With the Cybertruck, the American brand marked a radical change of direction in design, a real “back to the future” approach to design. The reference is not casual: the DeLorean Dmc-12, the time machine from Robert Zemeckis’ film trilogy, is probably the queen of Brutalist cars.
When brutalism is the star of car design
Brutalist cars: let’s retrace their history through the example of 10 models, from the end of the war to the launch of Tesla’s Cybertruck, including unexpected Italian brands such as Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini and Ferrari.
View Article details
- Alessio Lana
- 22 February 2021
As in architecture, Brutalism in car design means bare and possibly exposed structures and a redesign of the interiors that has little to envy of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles. A year before that revolutionary project in 1948, Citroën launched the Type H, the “grandmother” of all Brutalist cars. The link between the two French projects is not only aesthetic: that square, compact van also had a utilitarian soul, it was a work vehicle in which volumes had to be maximised by working with lines. It is no coincidence that it was transformed into a Red Cross ambulance, a caravan and even a mobile shop for street vendors. It is no surprise that the Type H was designed by Flaminio Bertoni. The designer and sculptor from Masnago is just one of the many Italian designers and Italian brands that put Brutalism on the road. From Bertone to Gandini, from Giugiaro to Pininfarina, from Ferrari to Fiat and Lamborghini, there is no doubt that in the language of car design Brutalism is above all Italian.
Designed by Bertone, this dream car is based on the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale but the sinuous lines of the original are radically modified. The bodywork, designed by Marcello Gandini, is now a wedge that cleaves the air, the front is sharp, the bumper very thin, the ground clearance less than a metre. The revolution was immediate. The year was 1968 and this black-green “beetle” was the first to bring squared lines into car design, inspiring many subsequent models. Just think of the Stratos Zero concept car, the DeLorean or that 1970s dream called the Lamborghini Countach.
In the same period as the Carabo, Pininfarina also experimented (with) innovative designs, creating a car that appeared to have just landed from another world: it was designed in 1967 and presented in Geneva in 1970, a year after the moon landing that had the motoring industry dreaming of other worlds. Designed by Paolo Martin and built on the roaring Ferrari 512 S, it was a very long car, distinguished by its faired wheels and the absence of doors. The windscreen, windows and part of the roof slid forward to permit the entry of the driver and passenger, but the greatest surprise was inside, where, next to the steering wheel, there was a sphere containing the main controls.
Brutalism necessarily collocates with small size. The need to obtain the maximum exploitable volume led Sebring to square up its proposal for future mobility. It was 1974 when the Citicar, an electric two-seater that was literally microscopic, was released. It was 2.4 metres long, 1.4 metres wide and 1.5 metres high, weighing a featherweight of 591 kg. To make a comparison, the first smart car was 2.5 metres long, and to fully understand we have to consider that it was designed in Florida, not in Europe. The car was so minimalist that there were no extra options available, and in addition to its unusual shape it also offered an engine ahead of its time. It was, in fact, an electric car and its 1.8 kW horsepower motor gave it a maximum speed of 45 km/h. Its range of 60 kilometres and the over four thousand units produced suggested that the electric revolution was about to happen.
The idea of the wedge returns to England in the 1980s and the inspiration is another filmic work: Doctor Who. The code name of the one-off Aston Martin Bulldog was in fact Project K.901, like the squared robot dog of the TV series. top speed is almost record-breaking (307 km / h) and the interior suggests a space capsule. In front of the driver there is a screen that allows the rear view, a gem that we will see on ordinary cars only two decades later.
Brutalism became mainstream in 1980 with the Fiat Panda. Designer Giorgetto Giugiaro called it a fridge, a nickname that was not necessarily demeaning. Its lines, which looked like they had been carved out of a piece of wood cut with a hatchet, were designed to offer maximum space while remaining within the volumes of a utility vehicle. The Panda was designed to be affordable but reliable, a city car to transport the Italians of the economic boom to their holiday homes by the sea or in the mountains. Everything about it was bare and “brutal”, from the visible door hinges to the internal pockets to the essential hammock-style sofa in the back, practically a canvas held supported by two tubes.
In the 1980s Brutalism still had a lot to offer, in particular the Citroën Karin, the pyramid car. This car confused the viewer with its shapes that brought to mind a spy plane, and the large glass panel rising from the body skywards, then to be enclosed onto a roof panel the size of an A3 sheet of paper. The interiors were no less impressive, though rather than futuristic they now appear retro-futuristic. The driving position was central, with the two passengers in line but slightly behind, the steering wheel resembling an aeronautic joystick, surrounded by small control buttons. The only thing missing was the voice of Hal 9000 in the background.
If film comparisons were only suggestions before, with the DeLorean Dmc-12 they became reality. Launched in 1981, this car was so astonishing in terms of design (the original project was made by Giorgetto Giugiaro) that it became the time machine of Back to the Future. In terms of quality it was not great and poor sales drove John DeLorean into substantial debt, yet it became an icon that still survives today. Forty years after its creation, the reborn DeLorean Motor company is determined to put it back on the market with an electric engine.
In motoring, the adjective “brutal” means various things. It designates very fast cars but also their direct counterparts, the rufty tufty off-roaders. Presented in Geneva in 1982, the Lamborghini LMA002 was a proto-Hummer, a square 4x4 that used the powerful 332 bhp V12 engine from the Countach and was capable of carrying up to 11 passengers. The weight was enormous (2.600 kg) but the granitic line attracted the Saudi Arabian army: they wanted to commission a thousand of them but finally it all came to nothing. In the end, the LMA002 remained a concept and was replaced by the LM002 launched in 1986.
The clothing brand United Nude adopted Gandini’s concept of the wedge and, thanks to digital design, took it to extremes. The Lo Res Car was a concept that took the Lamborghini Countach and reduced it to its essence. It was practically a two-seater polygon that looked like something out of an old video game (a comparison confirmed by the name that recalls low resolution), and the upper body that lifted, shell-like, to permit access to two people. An exercise in style that showed that Brutalism on four wheels still had a lot to say. Then came Tesla.
Few cars have divided the cognoscenti as much as the Tesla Cybertruck. That old yet new line has led to memes linking it to the squared Tomb Raider of 1996 and Minecraft, to the Panda and the pyramidal Karin. Yet, the American brand has had the courage to bring Brutalism back into vogue in the automobile industry, with a Cold-Rolled Stainless Steel (SSCR) body that looks to the future. One hundred percent electric, it is designed to be a pick-up truck with the performance of a super sports car and is expected to arrive later this year, notwithstanding the many doubters.