At the start of the millennium, there’s a little bit of everything in the vehicle designs that are on the roads and in the concept vehicles that may find their way to our garages in 2003.
The almost “non-styling” of the Ford 24.7 concept is in contrast with the “heritage-based” design of the 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser and the robot transformer look of the GMC Terradyne concept.
But are any automotive design trends popping up? Here’s what some of the world’s top automotive designers had to say:
Edgy is in
“More sharp edges–edgy, angular design,” is the trend for concept vehicles, such as the GMC Terradyne, said Shiro Nakamura, who, as assistant to the executive vice president in charge of design, is global design chief at Nissan.
Whatever you want to call it–architectural, technical, precision, chiseled or edge design–“you can’t look anywhere without seeing it,” said Carl Olsen, chairman of the transportation design program in the Industrial Design Department at the College of Art and Design in Detroit.
“It’s very much in vogue,” said J Mays, vice president of design for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich. “How long that’s going to hold once everyone starts doing it I can’t begin to tell you, but right now it’s pretty much top of mind with all the design teams.”
Jerry Hirshberg, president of Nissan Design International in San Diego, noted a movement away from “overly soft, tubby trucks” to a more exciting “chiseled and architectural” look. “Trucks really are like buildings,” he said. “They are moving architecture and investing trucks with plainer, edgy architectural form and detailing is a good idea.”
Production-ready concepts
This year’s concept vehicles don’t seem as “freaky” as in years past, said Christopher Bangle, chief of design in the development division of BMW AG in Munich, Germany. “When I look at stuff like this (Dodge) MAXXcab, they are kind of planned with production in mind. When Chrysler does stuff like this, you take it kind of seriously because they’re probably going to do something with it.”
“I would tend generally to agree. Even the F-Type Jaguar looks production ready–and it’s not that far off actually,” said Mays, hinting that what is being shown as a concept vehicle this year is going to be made by Jaguar, which is owned by Ford.
Customers are tired of going to auto shows and getting excited over fanciful, futuristic concepts that overpromise because the elements that contribute to their flair can’t be duplicated in the manufacturing process, said Tom Peters, vehicle chief designer for Cadillac and Chevrolet.
“The consumer is saying, `Don’t show me things that aren’t real; I don’t have time for it,’ ” Peters said. “It makes sense to front-load the strategy to build concept vehicles that we can do because customers say they want them.”
One example is the Pontiac Aztek. Introduced last year as a concept vehicle, General Motors has announced it will go on sale this summer largely unchanged.
Truck identity
“I’ll go to my team and (tell them to) take trucks seriously–in terms of defining their own culture,” said Bangle. “I’m not saying do trucks. That’s the last thing I want BMW to do. Just take it seriously as a phenomenon in which our cars will also have to live.”
With concept vehicles such as the MAXXcab, the truck market is trying to find an identity, Bangle said, one that doesn’t depend on heavy industry. “When Dodge did the Ram, they took a heavy-industry type vehicle (a Class-8 truck) and scaled it down for street use.”
Trucks will have to work hard to find an identity among the hybrids and crossovers from the 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, which combines a sport-utility cab with a pickup bed, to the Chevrolet SSR and Honda Spocket concepts, which combine roadsters and sports cars with pickup beds.
“There are van-trucks, truck-sport-utes, sport-ute sedans, truck-sedans,” said Hirshberg. “It’s refreshing on the part of manufacturers and designers to break out of categories that are 100 years old. That’s healthy, and the beneficiary will be the consumer.”
What’s next?
“The task is to identify the next trend. Who is going to break out of the envelope again and go in a new direction that the market follows,” said John Herlitz, senior vice president of product design for DaimlerChrysler Corp.
He doesn’t think it’s the sport-utility truck, exemplified by the 2001 Explorer Sport Trac, though he thinks that type of crossover will be well-received. “I think that’s an interim step but a very limited segment of market. Frankly, I think the biggest opportunity is in reinventing the four-door sedan.”
Another designer who doesn’t see the new direction is David Hackett, executive director of Toyota’s Calty Design Research Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif. “It seems that the industry is kind of waiting for some epic design. It’s almost like we’ve paused for a while. It’s kind of a replay,” he said, referring to retro vehicles.
