2010 Italdesign Giugiaro/Proton Emas Country Concept

(from Italdesign Giugiaro press release)

2010 Italdesign Giugiaro Proton EMAS Concept

ITALDESIGN GIUGIARO REVOLUTIONISES
TRADITIONAL MARKET SEGMENTATION
WITH EMAS, A FAMILY OF COMPACT, ECO-FRIENDLY CARS
CREATED WITH THE MALAYSIAN MANUFACTURER PROTON
AND LOTUS ENGINEERING HYBRID DRIVETRAIN

At the eightieth edition of the Geneva International Motor show (4-14 March 2010),
Italdesign Giugiaro is introducing Emas, a family of low environmental impact cars
that is set to revolutionise traditional segmentation in the car market.

The design, created with the Malaysian manufacturer PROTON is based on a plug-in
hybrid drive system designed with Lotus Engineering and was developed with the
aim of optimising the available on-board space and car access ergonomics.

“We have created a family of models in different configurations but all offering the
passenger room of a medium-category car while maintaining the exterior
dimensions of a compact mini. The architecture has been designed in such a way as
to allow us to outfit an infinite number of variants without compromising the car's
great comfort and extensive interior space” explained Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chairman
of Italdesign Giugiaro.

With 25 years in the automotive sector PROTON has produced 15 car models to
date that have sold more than 3 million units throughout the world and is now
ready to expand its horizons with a range of revolutionary cars that meet
international standards.

The name, Emas, meaning “gold” in Malay, is the acronym for Eco Mobility
Advanced Solutions.

Emas: the three configurations

Italdesign Giugiaro is exhibiting three configurations of the compact car family
produced with PROTON at the Geneva motor show:


Emas Comfort: hatchback
saloon, five doors, four seats,
length of 3550 mm, hybrid
drivetrain in Comfort


Emas Country: hatchback
saloon, three doors, five seats,
length of 3550 mm, hybrid
drivetrain in a Country


Emas3 City: hatchback saloon,
three doors, 3+1 Plus seats, 3
metres in length in City outfit
with plug-in electric drive


“Developing a car based on a hybrid system allows the designer to maximise all the
opportunities and advantages offered by the combination of engines, motors
(internal combustion and electric) and batteries in terms of box and bulk
arrangement” continued Giugiaro.


Homage to Rudolf Hruska

When approaching the design of a compact, functional car family, Giugiaro called
on his valuable years of collaboration with Rudolf Hruska, who was hired by Alfa
Romeo to bring the Alfasud product range and factory into being.

Hruska (Vienna 2 July 1914, Turin 4 December 1995) was a legendary Austrian
engineer who worked for Ferdinand Porsche and then for Cisitalia, Alfa Romeo and
Fiat-SIMCA before returning to Alfa. In 1967, he chose Giorgetto Giugiaro to design
the Alfasud range.

Italdesign was set up in February 1968 to develop the entire Alfasud project,
including design and development of the product and the new Pomigliano d’Arco
factory.

“Hruska taught me a rigorous approach to automotive design with the emphasis on
function and industrial feasibility. This strategy forces the creative designer to seek
good-looking solutions that fit in with the engineering layout rather than coming up
with shapes that mean that engineering compromises have to be made”,
reminisced Giugiaro.

“You could say that the product developed with PROTON is a brand new type of car,
a new automotive concept where looks – in line with Hruska's teaching - are as
important as function, ergonomics and comfort, not to mention environmental
impact”, continued Giugiaro.


A compact car with the passenger room of an SUV

“With this project, we have shown that the car layout can remain unchanged
irrespective of the type of fuel system; be it conventional, hybrid with petrol engine,
hybrid with natural gas engine or fully electric”.

The platform, specially designed by Italdesign Giugiaro for this car family, includes a
raised floorpan that is able to accommodate the hybrid or electric system batteries
in the centre. The raised position of the seats, all electrically adjustable, allows
passengers to make the best possible use of the interior space.

The combination of these two design features makes the actions of getting into and
out of the car very user-friendly, particularly at the rear. The levels of convenience
are comparable only to those of a few other higher-category cars.

