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Introducing the BMW Concept CS, Germany’s leading manufacturer of premium automobiles is presenting the vision of a unique four-door car which combines the exclusivity of a genuine luxury Gran Turismo with the fascinating thrill of a high-performance sports car.

Character:
• Concept study of a four-door Gran Turismo for the luxury segment.
• Modern, sophisticated surface design bearing testimony to a supreme standard of craftsmanship and experience in moulding convex-concave surfaces.
• The very essence of brand values so typical of BMW in a new segment ensuring a perfect combination of superior dynamics and stylish exclusivity.
• Modern interpretation of the premium concept ensured by extreme precision in every design detail, choice of the most refined materials, and perfect craftsmanship.
• Previously unseen combination of vehicle dimensions and weight ensured by consistent implementation of lightweight strategies.
• European-style aesthetics, clear emphasis on the car’s stretched look, low-slung roof-line, low centre of gravity, extremely long wheelbase (see “Exterior and Interior Dimensions”).
• Innovative interior design with layered surfaces, clearly defined joints serving a functional purpose.
• Clearly defined, sporting seat position for four occupants.

Exterior design:
• Sporting, sleek and low-slung all-round look as an expression of a four-door Gran Turismo.
• Highly expressive, dynamic front-end design with the striking BMW kidney grille as the central highlight.
• Prominently positioned BMW kidney grille to ensure a good supply of cooling air to the engine.
• Re-interpretation of BMW’s classic contour line at the side, door handlers fitted flush in position as a consistent testimony to the car’s attractive sculpture.
• Powerfully flared wheel arches, 21-inch light-alloy wheels, body width increasing towards the rear and thus emphasising the sporting, wide track of the car.
• Flowing roof area with aerodynamically optimised contours.
• Innovative headlights with LED reverse projection technology and extremely slender rear lights behind clear glass. Night design with homogeneous light bodies.

Interior design:
• Uncompromising, highly aesthetic interior design with layered surfaces (layer design concept) and clearly defined functional joints.
• Driver-oriented cockpit with clear ergonomic structuring of functions relevant to the driver and oriented towards superior comfort in the controls and displays.
• Layer design concept also applied to the design of the double circular dials to provide clearly structured information on several visual levels.
• Focus on the joints and seams around the body panels serving to consciously use air venting and ambient interior illumination options.
• Supreme exclusivity and perfect craftsmanship in the finish of the interior highlighted by contrasting colours and surfaces in different kinds of leather.
• Introduction of particularly sophisticated, powerful-looking ceramics as the material for the controls and instruments.
• Innovative sports seats with a fold-up collar element.

This unique combination never seen before offers the perspective to enjoy sheer driving pleasure in a dimension quite unprecedented in the world of motoring. Indeed, the BMW Concept CS is a new definition of design culture. Concentrating on powerful, expressive design, materials of the highest quality, and quality of finish in perfection, this unique new model offers a completely new understanding of premium quality. And within its interior, the BMW Concept CS combines stylish luxury with the most uncompromising ambience full of class and value.

Through its design alone, the BMW Concept CS underlines the supreme skill and competence of the BMW brand in developing the most sporting and dynamic cars offering ample space for more than two occupants. The most spectacular rendition of this heritage at BMW is the BMW M5, which established a brand-new segment in the world of motoring more than two decades ago and is acknowledged to this day as the benchmark in high-performance saloon motoring.

Now the know-how BMW has acquired over the years and decades comes together with the worldwide fame of the company as a manufacturer of premium automobiles, the BMW Concept CS thus offering the best of both worlds.

BMW is using the skills and competence established over such a long time to combine the most fascinating highlights of sporting performance and sophisticated luxury in an unprecedented new concept. Hence, the BMW Concept CS impressively proves how the successful strategy of the sporting four-door may be carried over consistently into the luxury performance segment.

Unparalleled and typical of BMW: the BMW Concept CS.

The unique flair pampering both the driver and his passengers within the BMW Concept CS is an equally clear expression of both a new culture in body design. Both outside and inside, the BMW Concept CS therefore conveys the same message, telling the world that the experience of driving a saloon now comes in an entirely new rendition. So in presenting this new Concept Car, BMW is not only entering a brand-new segment of the market never occupied before, but is also setting the milestone with a brand-new type of car: The four-door luxury Gran Turismo enters a new dimension of motoring in new style and with new features.

A new experience of dynamics and the ambience around us, exemplary quality in design and finish, extreme precision in the dimensions of the car, and concentrated luxury within the interior – these are the features that characterise the BMW Concept CS. And at the same time all this bears clear testimony to the superior know-how and competence of BMW’s engineers and designers in creating such truly emotional automobiles. The sum total of such qualities in the BMW Concept CS can be created only on a sound foundation of firmly defined values: innovative power, sporting performance, aesthetic design, an open frame of mind, and full awareness of quality. Precisely these are the values BMW has been applying consistently for decades in the development of particularly outstanding saloons and fascinating, truly dynamic sports cars. And now these values are concentrated even more than before in an unprecedented manner in the BMW Concept CS.

The Buick Riviera, a stunning concept car designed to showcase Buick’s new global design direction, made its global debut at Auto Shanghai 2007.

China-Designed Gullwing Coupe For China’s Global Auto Show
Preview To Buick’s New International Design Language
Buick Returns Riviera Nameplate After Eight Years
“It’s Not East, Not West … It’s Buick”
The gullwing Riviera concept coupe was developed with global design input by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) in China, a design and engineering joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

The Riviera was introduced today by Rick Wagoner, GM Chairman and CEO, and Hu Maoyuan, SAIC Chairman.

