Orange cars have been (back) in for some time now and are slowly moving from motor show stands to supermarket car parks.

I dubbed it my Hit Car Colour of the Year back in May. This was a result of SO many new cars and motor show stars appearing in varying shades of orange.

Now, thanks to Pantone voting an orange hue its Colour of the Year 2012, its scope may soon stretch to the catwalk and the make-up counter, too.

In the car world, Bentley started the trend with the latest Continental GT back in November 2010. Today, VW Group brand partner is carrying it onto the road with orange Q3 and, from early next year, A1 Sportback.

(As is increasingly the case, Audi is launching the five-door A1 with a bespoke colour – Samoa Orange – ensuring it will probably be the marketing ‘brochure colour’ at the launch event. Expect to see a lot of it in early 2012)

Now, orange is set to gain official recognition as a cool colour, courtesy of the Pantone Matching System propriety colour space. Each year, it announces its Colour of the Year, one researched, debated and chosen to ‘connect with the zeitgeist’. And this year’s colour has been revealed.

Colour of the Year 2012

The 2012 Colour of the Year is Pantone 17-1463 Tangerine Tango. Yes, orange.

Why? Because it’s a vivacious, enticing hue, says Pantone: ‘The 2011 Color of the Year, PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle, encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor. Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.’

As Pantone itself says, orange has grown in popularity and gained acceptance amongst both designers and consumers. Hence, receiving official validation from the colourspace masters for 2012.

What next for Tangarine Tango, then? Fashion, reckons Pantone: look out for it in the 2012 collections of Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittandini, it says.

Cosmetics, too: it’s apparently particularly good for eyeshadow, as it’s ‘a complementary opposite that flatters blue or green eyes. When paired with brown eyes, it brings out an amber cast.’

I’m curious to see what happens now, and will be looking to people who know much more about this stuff than I (chiefly, my girlfriend) to tell me how orange is making its way into High Fashion.

In the meantime… geeks (like me), do you want to recreate Tangerine Tango yourself? Try the CMYK code: 0/82/80/0. The official Pantone code is 17-1463. Hexadecimal? #FA500A will do it for you.

So… what IS the Pantone Colour of the Year?

A very thoughtful process, says Pantone. It scours the world for influences, from the entertainment industry, art collections, new artists, travel destinations ‘and other socio-economic conditions’. Not only that, continues Pantone, but influences also come from technology, including new textures and effects that can affect colour.

Influences even, get this, stretch to ‘upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention’.

The Colour of the Year influences product development and purchasing decisions across multiple industries, continues Pantone: ‘fashion, home and industrial design… (even) product packaging and graphic design’. Who knew.

Past winners? Here’s a list, with the Pantone codes, colour-coded in hexadecimal:

• PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle (2011)

• PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)

• PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)

• PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)

• PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)

• PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)

• PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)

• PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)

• PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)

• PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)

• PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)

• PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

 + My hit car colour of 2011

+ My hit car colour of 2010

+ From the Porsche archives: Carmine Red and the Panamera GTS

God is in the details and creating those details keeps thousands in the automotive industry gamefully occupied across the globe. 

Spending time with a car reveals more and more of them. Running a long-term test car gives you the best opportunity of all to spot and savour them.

My current long-termer is an Audi A6 Avant. Here, thus, is a running photolog of these details.

Up close and personal with an Audi A6 Avant? You’ve got it…

Aircraft-style centre console lighting at night, complete with red downlighters.

Remember the crescent-shaped auxiliary dials on the Porsche 996 and 997? Here they are, in digitised form.

The feature-packed climate control display up front is, as an option, replicated in simplified form in the rear too.

Designing a BMW 3 Series is one of the hardest tasks in the motor industry.

12.5 million have been sold to date and it is the world’s best selling premium-make car. It is also the best selling BMW and thus, says BMW Group design director Adrian van Hooydonk, the BMW people see on the road more than any other.

‘It has to look like a BMW, it has to say BMW to people. And any new design themes we want to introduce have to be seen on this model.’

This is why the F30 BMW 3 Series is no great break from tradition. To do anything other than evolve the classic long-wheelbase, short front overhang proportions would be wrong. That’s not to say the new one simply repackages the looks of the old, though. To explain what makes the new 3 Series special, Hooydonk talked through the new car…

Front

The precursor to a 3 Series, the 1968 BMW 2002, had single headlights and tall kidney grilles. This was where the facial graphic of the 3 Series was born. Come the 1983 E30 3 Series, twin headlights were fitted, cut off by the bonnet at the top to concentrate the look. The new 3 Series carries this theme on yet further.