The seat H point (corresponding to the passenger hip position) is located higher
than that of mass-produced cars but lower than that of an SUV.

“This is the outcome of several years of study: the solution allows interior
roominess on a par with that of a segment D saloon despite maintaining the
exterior dimensions of a segment A car”, explained Giorgetto Giugiaro.

“These new PROTON cars are higher than other compact car models to make the
best use of interior space; the seat H point is at the same height as the passengers'
hips: you do not get down into your car as in a coupé, you do not climb up as in an
SUV but you enter in a natural way. Rear seat comfort when you enter and leave
the car is absolutely unprecedented, the distance from the front seat is comparable
to that of an SUV”, added Giugiaro.

The five door version packs a 320 litre luggage compartment able to house two
medium-sized suitcases with ease into a length of just 3550 mm.


Present and future of the Emas family, the compact cars developed by Italdesign
Giugiaro with PROTON

The forerunner of the Emas family is a five door hatchback with the emphasis on
Comfort, because the rear seats are the same as the front seats to create four
business class seats within just 3550 mm of total length.

The front-end features the PROTON Shield housed in a longitudinal slot below the
bonnet. This also incorporates the light clusters and is enhanced by two distinctive
diamond-shaped fog lights. The engine cooling air intake, located between the fog
lights, is concealed within a dark grey trapezoid motif. Its size varies according to
the type of engine installed, without altering the look of the front-end.

The side is dominated by a belt line that drops down decisively toward the
windscreen pillar to increase side visibility during parking manoeuvres. The side is
enlivened by a sculpted shape, enhanced by a rib that runs from the front wheel
arch then swoops up toward the rear.

The large wheel arches are perhaps the most distinctive and substantial aspect of
the car body; the wheelbase is generous: 2590 mm for a total length of 3550 mm.
The wheels are therefore located at the end of the Emas: this gives the impression
of a car much bigger than it actually is.

The B pillar is painted black to create the sensation of visual continuity with the side
windows, while the C pillar features a motif based on an “E”, the initial letter of
Emas.

Oceans of glass allow plenty of light into the interior. Only the lower part of the side
windows – the part you actually need to open to pay tolls or car parks – is mobile in
order to keep the window opening system simpler and lighter.

The windscreen extends along three quarters of the roof to create a sky-dome
effect that dominates the view from above. Protective sun blinds are housed in the
central crossmember and extend longitudinally toward both the front and rear
seats.

The rear view is dominated by a generous rear window incorporating all the tail-
lights, which are entirely based on LED technology. These are located beneath the
glass and are invisible when the car is turned off. A subtle lip joins both light clusters
and surrounds the reversing lights and direction indicators. When the tailgate is
open, the lights are replicated by two supplementary tail-lights located in the lower
part of the bumpers on either side of the rear air intake.


The Country interpretation portrays the Emas as an urban SUV, keeping to the
length of 3550 mm but switching to a three-door architecture.

Access to the car is still easy due to generous doors measuring no less than 1350
mm in length and the ergonomic and rational position of the rear seats, that are set
120 mm further forward than in the five-door version.

In particular, the amount of passenger room rises from 4 to 5 seats by replacing the
two independent rear seats with a sliding three-seater bench seat. This means that
the amount of foot room for passengers in the rear can be adjusted according to
requirements.

The bench seat can also be folded completely flat to increase the load volume: this
boosts the luggage space from 390 to approximately 780 litres.

A few telling touches create a distinctive off-road exterior look: wheel arches, side-
sill perimeter base, bumpers toughened by radial ribbing and the lower part of the
tailgate are highlighted by a bronze metallic finish. The roof features a rollbar/roof-
rack.

The front-end differs from the urban, five-door version due to its more aggressive
look: the PROTON shield is now fitted at the top of a grille surmounting a large
longitudinal air intake. The two fog lights are round and sunk into the body.

The lower part of the front and rear bumpers and the side-sills are toughened by
metal inserts.

