Max Wolff: “Ford’s mantra is to make transport accessible for all”
By Car Design News2025-02-24T10:00:00
Max Wolff, design director of Ford China & International Markets Group, explores Ford’s relationship with China and his transition into a ‘truck guy’
It was an interesting and challenging year in China for the global nameplates. The rise of more ‘off-road-appearing’ SUVs was a design trend that gained momentum, but with varied results. Not all of them could back up their looks with capability. There’s been a lot of slick-looking new sedans too, but they seem to end up with fairly similar typologies, front- ends and lots of flush glazing.
As a designer, you tend to like that stuff, but when you see three of four of them together and they’re pretty similar, you wonder what might be next? There are so many new Chinese brands, it feels a bit ‘scatter- gun’. Over the next five years there’s definitely going to be a consolidation of manufacturers.