Gear Patrol

After adding his distinctive touch to typical consumer products like the Pentax K-01, Australian designer Marc Newson has now made the logical leap to… jetpacks? That’s right. Newson’s Body Jet is made from a carbon fiber shell and features all of the elements you’d need to make strapping a rocket to your back even remotely feasible: landing gear that retracts during flight, gyroscopic controls for steering and safety straps (…fine).

From the revamped A-Class to mysterious Affalterbach gems, Mercedes knows a thing or two about pushing the boundaries of automotive design. Most of their time has been spent developing on-road capabilities — but at this year’s LA Design Challenge, Mercedes gave us a look into the off-road future with their Ener-G-Force. For Mercedes, this isn’t…

Just 10 years ago, Infiniti was viewed solely as the luxury brand of Nissan — separated only by upgraded leather upholstery, an analog clock and a slightly nicer logo. Fast forward to the Emerg-E concept (pronounced “emerge”). Similar to the Volt, the Emerg-E is an extended-range electric — with a radically different look. The 1.2-liter…

The Paris Motor Show produced some serious automotive eye candy, including a preview of Audi’s future design language in the Crosslane Coupe Concept. The Crosslane’s accentuated angular look seems to borrow a few external styling cues from its more expensive Lamborghini Urus brother and hints at what the next Q-series crossovers could look like. The…

Want a cycling game-changer? You’ve got it. The Cannondale CERV by Priority Designs is a concept bike that adapts to a constantly changing riding environment. Typically, the rider’s body has to compensate for such changes, but the CERV has a “dynamically adjustable headset” that moves both vertically and horizontally during riding. For example, in a…

Can you believe the classic matchbook hasn’t been updated in over 100 years? That’s changed with the Strike match holder, a pocketable stainless steel match dispenser from product think tank Quirky that holds almost 50 matches. The modern fire-maker’s biggest trick is a strike-coated barrel that lights matches in one motion as they’re removed from…

Classy as it may be, sniffing a milk carton to see if its contents have spoiled isn’t terribly precise. That pensive moment right before the sniff (or worse, taste) is downright Neanderthal. In an attempt to get us beyond this is the Milkmaid, winner of a Quirky and GE sponsored innovation contest. Basically, the Milkmaid…

Not since the creation of the extreme Lamborghini LM002 in the 1980s, has the Italian automaker ventured into SUV territory. After years of R&D, Lamborghini has finally created its second coming, the Lamborghini Urus concept. Sounding more like an unmentionable body part than a hyper-exotic SUV, the Urus echoes many of the same lines as…

We think the latest cars from Mercedes have been well-designed, bordering on beautiful (the CLS, especially). This statement can easily be made for the soon-to-be-revealed Mercedes-Benz Concept Style Coupe, or CSC, which will bow at the end of the month in Beijing. The rakish and sleek “four door coupe” that follows in the CLS’s footsteps…

Audi’s Q5 has been a huge success both on our shores and internationally, so it makes perfect sense for the German automaker to capitalize on the SUV/Crossover segment with the introduction of the Audi RS Q3 concept at the upcoming Beijing Motor Show. The question remains as to whether we’ll be lucky enough to get…

German industrial designer Florian Saul’s furniture concepts are consistent in their merging of simplicity, aesthetic elegance, and functionality. The Servus / r75 rack is a modern take on the suit valet and our favorite of the lot. The minimalistic piece consists of a single strip of polished wood that bends slightly forward at the top…

Let’s make this clear. Gas is expensive and mopeds are emasculating. Tiny wheels the size of a cookie do not a man make, but filling up your car for $80 a week isn’t exactly the best option, either. Introducing the Yamaha Y125 Moegi Concept. We can’t tell you how to pronounce it, but we can…

Last year, we shared with you David Reisenberg’s carefully crafted whiskey packaging design. Nearly a year later we bring you another incredibly conceived design in a category near and dear to GP. Cameras. This time around, Reisenberg has taken a deftly designed stab at a product that’s had photographers itching with anticipation, a Canon Mirrorless…

If news of this all-new Bentley EXP 9 F Concept were any fresher, it would get up, hop into the driver’s seat and mash the throttle. And that’s what this world-class SUV has been designed to do, taking the Bentley name and everything that lies behind it–the racing heritage, performance, build quality and exclusivity–to a…

