PassoCorto has a very sporty profile. A concept car wîth a technical but evocative name, intentionally requested to be in Italian by the Hyundai Design Center Europe as a tribute to the Made in Italy design that is studied at the IED. PassoCorto, the tenth full scale model created by Istituto Europeo di Design of Turin, is a sports car, extremely compact in size. Designed by the Master in Transportation Design - work experience IED Turin - a.y. 2012/13 in collaboration wîth Hyundai, it will be revealed in world preview at the 84the International Geneva Motor Show.The Korean car manufacturer gave to the Institute a design brief wîth its target potential customers being those born between the eighties and the early years of this millennium: the young people who are always connected, those of 2.0, known as generation Y. This very target market also includes the students on the Master's asked by Hyundai to draw and design 'the car of their dreams', one that would be top of their list for buying and driving. The car designers therefore put themselves into the shoes of automotive professionals and also the potential purchasers of their own design. This is how the PassoCorto was created, in a year - 2014 - that, in addition to the tenth full scale model, will also see the Institute celebrate 20 years of the Transportation Design course and 25 years of activity in the region.
PassoCorto (length 4100mm - width 1880mm - height 1160mm – wheelbase 2450mm) - whose name itself already expresses all the character of the car, recalling its compactness and lightness - is a twoseater sports car wîth rear-mid engine. The interiors are designed to have two cockpits wîth integrated instruments clearly divided by passenger and driver; the seat is optically connected to the dashboard and the backrest is cut directly out of special niches in the frame. The model was designed to have a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, thereby ensuring the car is as light as possible (the target weight was 840 kg). On the road, it would be powered by a 4 cylinder inline bi-turbo engine (1600 cc) of 270 CV. In general, the concept lines are dictated by the wheel arches, which simulate crab claws and envelop the extremely streamlined central volume of the bonnet and the cab. The front and rear are completed wîth significant aerodynamic elements, while the roof has a graphical setting that integrates the engine air inlets while a video camera acts as a rear view mirror and records high resolution videos to be shared wîth fiends on the web. The exhaust pipes, which come out of the top part of the car, allow for a 'clean' rear and are a characterising element of the design of the whole car. The livery dazzles in orange, which is reminiscent of the 1970s sports car traditions that made the history of great Italian car makers.
PassoCorto is the work of sixteen students on the Master's course coordinated by Luca Borgogno, Lead Designer Pininfarina. The concept is the result of a process marked by various assessment stages, simulating a real working situation. All the students submitted their own proposal; the two that were best able to respond to the initial brief were selected and 'merged' together into the final version which combines approximately 70% of one proposal and 30% of the other. The entire class in fact created a core working team in order to create a well-integrated model of the two final versions in line wîth the concepts expressed by the scale models, completing as a group the full scale concept.
Source - Istituto Europeo di Design
