Vehicle Styling and Aerodynamic Performance Evaluation

The urban youth of India, in the absence of cars which reflect their personality, resort to after market modifications which usually results in performance degradation and lapse of manufacturer's warranty. The inadequate roads and crowded cities warrant the need for compact luxurious cars. Aerodynamics plays a major role in the fuel economy of a car and the styling needs to be constrained with aerodynamics. In the present work, a user survey was conducted to understand the target customer, followed by a CFD analysis of the Swift to understand its flow behaviour. Concepts were created based on the data from both sources. CFD analysis carried out on the 'Xite' concept returned CD and CL values which were higher than the Swift. Modifications were made to improve the flow. The modified 'Xite' owing to its improved drag and lift over the standard 'Xite' was chosen for final detailing and customisation. From the present work, it was concluded that a huge potential existed for premium compact cars with sporty traits for the urban users with most users users wanting a car to make a style statement and for exclusivity. Improvements in aerodynamic performance were also observed.