Insight: World’s leading car designers on future, sustainable design

Head of Maserati design Klaus Busse and the MC20

I’ve been speaking with a number of senior creatives in the car world lately. My interest is in understanding how various brands are navigating their way to the new electric and autonomous age of the automobile. Like many, I am hugely excited to see a genuine shift in attitude, even among the more conservative makers. And I’m eager to see how designers are responding to change – if they are willing to radically rethink car design.

In the last few months alone, most of the major makers have set out their net zero plans, and we are now beginning to see and drive products designed and engineered purely for electric drive. What has become clear though is that this first wave of clean(er) powered transport are not revolutionary in design. The radical approach I was hoping for may happen along the journey once makers and users ease into electric drive.

That said, my fear is that collectively car companies will become too comfortable in this interim phase – that they will see enough profit not to push for real change. Yet, electric drive offers a golden opportunity for the design community to lead the way in expressing a whole new form of transport – possibly find a new form language that can explore the car’s larger societal responsibilities. Surely there is so much excitement in this.

On that note, happy Spring and happy Nowruz – to a new day and all its possibilities.

Read what some of the main car designers are saying: Maserati head of design Klaus Busse, Polestar’s Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo’s head of design Robin Page, maverick car designer Chris Bangle, BMW Group vice president of design Adrian van Hooydonk, Daimler’s creative boss Gordon Wagener and VW Group’s design director Klaus Bischoff.

See how tech firm Komma is rethinking future cities

The Urban Mobility Vehicle hovers somewhere between a motorbike and a conventional car. It is agile like a two-wheeler, but with the comfort and safety of four wheels. the UMV runs on electricity has a much smaller footprint than a standard city car and is around 34% more energy efficient than your average electric vehicle. Plus, it is designed as a premium product by former creatives from Pininfarina. Possibly even more exciting is the brand behind this inaugural product, Komma. See my interview with the creative team leading this new Swiss start-up setting out to rethink our future cities here.

Car design trends from Geneva Show 2011

There is a certain feeling of confidence returning to international car shows. This wasn’t necessarily the case a couple of years ago when the financial crisis teamed with environmental concerns cause a little uncertainty, even perhaps self-doubt, amongst carmakers which manifested itself in rather awkward exhibitions.

The renewed confidence was very much in evidence at the latest and one of the most important car shows, the Geneva Motor Show, an annual event held in March with a strong focus on design and conceptual thinking.

Clean zero-emission driving is now a reality. The technology is there, the cars have been designed. It’s just a question of seamless co-operation between the various organisations and governments that make mobility possible.

What is interesting now is how car designers are experimenting with finding relevant visual forms to complement the clean powertrain that lies beneath the metal – it is a question of finding a design language (or languages) that fits this new form of mobility.

At Geneva this manifested itself in the desire to show how electric cars can be fast and sexy for fun driving, as well as small and flexible for the city mobility.

Read the full report with interviews with some of the key car designers published in Wallpaper*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look at BMW’s latest video on its Vision ConnectedDrive – a very interesting concept that connects the driver, vehicle and the outside world. Watch out for our interview with design director Adrian Van Hooydonk at the Geneva Show which explains the thinking behind this car further.

Also check out our Cars & Mobility section for interviews with car designers and the latest design thinking in this area.

Nargess Shahmanesh Banks

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