Another casualty in the collateral damage of auto industry woes: Graduating car designers are no longer finding jobs. The LA Times reports that in years past, manufacturer representatives would attend the Pasadena's Art Center College of Design's senior showcase and welcome a few visionaries into the hallowed world of car design. Now, manufacturer representation is down to one or two (if any), and those who show don't always end up hiring. For students who weren't chosen by manufacturers, the fallback was often working for a supplier, but these days, prospects there are just as bleak.
The fallback plan now for studious car design aspirants tends to be interiors or the world outside of car design. Those who can find any place at all in the car world will settle for penning A/C vents for now, and those who can't are looking at consumer appliances like cellular telephones. Although we have no doubt that current designers can deliver worthy goods when given the freedom to do so, as car enthusiasts, we look forward to when the gates open up again for the greatest minds of the collegiate generation.
It seems Volkswagen has breathed a collective "Oops!", and is now working to turn its design ship around. VW was known for neat, differentiated designs with great interior details. While this stayed true in some parts of the world, in the U.S., Volkswagen design turned into chrome shield grilles fronting identical bodies in various sizes.
When Martin Winterkorn was lured back from academia, "he looked at Volkswagen's upcoming designs and binned the lot." Audi's design chief was brought in. VW started over on the Golf, which will be coming out later this year. The Polo redesign was taken up again from scratch. The Up! "was not fully thought through as a concept," and is getting a workover.
VW's new language is said to be about "simplicity," "a confident identity," "crisply-detailed functionality," and cars that aren't "over-designed." The chrome shield is gone (thank goodness) and headlights that wrap around to the front wheel arches have also been sent packing, "because that's not what a headlight is for." Stay tuned for more horizontals, as seen on the Scirocco -- and here (so much for no more chrome) -- and hopefully a slew of compelling shapes.
The Buick Reatta a design flop? That's what a University of Michigan professor told The Wall Street Journal recently. Really? The Reatta is the one car that he could find to pick on as an automotive design flop? Sure, the high-tech coupe was overweight and underpowered, overpriced and under-appreciated. But a design flop? I think most of us would agree there are uglier, slower, more poorly-made cars in the history of automobiles. Our Dan Roth even called it a Future Classic not too long ago.
The story is part of a larger collection of design studies that looks at everything from blue jeans to concrete saws. One other automotive element of the series is a gushing story and video about Buick's Invicta concept car. If the piece is to be believed, the LaCrosse that may be based on the Invicta, will surely never make it onto a list of design flops.
So by that logic, fake, plastic portholes insure design success, but sexy, restrained style doesn't.
A few months ago, we wrote about an amateur designer who penned today's vision of a Bugatti Royale. It was all good at the front, and then things got a bit, well, funky at the rear. Now another car designing buff with a pen suite of software has created his idea of a 4-seat Bugatti GT: the decidedly gorgeous Streamliner 12-2.
Maltese designer Reuben Zammit designed the Streamliner as a 2+2 with "ample luggage space." Though we're sure if Bugatti ever created such a car it would be decidedly more expensive than the Ferrari 612, cues from Maranello's uber-GT can be seen in the Streamliner. But the nothing-but-curves approach gives it a Bugatti retro flair all its own. The car would use a twin-turbocharged version of the W12 engine and be powered by the rear wheels only. That would give the Streamliner rather un-Bugatti-like handling, which we think is even more reason to buy one.
Lexus' L-finesse design language was meant to stand for "Seamless Anticipation," "Intriguing Elegance," and "Incisive Simplicity." If we put aside the marketing speak for a moment, the point of L-f was to give Lexus design a greater emotional connection with consumers. While it certainly didn't stop Lexus from selling more cars, we have a feeling that the increased number of wavy lines simply didn't resonate with the public quite like it was meant to.
Now Lexus is looking for a successor to L-finesse. Emotional connection from a purely design standpoint -- not "I just love my Toyota!" -- has been a weak point for Japanese cars in this country. Even the GT-R, the LF-A and the last Supra, technological tour-de-forces that they are (or were or will be), and for as much emotion as they inspire, are not pretty cars. The LS is a good looking car, but we wouldn't call it inspiring. Yet Lexus has a pretty good grasp on what its customers are looking for, so while we can't imagine that whatever's coming is going to be outrageous, we can hope that it will be a little less birds and clouds and a little more visceral.
The Ford F-150 is America's annual best seller, moving more units than anything else since Jimmy Carter was president. It's also one of the most challenged when it comes to cutting through the air, although we know there's worse. If the F-150 is going to clear the hurdle of new CAFE regs, that's going to change: its combined 16.5 mpg won't make it any friends come 2020.
Ford designers, led by North American Design Director Peter Horbury, are already looking at ways to make the next generation F-150 more aerodynamic, despite the all-new 2009 Ford F-150 having just debuted. The problem is, there simply aren't many options for making a difference: the only two components are the giant block of a passenger compartment and the massive drag-creating void of a bed behind it. Ford design did attempt to go a little aero with the front end of the 10th generation 1997-2003 F-150, but that, frankly, wasn't what people expected from an American pickup.
