that are sold globally. The look of those vehicles was echoed in the Ford Fusion, which received the Eyes on Design award as the best production model at the show. The Fusion was also a favorite of auto writers.

The new Fusion is the culmination of Ford's efforts to combine platform and development efforts. With its slit-eyed face and tapered body, the Fusion combines the clean European practicality of the Focus with overtones of Jaguars, Aston Martins and Audis. The grille is large enough to suggest power without becoming a cartoon. Two delicate character lines on the flank highlight an angled rear roof profile.

American Global was a theme at Chrysler, too. Klaus Busse, who is German, is head of interior design for Chrysler, and he exemplifies the company's new multinational design culture. The short-lived union with Mercedes-Benz instilled Chryslers and Dodges with a certain precision; the new link with Fiat seems to be bringing in Italian flair.

The Dart, wearing the name of a 1960s compact car and built on the Fiat platform used by the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, subtly borrows from the muscular Dodge Charger. The Dart's rear lighting element — combining more than 150 LEDs — is carefully wrapped under an aerodynamic lip. The chief exterior designer, Tim Doyle, elongated and reformed Dodge's crosshairs grille pattern, which previously looked like a gun club logo. "For Dodge, we want a simple, direct design," Busse said.

Busse noted how the car's instrument panel, surrounded by a "racetrack" of illuminated red piping, echoes the rear tail-light treatment.

The Dart aims to put reality behind the "Imported from Detroit" ad slogan. It even caught the attention of Chu, who tried the driver's seat.