The Riviera has been engineered to accommodate a new hybrid system that will go into production at Shanghai GM, GM’s flagship joint venture with SAIC, in 2008.

The fuel-efficient car, which will feature several technological and manufacturing advances, represents the latest achievement of GM and its partners in the promotion and development of alternative propulsion technologies in China.

According to Ed Welburn, vice president, GM Global Design, “Developing and launching the Riviera in China underscores the diversity, strength and depth of the GM global design network. It also reflects PATAC’s growing role within the GM Design family and China’s significance as the world’s largest Buick market.”

The Riviera also marks the return of a renowned Buick nameplate after an eight-year hiatus, having sold more than 1.1 million units in the United States between 1963 and 1999.

The Buick Riviera, with its tightly stretched carbon fiber body panels, combination of positive and negative curves, strong front and rear identities and gullwing doors, captures the essence of Buick classics, Welburn said, while presenting a thoroughly 21st century design.

According to James Shyr, PATAC Design Director, the Riviera’s enticing curves and ‘earth and water’ interior tones are drawn from diverse inspirations including classic Buicks, ancient Chinese artifacts and modern electronic icons. The car, inside and out, communicates universal beauty - a look that transcends cultural or national boundaries.

Exterior Design - A Sense Of Existence, Not Anonymity

To establish their design direction, PATAC designers looked in part to Buick icons such as the original Y-Job Concept of 1938, the 1960s Le Sabre, Electra 225 and the Riviera coupes of the 1960s and ’70s.

The Riviera design is structured around the Buick tri-shield logo, sitting proudly on a trihedral waterfall grille which is formed by three meeting planes. This takes the traditional Buick treatment to a new level of sophisticated boldness.

The Buick logo leads into a reflective strip through the hood, a mark of respect to the distinctive mid-hood crease prevalent in classic Buicks. Elongated LED headlamps flow up the hood sides to three-section, top-mounted chrome portholes as a single piece of jewelry.

The logo, hood strip, headlamps, side mirrors and rocker covers all have ‘icy green’ backlighting available at night, matched by backlit logo and exhausts at the rear.

Designers have cleverly incorporated several other design signatures from the original Riviera generation. They include the “double sweep spear” line along the bodyside and the flared tail design.

In this theme, the ‘Shell Blue’ exterior color was chosen to elicit the right level of attention. The color is a metallic silver with light blue accents, perfectly highlighting the coupe’s exterior curves.

The gullwing doors, selected for their exotic appeal, achieve an expansive entrance to the two-plus-two seating configuration. Measuring 1938 millimeters at their widest point, they add to the coupe’s sleek sideline. At night, fully opened doors gently shine the “Buick” name on the ground.

The use of carbon fiber in all body panels allowed the designers greater flexibility through reduced mass and added strength. This made the gullwing engineering demands easier to realize and sharp, tight radius curves possible across the body surface.

The Riviera sits on 21-inch 10-spoke forged aluminum wheels, combining polished and satin finishes, with low-profile tires. Taking their cue from Formula One cars, the side mirrors are sweeping yet unobtrusive.

PATAC designed the Buick Riviera to accommodate the new hybrid system, which will be introduced in China in 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympics. The new hybrid system fits naturally with the Riviera’s ‘earth and water’ design theme.

Interior Design - All About Relaxation

In a word - sanctuary. The use of rich blue and subtle creams, representing earth and water themes, are conveyed through high-quality leather bucket seats, plush carpet and a luxurious padded steering wheel. Completing the organic feel, the roof comprises two shaded glass windows offering increased headroom and a celestial connection for occupants.

The interior has no discernable start and finish point for the front and sides, creating a comfortable lounge feel. It is immediately futuristic yet somehow familiar.

The three-dimensional speedometer, inspired by past classics but utterly modern in design, compliments the touchpad styled central console loosely modeled on a computer mouse. An LCD display screen crowns the central console.

Interior designers were encouraged to consider people’s personal belongings to enhance their feeling of familiarity and comfort in the vehicle. Continuing the theme of calm simplicity, electronic shifter pads replace the traditional transmission shifter. Controls are kept to a minimum to avoid driver distraction.

Ambient light strips are applied from across the console and inserted on the door liner, stretching to the front seats. Deliberately imitating precious Chinese jade stone, the lights are tinted a subtle icy green, which also offers tribute to a favored color of Buicks in days gone by.

Interior trim treatments befitting the Buick prestige abound - miniature aluminum tri-shields in the front seat headrests, a wooden floor mat in the rear and a rear central armrest which can move sideways left and right to accommodate passengers of different sizes.

Royal blue Alcantara, a soft plush covering, was chosen for the door, console and roof while sandy white leather covers the lower door, lower console and seats.

Ancient Influences In Modern Design

The design team set out to create a modern global design - not something which could be superficially described as a Chinese car. At the same time, they sought to draw from their heritage outside the automotive industry from classic shapes, concepts and artifacts. They wanted to include a subtle Chinese essence and influence if one looked deeply enough.

A strong influence was the yuanbao, a small curvaceous gold or silver ingot used in ancient China as currency and popular today as a symbol of ancient Chinese prosperity.

Buick Riviera: Key Dimensions

Body

Body style: Coupe
Number and style of doors: Two gullwing
Seating capacity: 2 + 2
Bodyshell: Carbon fiber panels
Exterior dimensions (mm)

Wheelbase: 2870
Length: 4710
Width: 1940 (excluding mirrors)
Height: 1415 (doors closed)
Front overhang: 918
Rear overhang: 924
Front track: 1645
Rear track: 1635