This Apple Car concept has ‘familiar’ cheese-grater inspired wheels, and supports wireless-charging

You know Apple is dead serious about something when not a single structural detail ever leaks out to the press. It’s easy for iPhone designs or MacBook designs to leak out to the press nearly a year before the product is actually announced. With Apple’s supply chain, it’s difficult really to keep things under wraps, but when Apple’s working on something that’s still in its conceptual stages, there’s absolutely no chance anyone will ever get to see what it looks like. It’s why we know that Apple’s working on a folding phone, an AR headset, and even a car. Sure, we know that they’re working on these products (because the company probably wants to gauge public opinion), but nobody knows anything about how the Apple car will look – whether it’ll be a coupe, a sedan, a minivan, a pickup truck, or a pod… zilch.

That informational-void is the perfect playground for designers like Emre Husmen, a transportation designer who arguably created a better conceptual Tesla truck than the company itself. According to Husmen, if Apple were to create a car, a minivan would be its best format. As demonstrated with his concept, the Apple iV (iVehicle, or iVan) minivan would come with a clean, no-nonsense design language best associated with the brand, along with the glowing Apple logo once seen on the company’s MacBooks. Available in the three colors often associated with the brand’s image (white, space gray, jet black), the iV looks large enough to seat well over 4 people, but the presence of only two doors would indicate a seating pattern that’s different from that commonly found in minivans. Look carefully and there’s a green dot beneath the Apple logo on the front as well as the back, possibly indicating the presence of self-driving sensors. The car even comes with a pretty large boot, edge-lit headlights and taillights, and a rather interesting looking wireless-charging feature on the underside of the car, pairing with wireless charging pads built right into the ground.

Well, that’s a fairly detailed description of the car, but what would they collectively indicate? It seems like Husmen’s vision of an Apple Car is more of a shuttle service than your average fashionable sedan or roadster. While Apple’s all about flair and fashion, the iV has much more of a laser-like focus on public transport and on passenger safety, given the car’s large boxy appearance. The car probably self-drives, and can automatically drop and pick people up, sort of like a never-ending carpool service… except for when it has to refuel. Refueling, at least according to Husmen, is wireless and contact-free. The car simply parks itself over a charging hub and electricity flows through the ground and the car’s wireless coil located on its base. Another rather whimsical detail lies in the car’s wheels, which come with a pattern of circles that look an awful lot like those found on the iPhone camera bump or on the ‘cheese-grater’ Mac Pro from 2019! Now while this is more of a visualization exercise and less of a prank, it’s difficult to say if Husmen included that detail as a tongue-in-cheek way of reminding us of Apple’s polarizing design detail. Personally, I just hope nobody on Apple’s design team ever really considers using that cheese-grater texture anywhere (although Apple DID patent a ‘cheesegrater’ iPhone recently). That aside, if someone at Apple wants to look at this concept for inspiration, I’m all for it! An Apple minivan actually wouldn’t be a bad idea. I can even imagine the insides being outfitted with screens that play AppleTV content!

Designer: Emre Husmen

Image Credits: Emre Husmen

The Ford Mustang Mach-F concept makes the electric vehicle look ‘muscular’ again

I distinctly remember how I felt when I saw the Mustang Mach-E concept. I felt the same way when I saw the Cybertruck too, which released around the same time. There was this underwhelming feeling that came from the fact that the final product didn’t live up to the hype it created. Imagine America’s most popular muscle car becoming electric. The possibilities for ideation were endless, but the Mustang Mach-E, which released in November last year, decided to do a complete 180° by looking NOTHING like its muscular predecessors. The Ford Mustang Mach-E was only a Mustang because Ford labeled it as one. On all other fronts, it was missing that iconic wild-horse character.

Emre Husmen’s Mach-F concept (created as a successor to the Mach-E) attempts at righting those wrongs. For starters, it embraces the design language of both the Mach-E and the fuel-powered Mustangs before it. Its side-view silhouette feels distinctly modern, while looking like a progression, an evolution of Ford’s contemporary cars. It’s much more low-slung than the Mach-E (which almost felt like a compact SUV), and embraces the 2015 Mustang’s overall style, but with a 4-door setup. Husmen’s concept even successfully modernizes the 2015 Mustang’s headlights (which one would argue are the Mustang’s defining feature), implementing the three LED-strip layout in a style that feels appropriately aggressive… fitting for a muscle car. The car comes with the lack of a front-grille, given its electric-powered nature, but considering how the grille plays such a strong role in giving the Mustang its appeal, Husmen makes the use of a clever outline around the top and sides to create a break in the surface in a way that looks like the car’s grille. There’s even a glowing Mustang logo on the front that adds a bit of dynamism to the car’s front profile. Move on to the back and the Mustang Mach-F embraces the same 3-strip layout found in all modern Mustangs. All in all, the Mach-F successfully carries the muscle-car demeanor onto EVs.

Husmen seems to be on the right track with the Mach-F, creating a product that BELONGS to its company. His earlier rendition of the Tesla pickup truck made waves too before the Cybertruck was announced, for looking exactly like the kind of electric automobile people would love to own and to drive. I hope someone at Ford is taking a few notes.

Designer: Emre Husmen

This Tesla Pickup Concept is ‘driving’ me crazy!

It’s a shame that this conceptual Tesla pickup is fan-made, because it’s an absolute beauty! Designed with sheer attention to detail, the pickup is envisioned as a part of Tesla’s Model P series, by Istanbul-based designer, Emre Husmen.

The conceptual Model P 2019 (let’s just call it that for now) is a brilliant exercise in brand and form semantics… that’s a fancy-design-jargon way of saying that it looks exactly like something Tesla would launch. With the beautiful razor thin headlamps and taillamps, the absence of a radiator-grille on the front (thanks to its electric build) and aesthetic features and detailing that are just innately Tesla, the conceptual pickup truck looks both fast and dominating together. It comes with a four-door setup, and a pretty high ground clearance. An off-road Tesla? I’d quite like to see that, Mr. Musk.

Designer: Emre Husmen

A Posh Porsche from the near future!

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I’m waiting for 2020 to get here fast, because from the looks of it, we’re going to have some great looking cars around! The Porsche 911E concept for the year 2020 is quite a beauty to look at. Everything about it echoes grace and power at the same time. The concealed wheel design is a reminiscent of the Rolls Royce Vision 100 concept we saw last year, and honestly, I prefer this look to the future where we have hub-less wheels.

The butterfly doors are a wonderful addition to the automobile’s design, but I can’t seem to get my eyes off the retractable spoiler at the back, which disguises itself as an opening to the boot. Upon hitting high speeds, the flap automatically raises upwards, making the Porsche 911E look like quite the speed devil!

Designer: Emre Husmen

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