The double headlamp look is retained, this time with the cylinders picked out by vivid white daytime LEDs. The bonnet cutoff is this time depicted by a ‘razor’ bar on top of the light. The grille is also wider and attached to the grille for the first time, a styling trick that makes the whole front look lower and wider. Debuting here, the look is coming to other BMWs too.

Side

This must express dynamic movement. ‘Design is a promise’ says Hooydonk. Two feature lines do this, moving upwards toward the rear to suggest forward motion. ‘The 3 Series is the sprinter of the family, and the design hints at a quick getaway.’

Hooydonk compares the angle of this feature line to that of bigger BMWs. On the 7 Series it is horizontal, running the entire length of the car unbroken. ‘This expresses presence and luxury.’ On the 5 Series, it is more angled, to help give it a strong autobahn-ready look. ‘The 5 Series has to express speed.’

Rear

The rear is the most familiar aspect to current 3 Series owners. Here, BMW has looked to enhance the car’s solidity by visual tricks that make the rear look wider even than its additional dimensions portray. Hooydonk’s goal was to make it look more cohesive than the current car, courtesy of subtle improvements to the shape of the now more vertical bootlid and better-configured bumper shape.

Details like the new L-shaped lights are a typical BMW trademark: here, they have a more diagonal upper edge to suggest sportiness ‘and there are two light bars within them at night: the 5 and 7 have three’.

Interior

‘The interior of a 3 Series has to develop round the driver, and we have enhanced this cockpit feel with the new car.’ Hooydonk says it has a strong asymmetry in its design, that extends from the upper dashboard itself right through the centre console and between the front seats. ‘It is more asymmetrical than any other BMW car.’

Premium details feature heavily. It has the black panel instruments of the 5 Series, plus a super-wide iDrive screen taken straight from the 7 Series. ‘It is the first time in this class a car has had such a large screen.’ The standalone design mimics modern flatscreen TVs, while a further nod to technology comes in additional stowage space inside. Smartphones, digital cameras, music players: ‘We all have many things we want to dump in our cars’.

Summary

Designing a BMW 3 Series is a heady task. It is such an icon, the stylists simply can’t get it wrong. While the F30 is familiar, it’s also more modern and stand-out in the key area that has long defined the 3 Series, the front end. Like it or loathe it, you’d better get used to it, as you’ll be seeing a lot of them on the road once the car is launched on 11 February 2012.

But do you like or loathe it? Do you agree with Hooydonk’s interpretation of what a 3 Series should be and how it should look? Share your thoughts on the look of the new F30 BMW 3 Series…

+ BMW ECO PRO

+ BMW 1 Series Power Meters

+ Customer feedback steers BMW engineers

BMW has announced it will sell 1.5 million 3- and 4-cylinder engines by 2015.

It’s all part of the premium giant’s intention to become even more green, and continue its EfficientDynamics drive.

It’s also a staggering number: last year, BMW sold 1.5 million cars IN TOTAL. It wants to drive this to 2 million by 2015 – meaning 3 in 4 of them are to be, well, 3 or 4 cylinder units.

Which finally means its famous HQ has come into its own.

See, for years, BMW has been famous for 6-cylinder engines. Its straight-sixes have long been adorable, with icons including most of the 1970s and 80s mainstream stuff, plus the 325i, the 528i, the E46 M3, the E34 M5, and umpteen more besides (what I wouldn’t do for an E36 328i Touring, for instance).

Since the E36 318i started becoming the company car of choice in the 1990s though, 4-cylinders have started to win out.

Good. I love BMW 4-cylinder engines, for their raspy goodness and throbby involvement: since diesels started to become good in the E46 too, they’ve joined the pile for offering thrusting power and amazing economy.

Which takes us to the Munich HQ. Built between 1968 and 1972, just in time for the 1972 Olympic Games, it’s known as BMW-Vierzylinder in German. Yes, ‘BMW four-cylinder’. Although most prefer simply ‘BMW Tower’. The Karl Schwanzer-designed building won historical status in 1999, and is said to be the most iconic piece of architecture in Munich.

UK fame

It first really came to the UK’s attention with the Rover fallout (remember the late-night reports on the news when the crisis was unfolding?). How strange, said car commentators at the time, that a brand famed for its 6 cylinder engines should live within an HQ paying homage to the 4-cylinder engine.

Not anymore. 4 cylinder units already give BMW its profitable volume, and it looks this is set to continue in the future. Indeed, the 4 cylinder look like they’re going to supplant 6-pots, with 3-cylinder units nipping in below the 4-pots. See the new X3 xDrive28i’s 2.0 TwinPower twin-scroll turbo as the first step towards this.

