Latest news with #CarDesignEvent2025
Stuff.tv
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Stuff.tv
I've seen the Slate Truck pickup and the best thing about it is there's no touchscreen
A touchscreen is great on your smartphone. In fact, unless you still hanker after a Blackberry keypad, it's hard to imagine life without one. It's the same in cars too, with touchscreen infotainment dominating today's dashboards. However, there seems to be a definite pushback against too much touchscreen tech in vehicles. It was a key point being made at the third Car Design Event 2025 event held at Munich's Drivers & Business Club this week. Users were all too ready to voice their concerns to designers about just how fed up they are with much that lives within the omnipresent infotainment screen of modern cars. Sure, there's a place for a touchscreen, but folks want good old buttons and switches too. The recently unveiled Slate Truck pickup is a prime example of this desire for minimalism. Look at the dashboard and there's no touchscreen, just a mount for your own screen of choice. It makes total sense because so many drivers just want to get behind the wheel, plug in their own system and use that, instead of picking through endless infotainment menus. Simplicity could be the secret of Slate's success and, if they can bring it to market at around $20,000 dollars that will certainly help. The other key factor is that by using our own smartphones or tablets as the 'infotainment' system, buyers can keep their vehicles up to date. Over-the-air software updates are all well and good, but many of the screens in even some of the best electric cars are going to look mighty tired and outdated in just a few years' time. Slate's approach is refreshing, even if we're not going to be able to get this Jeff Bezos-backed funky little pickup truck here in the UK for now. It starts out basic, but the buyer can create their own vehicle thanks to several core options that turn it from a pickup into an SUV. From there, the Slate can be further customised with myriad personalisation options. A neat idea. Alongside Slate, user interface and experience (UI/UX) topics were heavily featured during presentations from BMW, General Motors, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Lamborghini, Pagani, Volkswagen and even the reborn Yugo brand (remember them?). And, even if you've had your fill of touchscreen infotainment systems, it is perhaps BMW that could be about to deliver the most refreshing variation on this theme. The forthcoming BMW Panoramic iDrive, which we tried for ourselves a while ago, is a fantastic amalgam of a Panoramic Vision dashboard layout, which actually runs along the complete length of the lower windscreen, supplemented by a head-up display and, yes, a touchscreen oriented toward the driver. However, the icing on the cake is the way the new multifunction steering wheel offers lots of control right there at your fingertips. BMW says 'hands on the wheel, eyes on the road', which definitely sounds like the way to go and could make for the perfect compromise when it appears in its Neue Klasse vehicles that will arrive later this year. The Car Design Event is the brainchild of automotive journalists Jens Meiners and Des Sellmeijer. It's a unique mix of car design experts, suppliers and educational institutions plus media and influencers. And, one thing was very apparent throughout, it might be time designers start listening to consumers and bring a few more buttons back into the mix of their future creations.
Metro
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Metro
'Worst car in history' set for comeback with new makeover
A budget car dubbed the 'worst in history' is set to make a comeback. The Yugo, which hailed from the former Yugoslavia, became the butt of many jokes after it was released in the UK and the US in the 1980s. It cost around £3,000, making it the cheapest vehicle on the market at the time. But the car was known for its poor quality construction, lack of reliability and safety concerns and after an initial rush of customers, demand quickly fell. Britain imported the Yugo for just ten years, between 1981 and 1991 and production ceased entirely in 2008. A book has even been written about the vehicle's failure, called The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History . Now a Serbian university professor is hoping to bring the car back to life, and unveiled a 1:5 scale model version at the Car Design Event 2025 in Munich. Dr Alekasandar Bjelić, who owns the Yugo naming rights and is linked to the German automotive industry, hopes a fully working prototype will be showcased at Belgrade Expo 2027 and on the market soon after. Designed by fellow Serb, Darko Marčeta, the new Yugo has a retro 80s look but with slim LED lights front and back and large alloy wheels. Mr Bjelić said the car would initially be sold as an 'affordable' two-door model, with potential for 'different body versions' in the future. If plans are given the green light, it will launch with a petrol engine and a choice of manual or automatic gearboxes. He hopes electric versions would also be possible at some point. Mr Bjelić has promised a 'fun-to-drive car' that 'meets all relevant safety standards'. The first Yugo was introduced to the UK market under the name Yugo 45 and offered cheaper alternative to rivals like the Ford Fiesta and Austin Metro. It came with three petrol options of different capacities, from from 903cc to 1,301cc, with a 'convertible' version also available. Four years after its UK debut, the Yugo was also launched in the US, where it was 'a punchline' within a year, according to Jason Vuic's book on the car. 'Within a year, it was a staple of late night comedy,' he wrote. It's reputation fell further in 1989 when 31-year-old Leslie Pluhar plunged off the Mackinac suspension bridge in Michigan in her Yugo. She had lost control of the car after being struck with 48mph winds – although her speeding at the time was said to be a contributing factor. In total, 794,428 Yugos were manufactured, although a fairly small percentage of those were sold in the UK. Official registrations show there were only 19 on UK roads by 2018, with reports only nine remain today. In 1997, one reached a rather strange end to its life when it was catapulted through the air. Cavalry officer Hew Kennedy and his friend Richard Barr built a replica 13th century catapult and sent the Yugo flying to showcase the equipment's slinging capacity. Commenting on the Yugo on Reddit, one previous and not so contented owner said: 'I owned one. It was cheap, and I thought, how bad can it be? 'I soon found out, the first time it rained, I found out it leaked badly. Bits of trim were always coming off. It frequently broke down with electrical faults. It is without doubt the worse car I have ever owned. 'There was a running joke, that the heated rear screen was there to keep your hands warm while pushing it.' Another wrote: 'My first car was a brand new 1988 Yugo (purchased in 1990). It was red with a sport stripe. 'My mom convinced me it was better to get a new car with a warranty, instead of something used. SHE WAS WRONG!!! Holy cow was that car a piece of s**t.' Not everyone hated their Yugo though it seems. 'Our Yugo must have been a unicorn, because I loved it,' wrote a third person. More Trending 'It was definitely the Walmart brand of car, super no-frills and had little … quirks. 'But it got the job done, it was easy on gas, there was room enough for the family. It finally died, and we couldn't get parts to repair it, which was a bummer. 'I'd gladly own one again. 'BTW, we had so much fun collecting all the joke names: a two-door is an I-Go, 4-door is a We-Go, a station wagon was a We-All-Go, etc. It was a giggle.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: European leaders arriving in Kyiv told to 'shove these peace plans' by Russia MORE: The buzzy European city crowned the world's most walkable — with £4 beers MORE: 'We just went wild': how children celebrated cakes and peace on VE Day
