For example, at Turin’s Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile, you’ll find timelines of societal shifts and their influence on automotive evolution, as well as exhibits that illuminate the effects of trends, tastes, and human exploration on the automotive scene. The museum is especially noteworthy for its abundant illustrations and artwork.
The Winds of Change in Design
At first glance, interior design, architecture, fashion, and jewelry might seem far removed from automotive development. But initiatives at Italy’s design schools and mobility-themed museums are raising awareness that these varied disciplines are influencing and interacting with each other in ways that are giving rise to unparalleled “winds of change” in the world of design.
Italy’s Finely Tuned Aesthetics
Turin, Milan, Modena, Bologna—each of these cities boasts a prominent Italian automotive brand, as well as a motor or aviation museum, to tell their stories. These businesses and institutions belong to a history that has been forged over the course of many years and which continues to imbue people with the sensibilities needed to develop innovations that will shape our future.
Then there is Volandia Park and Flight Museum, a stone’s throw from Milan Malpensa Airport, where displays explain the influence airplanes and aviation technology have had on automotive materials and design. And evident throughout the region is the unique workshop culture of Italy’s carrozzerie, where hand-beaten aluminum panels are sculpted along highly aerodynamic, flowing lines. This hallowed land is where the union of decades of know-how and technology has given genesis to the beauty of form.
Daniele Mazzon, head of Transportation and Yacht Design at the workshops of leading carrozzeria Pininfarina, gave his slant on Italy’s unique styling talent.
“What sets Italian automotive design apart is its deep roots in the art world. If the beauty of German craftsmanship is in its functional aesthetic, I believe the beauty of Italian design is in its passionate expression of the designer’s individuality.”
This is what lies at the root of Italian design—the pursuit of innovation while embracing tradition and technological heritage, as well as each artisan’s desire to forge the epitome of beauty.
The Future of Design beyond the Automobile
Italy’s foresight in fostering design talent is evident in its education. Take the IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) in Turin, for instance—a school that churns out a steady stream of next-generation designers. Its lecturers are designers employed at carrozzerie and carmakers, and the school is known for its highly practical approach to learning, with sketching, computer graphics, clay modelling, and 3D printing all part of the syllabus.
But automotive and transportation design is just one of a broad range of specialisms offered by the IED, which also teaches interior design, fashion, jewelry, animation, video games, art, and more. The school is a melting pot for ideas, with constant cross-pollination among disciplines. So, in fact, far from being detached from society and people’s lives, mobility design has become an integral part of the broader spectrum of lifestyle design.
“There is a tendency for leading-edge automotive design and technology to trickle down into other industries,” says Daniele Mazzon, head of Transportation and Yacht Design at Pininfarina, who is also a graduate of the IED.
Architecture is a case in point. Construction now actively employs time- and process-reduction techniques and other design, technology, and production methodologies that originated in automotive development. The design of high-rise buildings, for example, utilizes knowledge gained from automotive aerodynamics to reduce turbulence and wind noise.
Another area in which Italy has led the way in aerodynamics is bicycles. A notable example is Colnago, who has deftly achieved improved frame aerodynamics and rider comfort through a joint research and development project with an engineering school. With road races being tests of endurance spanning weeks, reducing the rider’s physical burden is every bit as essential as good handling and durability.
Since bicycles are powered by humans pedaling with inherently limited horsepower, there is only so much riders can do to get an edge over their competitors.
And that is precisely why minutiae in every area, from aerodynamics up, can make the difference between winning and losing. Likewise, with BEVs—technologically or chemically, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of battery energy density, drive motor efficiency, control logic, and loss suppression, there is very little difference in performance between the EV models produced by different manufacturers. So it’s really no exaggeration to say that the key to improving EV efficiency in the future will be “conquering the wind.”
The Evolution of Lexus Car Design
It has long been said that electrification—and the popularization of BEVs in particular—could have a huge impact on automotive design. In the main, it means added freedom for designers creating vehicle interiors and bolder design choices when it comes to bodywork. But it also brings new challenges in terms of aerodynamics.
As it competes at the highest levels of motorsport, from the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other WEC events to races all around the world, Lexus is unifying its research and development of road cars and electric vehicles rather than treating them as two separate categories. Electrification by its very nature demands improved aerodynamics, and Lexus’s race machines based on existing road car models are the foundations on which to build that technology. A single streamlined process for everything from race car to road car—it’s a tantalizing vision, and it’s coming into view.
To date, Lexus has been exemplifying that vision with the Lexus Electrified concept car range: the LF-ZC, a next-generation BEV due to hit the market in 2026; the LF-ZL, an Arene OS-equipped BEV intended to become a flagship in the near future; and the Lexus Electrified Sport Concept that inherits the spirit of the LFA. With each driver’s comfort in mind, aerodynamic technology developed in the “laboratory” of motorsports—and now applied across all manner of disciplines—is leveraged across the whole range of Lexus BEVs: in the boldly tilted A-pillar and marginally back-heavy cabin of the LF-ZC and LF-ZL and the long nose / short cabin proportions of the Lexus Electrified Sport Concept.
Lexus is also planning a high-end yacht—the Lexus LY680, which will put mastery of the wind and aerodynamics into practice as never before.
When it harmonizes with architecture, interior design, and art, automotive design bears new fruit. Understanding how Italy, with mobility rooted in its culture, spearheads design and technology gives a real sense of coherence to the many projects Lexus has developed over the years (and not only in the automotive field). What’s clear is that the pursuit of aerodynamics isn’t just mastery of the wind; it’s mustering new winds—winds of change.
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DESIGN SHAPED BY THE WINDS
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