All articles by Guy Bird – Page 11
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Essay: Searching for China's C-Factor
Western-born Friedhelm Engler, design director of GM PATAC and the man behind the Buick Business Concept, also points out the importance of avoiding a ‘cut and paste' approach to visual design cues, preferring instead to be "more China-inspired". As a Westerner, he says, he finds the 5000 years of Chinese ...
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Essay: Searching for China's C-Factor
The notion of national design identities being expressed in exterior car shapes and interior ambience and function is often an intangible one. But at their best, certain French cars do now display a flair for new thinking and elegance that could only come from France, US cars can convey a ...
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ArticleDesign Development: Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow concept [2011]
Building full-size models of its virtual entries for the annual LA Design Challenge is now becoming something of a habit for the Mercedes-Benz US Advanced Design Center. After the critical and public success of its Biome concept last year the California-based team developed another 1:1 model for this year’s competition, called the Silver Arrow in homage to the classic 1930s and 1950s racing cars
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Interview: Walter de’Silva, Head of Design, Volkswagen Group
Which non-VW brands do you think are doing a good job today?
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Interview: Walter de’Silva, Head of Design, Volkswagen Group
Overseeing design at seven of the most important global car brands for the world's third biggest carmaker (and growing), makes Walter de'Silva without peer in terms of car design influence and power. He is responsible for dozens of new or facelifted cars and concepts every year from Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, ...
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Designer Interviews: Cathal Loughnane, Peugeot Design Lab
CDN What design expertise can you draw upon?
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Designer Interviews: Cathal Loughnane, Peugeot Design Lab
Officially, Peugeot's Design Lab non-car design wing has only been in business since June 2012 but it has actually been operating as something of a Skunk Works within the company for two years.
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Studio Focus: BMW DesignworksUSA Shanghai
The new studio splits its time 50/50 between BMW Group work and external clients, but in these early days, Steinle says his team is spending a lot of time on strategy, looking in particular at Chinese purchasing perspectives. "The Chinese market is more layered than more mature markets", he observes. ...
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Studio Focus: BMW DesignworksUSA Shanghai
BMW DesignworksUSA Shanghai Brands Various clients, plus BMW Group (BMW, Mini, i and Rolls-Royce)Established April 2012 Location Huangpu District, Shanghai, ChinaStaff 8 Studio leader Gerhard Steinle
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Design Development: Ford Transit Courier, Connect, Custom and 2T
Wraith and Campbell say the exterior, interior and colour and trim for each model were worked on at the same time, starting with the biggest 2T and Custom models then followed by the smaller Connect and Courier. There was some overlap and cross-referencing between vehicle design schedules though, as Campbell ...
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Design Development: Ford Transit Courier, Connect, Custom and 2T
Other changes include a lowered roof to allow the vehicle into more restricted height areas like car parks and private estates. The design was adjusted after the team heard customer anecdotes of van drivers getting into such areas with heavy loads lowering their vehicle height sufficiently, but then when the ...
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Design Development: Ford Transit Courier, Connect, Custom and 2T
To educate those influencers outside the design studio, it was quickly decided to show something that would point out their intended change of tack. Wraith continues: "We wanted to convey that we could make something that looked good and still be very practical, so very early on we milled out ...
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Design Development: Ford Transit Courier, Connect, Custom and 2T
Vehicle type Commercial & passenger vehicle rangeExecutive design director Martin SmithDesign director Stefan LammChief designer Paul Campbell - all exteriors, plus Custom and 2T interiorsExterior design manager Paul Wraith - Courier, Connect & CustomExterior design manager Jordan Bennett - 2T variantsChief interior designer Ernst Reim - Courier, Connect, Custom & ...
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Design Development: Ford Evos concept
Three scale models were created after the summer selection process followed by a full-scale clay model in December 2010. Lamm stresses that once that model was milled there was still a lot of work to do, "as scale models can cheat the eyes". He was pleased to have the extra ...
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Design Development: Ford Evos concept
Far from a conceptual flight of fancy, the Ford Evos concept signals no less than the look and feel of the next generation of Ford vehicles worldwide. Given that burden, no wonder the design team led by J Mays and Martin Smith took a little longer over it than normal, ...
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Design Development: Nissan Juke
The development of the interior was started slightly after the exterior in late 2006, but not that much later, as interior designer Patrick Reimer points out: "you've always got to wait for the belt line and the window points and the seat positions. It's not quite clear until they are ...
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Design Development: Nissan Juke
There's nothing 'me-too' about the new Nissan Juke. The radically styled vehicle effectively kick-starts a new production segment from later this year — the supermini/crossover — and although primarily aimed at Europe, Nissan also plans to shake up markets in the US and Japan by seeking customers bored of anonymous ...
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Design Review: Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Wagener and his team were equally 'confidential' regarding the timings and 'behind the scenes' progress of the interior design of the new E-Class sedan and Coupé, but Wagener did reveal that the key sketch for the Coupé's IP involved a stealth fighter wing reference which transformed into the shape of ...
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Design Review: Mercedes-Benz E-Class
The E-Class is the bedrock of the Mercedes range and one of its best-selling models. The previous version sold 1.5 million units in six years and more than 12 million have been sold across its eight generations to date.
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Design Review: Lincoln Concept C
Lincoln doesn't make a small car yet but it if did, the Concept C unveiled at the NAIAS gives a strong indication of what one could look like. The market for small luxury cars - or what Peter Horbury, Ford's executive director of design for the Americas, terms "sensible indulgence" ...