With the advent of the hybrid and attention given alternative fuels, automotive designers believe the engine will be less of a factor in the structure of an automobile in the future. This was the cumulative opinion of design panelists who took part at the opening of the San Diego Auto Museum’s “High Art” machines. These futuristic cars will be on display through March 26.
Chuck Jordan, former vice president in design at General Motors before retiring to Rancho Santa Fe, gave the audience a condensed version of Design 101, stating that “car designing obtains an emotional value to a technical product.
“How do you create emotional value?” he questioned. “It’s found in design studios where there is a creative environment.”
He told the group that the studio has three separate principles: the dreamer-engineer designer, the idea generator with a passion for cars and a free thinker; the studio engineer who is in charge of the technical and structural side of the car, which is critical to the design. He lays out the people habits and other components in relation to the package; and the sculptor, whose three-dimensional work is critical to the beauty, integrity and design services.
With the help of the sculptor, the designer can further his ideas. The sculptor builds a full-sized clay mock up which can be refined.
Jordan admitted the hard part was determining what’s right or wrong. Usually this is bandied around behind locked doors.
He was asked whether these concepts were for the distant future, maybe the year 2020.
“At least four years [for some],” he answered. “If companies don’t go into these programs, they are going to lose more money.”
Jordan, who now teaches a design class at Valhalla High School, pointed to the panelists, “these advance guys are showing the way. Get used to these ideas and accept their judgment. It’s absolutely essential [to the car industry] or you’ll die.”
The panelists were in agreement that cars today look the same, with the exception of window placement and metal strips.
“With less emphasis on the engine, the whole package centers around the occupants for positioning and safety. It will change dramatically and have more personality,” said Frank Saucedo, director of General Motors’ Advanced Design Studio in Los Angeles. “The concept on the floor [of the Museum,] you don’t know where the engine is, [it’s a] matter of conditioning the public to radical change. We can do more with our design freedom than we could in the past.”
“I think people are ready for us to do some pretty wild stuff,” said Jordan Meadows, design director of Mazda North American Operations. “The hybrid vehicles give us a notion of that.”
“I love to see adventurous design out there, even with our competitors,” said Kevin Verduyn, design director for Advanced Design Pacific Studio in Carlsbad.
“If it doesn’t have the characteristics, the public won’t buy it,” said John Cupit, exploratory design manger for Nissan Design America.
Others on the panel were Stewart Reed, chair of Transportation Design at the Art Center College of Design; David Marek, chief designer for Honda and director of the Advanced Studio in Pasadena; and Akino Tsuchiya, interior and exterior design for the Chrysler Advanced Design Pacific Studio. Larry Falcon, retired General Motors designer and currently with the General Motors Heritage Center in Detroit, served as moderator.
For more information visit www.sdautomusum.org.