It may look like a mechanical dragonfly but Metin Kaplan’s “Sunrise” is not a Da Vinci helicopter. By harnessing the power of the sun, Kalpan’s project aims to make thermal-powered flight a reality for a wider audience — and if you’re wondering who needs slower, solar-powered aviation just think about its applications in filming, patrolling,…

The living ecological alpine pod, or LEAP, wears its heart right on its name tag and provides all of the benefits of traditional mountain shelters — think trekking basecamps, not lavish homes — but with a significantly smaller environmental footprint. Much of the LEAP’s “green” gains are derived from construction technologies for building planes and…

With the blessing and assistance from Ford MoCo in the way of CAD files, archivals and tech support, ICON began the project to bring this stunning ICON 1968 Ford Bronco to life. It began with five extremely hard to come by uncut-fender late 1960′s Ford Broncos. ICON then garnered both emotional and financial support from…

Only the automotive cognoscenti recognize the Holden name, the car manufacturer out of Australia out of which great engineering and automobiles have emerged. Here’s a good reason to remember the name–the 1969 Holden Hurricane Concept, recently restored to its original glory. The restoration project took a full five years, but it was clearly worth it…

When you think of Kia, what comes to mind? Econobox is one word. Lustworthy is not. That’s about to change if the new Kia GT Concept has anything to say about it. Just revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Kia’s mysterious four door sports car has just taken off its cloak. With curvaceous sheet metal…

Jaguar has officially sloughed off the traditional designs that stood for decades. The new design era is officially in full swing, and they’ve not only penned but created the next star in their lineup, the Jaguar C-X16 Concept, which will show up in Frankfurt next week. This one’s got some big shoes to fill, as…

We don’t envy Land Rover. Upgrading, modifying, or simply touching their icon, the Defender is about as much of a Pandora’s Box as they come. But such is the way of progress, and in just a month, Land Rover will be unveiling their first concept, the DC100 at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Like any concept,…

Concept cars, by their very nature, are designed to floor the gas pedal of our automotive imagination. The Ford Evos achieves this end with flying colors, and then some — thanks in large part to the striking pose of its not one, not two, not three, but four gullwing doors. Born from Ford’s design studio…

Pebble Beach is in full force and evidently, Cadillac is too. The Cadillac Ciel Concept (pronounced: C-L) ascends the mark’s design language with one hell of a bold statement. The four-seat convertible land yacht is appointed with appropriately nautical-themed elements: French doors, pillarless design, sweeping sheet metal and an interior bedecked in ambient lighting, analog…

The 2nd prize winner of the 2011 Ferrari World Design Contest, Turin IED graduate Samir Sadikhov of Azerbaijan has created what might be the penultimate modern-day Ferrari design (subjectively, nothing beats an early model Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet). Designed with “flexible aerodynamics” principles, Sadikhov’s concept proposes a roof mounted rear wing that activates over 125…

Typically, riding a scooter as a full-fledged male has the ability to take you down a few notches on the coolness scale. Well, BMW hopes to change some of that, as they try to edge in on the ubiquitous scooter market with the introduction of the BMW Concept C motor scooter. Using a high displacement…

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find this one on the shelves of your local package store, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little imagination, right? Created by David Riesenberg (get it?), the sublime package design project features a unique concept: a removable bottle label created through a unique process of drying, pressing…

It is ironic that, while watch companies are turning out more capable dive watches – helium release valves, absurd water resistance, innovative bezels – fewer and fewer SCUBA divers are wearing watches at all. Go on any dive boat and you’re lucky to find one person wearing anything besides a dive computer on his wrist….

If Chevy has the cojones not to completely bludgeon the buff and beautiful design of the Chevrolet Colorado Rally Concept, then they just might have a winner in the evolutionary-but-not-revolutionary pickup truck field. The recently released images reveal a rugged and ready vehicle that’s more Paris-Dakar than Paris, Texas. The Colorado Concept sports a new,…

We love a good mechanical watch, but when it comes to workouts, our obsession with analog craftsmanship takes a backseat to functionality. The Beat Workout Watch ($TBD) checks all the boxes of the ultimate exercise companion. Pairing a shoe based sensor with a chest strap heart rate monitor and a 16GB portable music player isn’t…

In commemoration of the BMW 328 75th anniversary (no, not the leased 328 in your neighbor’s garage), Bavarian Motor Works has created what really can only be described as a breathtaking reintepretation, recently revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Como, Italy. Aptly called the BMW 328 Hommage, its resemblance to the original 1930′s…