Once again, Geneva offers the opportunity
to develop research on form and contents that break away from the
industrial approach that Italdesign Giugiaro adopt daily in order to
supply their worldwide clients with designs that best suit their
markets.
The challenging “diversion” this
year represents a niche theme meant to be heatedly discussed: a
super-sporty extreme two-seater fuelled by hydrogen to meet the
increasingly pressing need to promote and develop alternative and
environment friendly propulsion systems and to explore the potential
challenge offered to design by a more flexible “displacement” of the
chassis lay-out in new engine, mechanical, and electronic
equipments.
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The decision to
remove the steering wheel took Italdesign Giugiaro to
the creation of a highly innovative driving system: two
joysticks are fixed on the armrests of the pilot’s seating
and pedals unit, where all elements can be adjusted and
customized to the driver’s needs. The armrest/joystick/
electrical pedals and seating unit is not connected to the
chassis. This and its by-wire impulses system allow to adapt
the different versions with right, centre and left driving
with no onerous works once the vehicle should go into
production. This system presents design - construction and
performance - characteristics that prompted Italdesign
Giugiaro to patent it.
VAD.HO is meant to be an open “work
in progress": it has been positively welcome by BMW that accepted to
provide for it their series 7 12 cylinders hydrogen powered engine.
One curiosity: the acronym “VAD.HO” is a
play on words that uses the name of the Vadò industrial area in
Moncalieri where Italdesign Giugiaro headquarters have been located
since 1974, and also refers to the hydrogen propulsion system
adopted for the vehicle (vado - or “I go" in Italian - on H)
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The cockpit
This model immediately puts all its
ambitions on the line: a longitudinal cockpit in
polycarbonate emerges on the left-hand side while the right
side houses the engine and hydrogen propulsion devices in
the centre. The two Argonauts are seated in tandem in the
fuselage, settled into a comfortable and super-equipped
ergonomic cockpit.
The joysticks are fixed in the
armrests that are integral with the pilot seat (the left
armrest can be raised to facilitate getting in and out of
the vehicle).
Designers and technicians
believe that this solution facilitates naturally comfortable
– and therefore stable and precise – steering manoeuvres and
activation of all the joystick commands, including driving
and secondary devices such as entertainment and other
options.
In order to facilitate manoeuvres
in curves without having to twist or rotate your wrists, the
joysticks were conceived with two grips that help the
necessary movements. The joystick moves back and forth along
the armrest to ensure driver comfort, as well as the sliding
pedal block that, hinged on the lower part, adjusts to the
seat, which is in turn fixed to the chassis.
The control group is
designed as an IT console with liquid crystal displays
designed for aeronautic applications (EFIS – Electronic
Flight Information Systems). The digital driving
instrumentation is positioned centrally under the rear-view
continual video monitors and the navigator; side video
cameras project films externally. The surface occupied by
the instrumentation is in any case limited, in order to
allow the pilot maximum external visibility.
Access to IT data from the
console is also available to the rear passenger by means of
a dedicated joystick, similar to the driver's, and two
monitors built into the back of the driver's seat. The faces
of both pilot and passenger are filmed by video cameras and
may appear on reciprocal monitors to enhance team
interaction.
Thanks to video cameras
installed in the frontal optical group, the driver can use
the monitors either for parking radar and for an infrared
effect for night-time driving, or interactive driving
between the car and road infrastructures, when they become
available. Passengers get into the vehicle through two
integrated doors/domes that are hinged lengthwise onto the
structure and lift gull-wing style.
The living space for the
pilot and passenger are definitely comfortable because they
were calculated at an "OSCAR percentile” larger than 95% and
therefore more spacious than those of a luxury sedan. The
rear passenger is able to stretch out his legs and change
his position by adjusting the footrest platforms on the
sides of the front seat. The armchairs are also equipped
with four-point belts that can be regulated all around.
Passenger safety in case of
collision or overturning is guaranteed by structural side
reinforcements, the steel roll bar on which the two
semi-domes rest, and the activation of the air bags in the
oval strip under the structure at the cockpit base. The cell
is equipped with “umbrella” airbags that surround both the
pilot and the passenger.
The upholstery materials chosen for the
interior are in metallic and phosphorescent opaque grey tones: both
for the silver leather armchairs and the synthetic pieces in
aeronautic styling. Bolder effects were used in areas around the
control console.
The package
The sporty-racy ambitions of this project
have imposed a wedgeshaped volume, backed up by very subtle lines
and modulations that are never forced or exasperating, but rather in
perfect harmony with those parameters of balance and elegance that
distinguish the Giugiaro trademark.
The introduction of stylistic features was
intentionally avoided on this project, which is undoubtedly oriented
towards contents. In fact, the VAD.HO body is characterised by a
feasible decomposition with regards to production logics and meets
international homologation regulations (including pedestrian
accidents).
Even the overall dimensions are
“reasonable”. The figures are close to those of the Ferrari
Maranello, a compact two-seater with similar performances: 4550 mm
long, 1980 mm wide, and 1150 mm high, like Enzo model.
The asymmetric transparent dome gives this
car a strong personality; the windscreen wiper is hidden under the
small crowl. From the side, the profile of the fender crest is
sinuous and dips towards the centre, while a bird’s eye view
confirms the designer’s will to make the front more aggressive and
modulated and the tail softer and sharper.
The originality of the cockpit's asymmetric
solution is even more visible in VAD.HO central body. The fairing of
the engine air system, the filter, and the electronics can be seen
on lowered section that houses the engine. Since the cut of the
passenger door is repeated symmetrically on the engine side, the
engine block can be simply accessed by raising the large
panel/trapezoidal door hinged onto the centre line with a gull-wing
movement. The recess of the side indicator also serves as housing
for the video camera.
The trunk capacity for a super-sporty
two-seater is truly remarkable: 550 dm3. The rear end view is
“carved” to emphasize all the aggressiveness of this vehicle’s
nature. The “G” Giugiaro logo was adopted to house the rear stop
LEDs with striking media impact.
VAD.HO is following up the content research
started by Italdesign Giugiaro with 2004 Toyota Alessandro Volta
with hybrid propulsion and the 2005 Mitsubishi Nessie that runs on
hydrogen; while the formal aspects evoke the design of the 1988
Aztec, which even then offered driver and passenger a chance to
slide into a definitely attractive “aeronautic” atmosphere with a
formula that today is much more easily feasible thanks to IT
innovations and by wire technologies that have been tested and
nowadays are considered to be reliable.
This evocation of the world of aeronautics
is shown again in the colours choice for the body - opaque
silver-grey -, in the service decals on the engine equipment and the
fuel tank, and the use of large 20" solid tyres.