BMW is cutting its cylinder count, improving its economy, not affecting its engine power and, yes, making its famous HQ fully relevant in the modern world.

Architects are clever folks, and have to go to University for 7 years to qualify. But I didn’t know just how clever, until this.

The future of the BMW car predicted by the architect firm that designed its HQ? Well, I’ll be…

+ Customer feedback steers BMW engineers

+ Profiling the roads of the world with BMW

+ BMW April Fool brilliance (once again)

Range Rover grabbed a sure-fire headline when it revealed the Evoque last week.

Victoria Beckham Designs New Baby Range Rover.

Yup, Mrs Beckham was the surprise celeb who stepped up alongside Land Rover design God Gerry McGovern; in a few seconds, she was turned from mere celeb into Range Rover Creative Design Executive.

Step aside Murat Gunak and Luc Donckerwolke, Victoria’s here to show you how it’s done! Needless to say, commentary over said decision soon came via the net.

What does she know about car design was the general consensus, filtering out the obscenities. Madness, they said: Land Rover, what are you doing?

Sure enough, Ms Becks ensured the 2011 Range Rover Evoque became news the following day. ‘Victoria becomes car designer’ was splashed everywhere went, in handy economy with the truth. ‘Victoria designs new Range Rover’, they continued. ‘Victoria reinvents the 4-wheel-drives’ they could have carried on.

So, what does she know about car design? To be honest, probably nothing. She doesn’t need to, though. Land Rover has car designers for that.

Instead, what she’s bringing is (ahem) posh market insight.

Posh advises on posh for the posh

Range Rover held the 40th bash in association with Vogue magazine, at posh Kensington Palace (it of Princess Diana fame). Celebs duly attended not because of the car, but because other celebs and famed types were.

As all they were, so too were the photographers. And the TV channels. And the celeb reporters. And… well, you get the idea. VB was right at home, and the Evoque was granted instant premium gravitas as a result.

Now, on the night, Gerry McGovern’s explanatory words may have sounded reluctant lip service, but they in fact reveal why she’s there. Edited down, they’re a great insight:

Design and trends… understands luxury products… owned Range Rovers in the past… her products bought by women… new dimension… wider audience.

This is a Range Rover for women. Posh, beautiful women, who like Jimmy Choo shoes and other posh things a male journo can’t ever hope to understand.

We are not in the least bit qualified to offer commentary on what the market likes and hates here. McGovern probably isn’t, either. For that, you need someone who does mix in those circles. Such as VB.

She won’t be drawing the cars. Gerry McGovern probably doesn’t draw the cars, either; he directs others, provides the framework, the inspiration, the leadership. With her own luxocelebfeminine agenda, this is what Beckham will be doing, too.

I reckon it’s a bit of a forward-thinking coup. Knock Brand Beckham if you like, but there’s no doubting it’s effective.

Besides, Range Rover did something identical years back, and we didn’t slate it so then. Indeed, today, the Vogue Range Rovers remain on sale and are the ones motoring journos hope for in press fleets (it’s always amusing to step from a Kia Picanto into something with Wilton carpet mats).

Anyway, all these posh people paying premium prices for Range Rovers means they can be created at such vast expense and given the pricey technical features that so wow we car nuts. We all thus benefit!

Thanks, Posh.

+ Do you think Victoria Beckham and Range Rover is a smart move?
+ Is this a good or bad way for Land Rover to broaden its market?
+ Are there any other examples of celebs getting involved in car design?

MAC fan Charles Moore has written a well considered piece on theappleblog, making the link between the Mini and, well, the Mac mini computer.

Me, I’m also a worshipper of both, and the comparisons are so apparent, I’m amazed I’ve not spotted them before.

Macs? Well, they’re cool, classless, not the cheapest but exceedingly well packaged, extremely well conceived and pretty damn trick underneath the surface. This blog is originated on a Mac. Everything you see here has been written processed on a Mac.

Minis? Well, we all know they’re pretty cool, period. ‘Nuff said there.

What’s soon apparent in the piece, though, is that Moore is comparing the original Mini, not the new MINI, to the Mac mini. That car, he says, is more of a rival to Apple’s premium machines.

Interesting.

These really are quite delectable things of envy.

But, a Mac mini can do most of what they do, for much less. While also being, well, the world’s greenest and most efficient computer. The exact same concept the original Mini introduced the world to, back in the day.

It’s a compelling piece. Have a read and see what you think. And try to deny the genius of the wordplay: Mac mini. Mini. Max respect due to both.

Have I (again) solved the great Mini search?

Can you help me buy a Mini in 2009?

Mini fixes easy to come by