Nowadays it is rare to identify a moment of true excitement in the automotive world; everyone has to live with expecting the expected and expect rarely anything beyond what already exists. This has partly to do with the fact that cars have developed to such an extent that it is very difficult to impress with an outstanding design, but also because the automotive industry has become so globalised, the different ‘form' languages of the past have merged to create a general language. There was a time, when identifying a car's nationality was easy, but ‘cross-breeding' over the years has killed the individuality that once made virtually all cars so fascinating.

To top this off, most cars today are also more than what the average cross-section person needs for transportation, and as a result the desire for evolution has never felt so unnecessary.

Standards to be met with aerodynamics, safety and legislation don't help in this respect, but to be honest designers in general have lost touch with the freedom of ideas that are available to them, and often plagiarise the work of others unashamedly.

This is when revival comes into place with retro design. Retro design fulfils the desire to relive the best parts of motoring history with the comfort of modern standards and the reliability of modern technology. This is an easy effort to create a ‘different' design, using the legendary status of a car from a bygone era. Both designers and customers have become unhealthily used to accepting this as route to follow.

Whereas there are certain examples of worthy revivals (BMW Mini), there are also downright mindless reinterpretations without any feeling of freshness whatsoever (Ford GT). How can there be a future generation if forms remain the same?

An answer lies with a new design to be launched at the 75th Geneva Motor Show today. Rather than being retro, it evolves a trademark form that stunned the automotive world back at the original's debut at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. It is the Stratos, or rather “The Stratos Reloaded.”

The 2005 Stratos represents the first show car created by a new London-based design firm called Fenomenon Holistic Design. The Stratos will basically throw Fenomenon straight into the limelight as being a lively contender against most established design houses, which have mainly been dormant over the past decade in terms of creative spirit.

The Stratos shows what the recently founded design company is capable of; not only a complete concept and engineering development service, but also the possibility to sub-brand and promote the design with imaginative rigour.
 

Led by Viennese-born Christian Hrabalek, the Stratos project was born out of discussions about the Lancia brand and how to rejuvenate it by relating a climax from the past with an amazingly fresh design. Rather than create a pointless, badgeless car, Fenomenon wanted to offer a real-world answer to a real-world issue for a real-world brand.

By using the DNA from the original Stratos, Fenomenon has managed to evolve the spirit of the original to the extreme by employing a number of impeccable design solutions to match the original's futurism.

The original Stratos was all about being different, fitting to Lancia's image as a world-leader in terms of automotive technology and refinement. The Stratos pushed this envelop to the outer limit and beyond, to such an extent that its sharp-edge design is still slicing into designer's and enthusiast's imaginations to this day forward.

The philosophy behind the 2005 Stratos lies true to the legend of the Lancia original, but for entirely different reasons. Whereas the original won fame on the international rally scene, the new Stratos has been created to satisfy the growing demand of supercars in countries that do not have the infrastructure to support them. These are developing countries, where potholed tarmac and wet dirt tracks render the use of contemporary supercars impossible. Despite this, the media and communication systems in these countries are at an advanced enough level for consumers and potential clients to be increasingly aware of the supercars available and designed for use in the western world.

Like the original, the 2005 Stratos is a supercar capable of performing both on- and off-road without compromise.

27 years old, Hrabalek has a BA (Hons) in International Business and an MA in Marketing. He is currently studying for an MA in automotive design at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, London. His previous work experience includes Porsche (1997), Audi (1998), Volkswagen (1999), Lancia (2000), Design Center Europe (2001), BMW (2002), Volkswagen Concept Design Barcelona (2003) and Skoda (2004). Also rated as being the world's leading Lancia Stratos collector, both in terms of real cars and models and memorabilia, Hrabalek was more than qualified for this undertaking which took a total of three years from original conception to the planned show launch at Geneva.

In order to get the design just right, Hrabalek enlisted the help of 10 professional car designers, all having at least three existing production cars in their portfolio. From hundreds of possible design directions, ranging from aggressive to elegant, Hrabalek directed the project forwards together with his partner, German-born Serge Porcher. Porcher is an ex RCA graduate, and author of the Citroën Pluriel.