SUZUKI MISANO - La Dolce Vita X Way of Life

Misano is the concept vehicle designed in collaboration with Suzuki that combines the two different souls of the Japanese manufacturer in a single model.

Academic year

2020 - 2021

The result of the thesis project of the twenty-four students on the Master's course in Transportation Design at IED Turin, Misano is the answer to the Japanese manufacturer's question: a style model capable of interweaving Japanese automotive design philosophy with a design that embodies pure passion, style, and fun, as in the best Italian tradition.

Suzuki asked the young designers to work on the brief La Dolce Vita X Way of Life, directing the research on a double track; the deepening of the values embodied by the payoff of the Suzuki brand and, in parallel, the suggestions evoked by the title of Fellini's masterpiece, which has become a universal expression of a life of pleasure and elegance.

Misano is a sporty and compact vehicle that reinterprets the classic Barchetta typology in an experimental way, proposing, with an innovative and asymmetrical layout, two seats in tandem on four wheels. Striving for elegance and purity, the lines of the exterior design clean surfaces that softly envelop the exposed passenger compartment. The absence of a soft top reveals the off-center driver and passenger positions that leave the right-hand portion free, allowing the battery pack and boot to be inserted in a sideways position.

The sporting inspiration can be found not only in the gritty design of the front, in which the thunderous lines of the lights increase the car's recognisability, and in the aerodynamics of the rear, which channels air flows through two trapezoidal meshes, but above all in the driving experience. Protected solely by a small windscreen reminiscent of a windshield, the driver controls the car not with a steering wheel, but with a clearly motorcycle-inspired cloche.