Emas3 is the City interpretation: the five-door configuration has been left
unchanged while the architecture has undergone drastic changes to reduce the
wheelbase by 550 mm to contain the total length within just 3 metres.

The doors used are the same as on the Country version, 1350 mm and allowing easy
access, even to rear seat passengers.

The front-end emphasises the different outfit: unlike its big sister, the fog lights are
trapezoid in shape and joined by a large rectangular air intake.

The tailgate, produced specifically for this version, is more upright in order to
ensure plenty of passenger headroom and acceptable load capacity despite the
compact exterior.

The passenger room drops to 3+1 Plus seats. The passenger seated behind the
driver has less leg-room but there is still enough space even for an adult.

Depending on the number of batteries chosen to increase the range of this version,
devised with solely plug-in electric traction, the passenger room could drop to three
or two seats if necessary, with a large luggage compartment.

In addition to the three interpretations on show in Geneva, Italdesign Giugiaro has
also come up with other possible permutations of the Emas family developed with
PROTON, including:


- Coupé Comfort: slightly more raked windscreen and low roof for a sporty
interpretation.


- Coupé Sport: even more steeply raked windscreen to accentuate the sportiness,
underscored by a special door and longer front and rear overhangs.


- Country Cabrio: the Country version loses its roof to become a four-seater
cabriolet.


- Compact Wagon: the Comfort version with longer rear overhang to increase the
load space and become a compact station wagon. Both five-door and three-door
versions are envisaged, the latter could come with panels instead of the rear side
windows for commercial use.


- H-van: identical to the five door version to the front door and then
complemented by a generous load compartment that is extended by a high top
to the windscreen and a lengthened rear overhang.



A glance at the interiors

The first aspect that strikes you, even before you discover the car interiors, is the
door handle: an ergonomic design that incorporates a set of secondary controls that
vary from place to place.

The driver can use the handle grip to control all four power windows, door locking
and unlocking, the courtesy lights, side mirror adjustment and electrical lowering of
the rear head restraint to improve visibility while reversing.

The front passenger can also adjust the hi-fi system as well as his or her own
window. The rear passengers can also adjust their seats from the handle grip.

Two TFT panels dominate the dashboard. They are housed side by side in the
centre of the dashboard, at a concave angle.

The right-hand monitor shows the speedometer and the main car operating
indicators in addition to hybrid system energy flows.

The left-hand monitor shows secondary information such as screens for the hi-fi
system, telephone and internet access browser plus personalised car set-up
parameters.

A third display, located beneath the central console, is a touch screen that controls
all the car's main and secondary functions. The right part of this TFT screen
permanently displays the climate system temperature and air flows.

The lower part of the central console, housing the ignition button and gear selector,
extends towards the tunnel and can be folded down. When parking in a tight spot,
forcing the driver or front passenger to leave the car from the opposite side, this
central element can be lowered and the seat moved back so that they can get out
on the other side without hindrance.

The central console also houses two USB ports to connect digital music players and
mobile phones, plus an SD card slot for satellite navigation maps.

The central part houses a dock specially designed for the Apple iPhone. This dock is
interchangeable and can house other phone and smartphone models. It can
recharge the phones and connect them automatically to the car without the need
to use other coupling systems.


Powered by Lotus Engineering

The drive system is a series hybrid plug-in developed by Lotus Engineering, a Proton
Group company. It includes a 3 cylinder 1.2 litre internal combustion engine
developing 51 horsepower (38 kW) at 3500 rpm that can run on petrol, ethanol, or
methanol.

The front transverse internal combustion engine is coupled to a generator and
serves exclusively to recharge the 11.5 kWh capacity lithium ion batteries.

rive is assured by an electric motor with continuous power of 45 kW and 75 kW
peak power.
The high maximum torque, 240 Nm, does not require the use of a gearbox.

Acceleration 0-100 km/h takes place in 14 seconds, top speed is 170 km/h and
battery range in the hybrid configuration is 50 km. Full recharging of the battery
pack takes three hours using a traditional 240-volt outlet.

The performance and range of the City three door electric plug-in version are
currently being assessed.