The future of car design: the hot debate

Hot on the heels of the inaugural Interior Motives China conference in April came its Europe conference, which was held in Berlin in May.

The two-day event at the Meilenwerk centre on May 23 and 24 gave rise to one of the frankest debates yet about the future of the car interior design industry.

Major topics discussed by speakers and delegates included
‘Environmental integration’, ‘Individual design’ and
‘Whose design is it anyway?’
– the latter examining the sometimes frosty relationship between the design departments of carmakers and their suppliers.

Twenty six design experts, drawn from the ranks of OEM vice presidents, Tier One design directors, academics, brand consultants and non-car designers, spoke at the event, which was attended by more than 150 delegates.

Among them were heavyweights like director of MINI Design, Gert Hildebrand, who predicted the growth of personalisation as well as the ultimate death of the car as a tool for transportation.

Newly appointed vice president of Nissan Design Europe, Alfonso Albaisa, discussed the importance of understanding ‘Generation I’ customers who no longer see technology or traditional luxury, such as wood, metal or leather, as interior selling points.

Dale Harrow, head of vehicle design at the Royal College of Art in London spoke of his fears for the future of car design and said that if it does not evolve to understand the importance of fulfilling its environmental role and attract new blood to the profession, car design could be in trouble. He declared: “We need to encourage the brightest people to enter the profession – but many at student level don’t see car design as cool anymore. They’d rather make video games.”

Han Hendriks, vice president Industrial Design, Marketing, Communications, Advanced Sales at Johnson Controls, summed up the whole point of the conference perfectly: “OEMs are the designers but suppliers can help the design to be better. This can only happen by proactively building relationships with OEMs, and the Interior Motives events should continue to be the place that brings us together.”

For the full report see the July/August issue of Interior Motives.