Coventry students embark on interior project for GM's Opel/Vauxhall division

Designers at GM's Opel/Vauxhall division have tasked students at Coventry University with creating the vehicle interior of the future.

Championed by Richard Shaw, Chief Designer at Opel's Advanced Design Studio in Germany, students will be charged with creating innovative and visionary interior concepts for the next decade, taking into account future needs of consumers but also the brand's values. Judges from GM Europe Design and Coventry University will then select the winning entry.

Last week, Shaw visited students and asked them to look at potential interior design solutions for 2020, focusing on their vision for a next generation vehicle within the brand's portfolio."As many design challenges focus on exterior form, we thought to challenge the students to mainly focus on what they feel the interior environments of tomorrow will need to encompass," said Shaw, an alumnus of Coventry's renowned Vehicle Design program.

The challenge is to profile the customer of tomorrow, explore their needs and desires, anticipate how rapidly-changing technology might enable these and bring alive this vision in a way that recognizes how Generation Y customers will be using cars ten years from now.

"We are encouraging students from several disciplines from the Design School to enter the challenge, not just those from the automotive design course," said David Browne, Coventry's Course Director in Automotive Design. "We are expecting to see a wide raft of thinking approached in many different ways."

The competition runs until mid March 2010 when the students will present their thoughts back to Shaw and others from GM's Advanced Design team. The overall winner will then be chosen for a practical hands-on experience with GM Europe Design in Rüsselsheim.

Recently, the company donated an Insignia to Coventry's Design School to use in practical workshops and assist them in their ongoing studies.

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GM donates Insignia prototype to Coventry University

By Eric Gallina