- Full-scale clay models are essential in the design process of a car to fully appreciate its final proportions
- During the creation of the CUPRA Terramar, this validation stage was key, as it was important to emphasise its 4.5-metre length, especially since it’s an SUV
- Alberto Torrecillas, exterior designer at CUPRA: “We carefully reworked the bonnet on the CUPRA Terramar, and thanks to this material, we could instantly see the lines and shapes we wanted to highlight.”
Milton Keynes, 16-01-2025 – The process of creating a car begins with a sketch. Alberto Torrecillas, exterior designer at CUPRA, takes a sheet of paper and draws the outline and shapes of what has become the brand’s first electrified SUV, the CUPRA Terramar. But until the design freeze is achieved, those same lines have been outlined, tweaked, and literally sculpted over and over again, until the perfect proportions are created. “We draw the essence of the model, we transform it digitally to understand its volumes, but if we want to truly be able to feel the surfaces and verify that the proportions work, we need a full-scale model.” says the designer. This is when clay takes centre stage in this story.
Sporty proportions
In one of the restricted access rooms of CUPRA’s Technical Centre, Alberto analyses the full-scale CUPRA Terramar in one of its preliminary stages, prior to the version we’ll see in the final design. From one side, it’s vinyl wrapped to resemble paint and looks like a realistic model. But from the other side, it’s a completely exposed, earth-coloured mock-up made with more than five thousand kilograms of clay, automatically milled using precise parameters and then manually polished, with every detail of the surface sculpted to millimetric precision. “Proportions are essential in our models. We define them in the sketches we make, but where we really appreciate them is in the physical clay replicas” he says. In the CUPRA Terramar, for example, this stage was key in the design process, because ‘‘being an SUV, we wanted to emphasise its generous 4.5-metre length by highlighting the body colour, while maintaining an athletic and sporty sculpture. The best way to showcase this is with the clay model.” he adds.
Craftsmanship that complements technology
Even though the latest technologies and digital tools are a key part of the design process, making full-scale clay models is an essential part of the validation process. “This material is very interesting because you can use it to examine the sections, the play of lights and shadows…” explains Alberto.
Feeling the model’s surfaces
Another reason why this stage is so important for the design department is that it enables them to touch and feel each of the exterior surfaces. “For us, every shape, every line, every contour has a meaning and conveys an intended effect. By simply touching the surfaces we can tell if they’re going to work in terms of design” says Alberto.
Instant feedback and accuracy
Another added advantage is that it’s fast. Clay is malleable and simple to use, and you can immediately see any changes when the design is meticulously tweaked. “The prominent lines of the bonnet are one of the key elements of the CUPRA Terramar’s front design, as they frame our logo. By using these clay models, we immediately identified and visualised the sections that allowed us to emphasise them.”
The outcome of this story that unfolds combining paper, digital technology and clay is a sporty SUV that adopts the new design language to break into the fastest-growing segment in Europe.