Retro is back
“The F-Type Jag is a very interesting car, and it reaches back to retro,” Herlitz said. “There is a mammoth appetite for retro with Generation X and this coming Generation Y but absolute quality retro. So that’s an area to be mined. We’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg with the PT Cruiser.”
“I think retro has kind of seen its day,” said GM’s Peters. “But I think companies are finding there’s gold to be mined from drawing from a strong heritage, but expressing it in a new way. I think the Buick LaCrosse is successful at doing that. The rich heritage that General Motors has, if we could tap that as much as Chrysler has tapped their heritage, that will be overwhelming.”
BMW’s Bangle said he doesn’t have a problem with retro. “Retro is like doing theater. Like the next time you see Hamlet you’re going to say it’s retro because it’s been done before? Come on.”
Car as appliance
One who thinks retro is losing favor is Peter Horbury, chief of design at Volvo Car Corp. in Goteburg, Sweden. He thinks cues are starting to come from other products and uses the controversial Ford 24.7 concept as an example.
It is pronounced “24, seven” and emphasizes being connected to technology 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The vehicles have simple, functional exteriors with a technical look and feel to match the advanced communications technologies they showcase.
“The Ford 24.7 concept is putting a very strong question to car freaks: Don’t think that the design icons of earlier automotive eras will do in a world where technology is driving change in other products much faster.”
This influence of technology and other products, such as computers and appliances, also interested Nissan’s Nakamura. The 24.7 is “getting away from the traditional beauty of the car . . . and is designed from the same viewpoint as other products such as computers,” he said. This kind of design appeals more to youth.
Lifestyle influence
Adventure and lifestyle cues also are showing up in vehicles to give people the perception that they are more adventurous than they are, said Mays. It’s evident in the 2001 Ford Escape sport-ute and the 2001 Aztek, which GM calls a “sport-recreation vehicle.”
“I was talking to a group of Gen Xers and one of the reasons they like the Escape is that it had this monster roof rack that would allow them to hang their bicycles on and big knobby tires and a bash bar on the front that gave the impression at least that they were ready for the mountains,” said Mays.
Horbury, a Brit, finds this American trend amusing: “You have to tell me if it’s more than just a myth that people do go off to the forests and do all these things in the four door pickups, or is it all in the mind?”
Taller sedans
Herlitz sees a taller car profile, not only on Chrysler’s 2001 PT Cruiser, but also with the Echo and other Toyota models.
“Proportionately I think there’s a lot more that could be done. Not just a shrunken-down large sedan that has all of a sudden expanded on the vertical axis to provide more room inside. You can do all of those things and provide emotion at the same time.”
Bright touches
Brushed and anodized aluminum is everywhere, said Olsen.
“The Audi TT, which is probably the hippest production car currently, started using the satin aluminum bezels around the instrument panel. It’s very ’50s, and it died when black came in. No respectable designer would be seen dead putting bright metal on a product, but it’s back with a vengeance. One Ford designer said `I’m already sick of it.’ “
Hirshberg agreed that maybe there was “too much aluminum and a bit too much following going on. But some of it is quite still refreshing and at least we’re away from wood and chrome.”
So where is the industry going? It seems to be following many roads, all of which apparently will lead to dealerships. The only question is how soon.
The experts
John Herlitz is senior vice president of product design for DaimlerChrysler Corp., based in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Peter Horbury is chief of design at Volvo Car Corp. in Goteburg, Sweden.
David Hackett is executive director of Toyota’s Calty Design Research Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.
Jerry Hirshberg is president of Nissan Design International in San Diego.
Christopher Bangle is chief of design in the development division of BMW AG in Munich, Germany.
Tom Peters is vehicle chief designer for Cadillac and Chevrolet in Detroit.
Shiro Nakamura is assistant to the executive vice president in charge of design, Nissan Motor Co., Tokyo.
Carl Olsen is chairman of the transportation design program in the Industrial Design Department at the College of Art and Design in Detroit.
J Mays is vice president of design for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich.
