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Modern but Virtual Reinterpretation of the BMW Italdesign Nazca Delivers It All

Thirty years ago, BMW wasn’t all about scaring people off with its stubbornness to pursue a design language that doesn’t please anybody (except for the people that approved it). The Bavarians were even daring enough to let the studio run by the Car Designer of the Century (a.k.a. Giorgetto Giugiaro and Italdesign) have a go at imagining their supercars. Today, we’re left with virtual renders and memories of times long past.
BMW Italesign Nazca rendering by Rain Prisk 7 photos
Photo: Rain Prisk/Facebook
BMW Italesign Nazca rendering by Rain PriskBMW NAZCA M12BMW NAZCA M12BMW NAZCA M12Italdesign Nazca C2Italdesign Nazca C2
Back in the 1990s, automakers weren’t so preoccupied with keeping their design teams so tight on a leash, meaning the styling brought many interesting creations in the era. Granted, some of them were of extremely questionable aesthetic qualities, but the association between Giugiaro and BMW wasn’t one of them.

The Bavarian company trusted the designer that penned the styling of the M1 enough to allow its branding on the debut creation of Fabrizio Giugiaro, the Nazca M12 concept. He was just 26 years old at the time, and the success of the prototype shown back in 1991 at the Geneva Motor Show led to the arrival of two other upgrades—the Nazca C2 coupe in 1992 and the C2 Spider in 1993.

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the polished aesthetics of the Nazca trio certainly remained a part of BMW history going forward. That means the aerodynamic and very sleek body will serve as inspiration from time to time for a modern reinterpretation.

After all, considering last year’s decision to retire the plug-in hybrid i8 from production, BMW is currently without a hero car. Don’t even try and remind us of the insipidly styled and inaptly named iX because we’re talking here about real image vectors, not something to stir up further controversy.

Fortunately, there’s always the sprawling virtual artist community to return to in times of design-infused distress. Rain Prisk is no stranger to delivering CGI interpretations of supercars that may never be, so it’s as safe as it gets when pointing out one of his designs.

Because the Nazca concepts celebrate three decades since their official debut, it’s only fitting to see a modern reinterpretation for the XXI century. As noticed by the user community, this eschews the use of a massive grille for something that’s decidedly contemporary without going for an extreme shock value.

With the kidney grille completely blocked off, we could speculate the virtual artist would infuse the new supercar with something green—perhaps a souped-up PHEV setup akin to what McLaren is doing on the Artura. That would certainly justify the use of the substantial front ventilation seen below the closed grille.

Because there’s just one CGI angle, it’s hard to judge the rest of the design, so we can only imagine what’s in the back of the sleek coupe or inside the cockpit. Still, we really hope BMW takes notice of these creations going forward.
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Editor's note: Gallery includes official images of the BMW Italdesign Nazca series.

About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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