The Instituto Europeo di Design (IED) school in Turin have revealed the first image of their “Maserati Chicane” concept sports car which is set to debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in March.

The Instituto Europeo di Design (IED) of Turin have revealed their first images of their “Maserati Chicance” concept car which is set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The Maserati Chicane represents the IED’s fifth consecutive year at the Geneva Motor Show, and follows in the shadows of well-received design projects such as the Fiat X1/9, Lancia Haizea and beON concepts of 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Developed by a group of students from the Master RSP course in Transportation Design, the Maserati Chicane presents a sporty 2+2 derivative of the classic Maserati coupe theme, with V8 engine and rear-wheel drive, which could potentially fit underneath the more luxurious GranTurismo 2+2.

The Chicane draws inspiration from the tradition of Maserati sports cars, combining luxury, prestige and elegance. Whilst respecting the marque’s historical values, the Chicane also explores possible stylistic features to determine Maserati models of the future, whilst at the same time presenting a new compact car in the Maserati range (4,400mm long, 1,850mm wide, 1,250mm height, 2,600mm wheelbase).

To be presented as a full-scale prototype, the Chicane was developed by 17 students and guided by coordinators Luca Borgogno (Designer Pininfarina), David Wilkie (Director Design Bertone Style) and with the support of Andrea Militello (Chief Designer IED Automotive). The selection process included eight quarter-scale (1:4) models whereby the design students worked in groups of two or three. The selection of these models was supervised by Lorenzo Ramaciotti (Vice President Style Fiat Group Automobiles), Alexander Damrosio (Chief Designer Maserati), César Mendoza (Director of the IED Torino) and Giuliano Molineri (Frimark President) as well as the supervisors of the Master RSP course.

Maserati Chicane was the selected proposal set forth by the designers Dmytro Zyubyairov (Ukraine) and Oscar Palladino (Italy). Runner up to the selected project was the “Maserati Sfida”, developed by Roberta Baggio Worm (Brazil), David Rodrigues (Portugal) and Irma Elena Ramirez (Venezuela).

The following students worked on the Maserati project: Vadim Artemiev (Russia), Roberta Baggio Worm (Brasile), Gaurav Bhatia (India), Alex Chatham (USA), Aashish Chaudhary (India), Gerard Fernandez Currel (Spain), Ron Desnoyers (Canada), Gregorio Di Pinto (Italia), Mikael Ifianto (Indonesia), Carlos Luzon Garcia (Spain), Irma Elena Naya Ramirez (Venezuela), Emrah Onemli (Turkey), Oscar Palladino (Italy), Raffaele Ponsiani (Italy), David Rodrigues (Portugal), Antonio Tamburrino (Italy) and Dmytro Zyubyairov (Ukraine). Collaborators to the project included Laurent Raphael (France) and Mihaï Panaîtescu (Romania), both third year students from the post-graduate Transportation Design course (2007-2008). The Maserati Chicane prototype was realized by Cecomp.

Also present on the IED stand will be numerous projects from the third year post-graduate Transportation Design Course (2006-2007) committed to the Japanese brand Toyota. The following projects will be presented: “Forma” by Mark Cerrato, Enrico Remolif and Danilo Tosetti, “Waterfall” by Dennis Braga and Andrea Mocellin and “H.A.L.O. Hybrid Advance Line Over” by Michele Deconcini and Fabrizio Salerno. Drawing inspiration from the Toyota Prius, the hydrid sedan which combines electric and petrol power, the projects characterise a new concept car for Toyota, displaying designs which could be implemented in production in the near future. The class was organized to work in ten groups, with each student left to develop their own concept prior to the realisation of 10 quarter-scale models.

The IED thanks the following companies for their participation: Cecomp, Pirelli, Model Resine and OZ Racing.