2012 Autoweek Automotive Design Forum

The 2012 – and 19th annual – Autoweek Automotive Design Forum on Thursday 12 January was held at the College for Creative Studies' A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education in Detroit. The event takes place each year during the North American International Auto Show, when designers from around the automotive world converge on the Midwestern city to showcase their work, benchmark the offerings of competitors, and reacquaint themselves with former classmates and coworkers in the industry. Each year the Forum brings together some of the greatest modern talents in design resulting in a day full of insight and networking.

This year's event was themed 'Designing for Today's Consumer', with a strong focus on the luxury market, designing and marketing towards international consumers, and how technology is becoming a differentiator. Designers from several OEMs, as well as Tony Fadell, the founder of Nest and 'godfather' of the iPod, spent the day sharing the value of connecting with the consumer through research, and when to give designers the free reign to create heart-pounding cars.

The Forum began with Max Wolff, Design Director for Lincoln, speaking of the new direction for the brand. "Our designs need to differentiate us," he stated. Lincoln's struggle to set itself apart from other brands – both within Ford and in the luxury market – is the result of a changing customer and a reliance on the brand's past. The MKZ concept is the first step in that direction, portraying a "dynamic elegance" that uses Lincoln's history only in reference and not direction.

Wolff would seem to be the right person to lead the brand as his former employer was Cadillac, who's Design Director, Clay Dean also gave a talk on designing for the customer. For its latest concept vehicles, Chevrolet's "affordable exotic" TRU 140S and "functional muscle" Code 130R, the company targeted its research towards the Millennial generaton. The aim of the project to "capture their imagination," something that Dean noted drove not only the research for the concepts but will guide future GM vehicle development.

Both Lincoln and Cadillac fit within larger corporations, often sharing technology with their company siblings. In regards to retaining the authenticity in an era of badge engineering, both Wolff and Dean shared similar thoughts. "What you are doing for a mainstream volume brand shouldn't preclude what you do for luxury brands," he says, further clarifying that companies can still "share the things that should be shared" without sacrificing differentiation. Dean added that vehicles can share pieces and parts, but it's what the customer interacts with that makes the most sense to keep separate.

Peter Schreyer, Kia's Chief Design Officer, spoke of how good design is about more than just following trends; it includes understanding of the customers, always keeping our eyes open for inspiration, and allowing designers' gut feeling to shine when the time is right. Kia had become known as a bargain brand, and so it needed to redefine itself in order to eventually fit in the lucrative 'near-premium' segment. The results of those initial efforts were the Kee and halo GT concepts, which establish a new identifiable face, proportion, and stance for the company. Justifiably so, as the company's new mantra is "Kia at first sight."

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By Dalibor Dimovski