Interior Motives Conference 2012 Day 1

The annual Interior Motives China conference - this year held in Beijing to coincide with the motor show - was opened by the official Yang Shi Min. He welcomed the many delegates by acknowledging that discussion and debate will be the key element in the future of automotive design. He stated his belief that "discussion gives the opportunity for wisdom to sparkle", and opened the proceedings by encouraging all to share their wisdom with each other.

This is the fifth conference hosted by Interior Motives, the print edition of Car Design News, and with over 350 delegates in attendance, the foundations were in place for a great conference.

Session 1: Strategy and brand
Wulin Gaowa Advanced Design Director, GM China chaired the first session of the morning, which tackled the issue of Strategy and Brand.

Gert Hilderbrant, Head of Design at Qoros Auto gave a first hand account of his experiences while helping to set the new Chinese brand. He explained that "through exploring the meanings of Elegance, Enjoyment and Trust, Qoros has become an expression of the five senses." By examining how a car is perceived via these senses, he said, building attractive cars becomes natural.

The next guest speaker, Simon Humphries, Executive Chief Creative Designer of Toyota Design Center, spoke of the positioning of both the Toyota and Lexus brands compared to its competitors, with a particular attention on the next generation of interiors. From the cocooning luxury of the Lexus LF-LC to the cutting-edge technology of the next generation of hybrid cars. He expressed a concern that the automotive world is perhaps too detached and challenged designers to "move out of the sheltered world and interact with other disciplines, or nothing will change."

Jean-Baptiste Trolle, Design Manager (Asia) at Faurecia, suggested that there is a recipe that can be used to create a successful brand, consisting of three elements: a unique message, consistency and the ability to engage. When tackling the issue of being unique, it is essential to be able to differentiate yourself from others. Consistency comes through as a result of learning lessons and always looking to improve, while the ability to engage comes as a result of participation at all levels in the creation of that brand.

Successful creations of Chinese brands will come about as a result of using this recipe. Trolle suggested that "the European brands have all fought for their place on the market by creating a link that works, but the Chinese brands are under construction." He concluded by declaring that creating a brand strategy is essentially creating a business strategy, necessitating participation, communication and the building of trust.

Session 2: Smarter mobility
Car Design News Editor Owen Ready chaired the second session of the day, which explored the issues surrounding the concept of smarter mobility. He spoke of the issues surrounding movement of cars within Beijing but also the movement of people.

The first speaker was Zhang Fan design director at GAC Engineering. He asked the question of how many solutions are there to improve mobility, and where can you draw inspiration. Poems, metaphysics, nature and culture are all sources of inspiration. With GAC's E-Linker Concept, there is evidence of different perceptions of 'smart', adding an interesting twist to the theme.

Bryan Nesbitt, Vice President of Design for GM International, was next on the podium, exploring the rich diversity of China and the solutions that can be explored. The advent of technology has raised many issues in relation to car design and its future, and fully-autonomous driving is one that is not far away, he explains. He highlighted the diversity of transportation in China from rickshaws to boats to pedestrian flyovers.

Felix Somerville-Scharf, Head of New Mobility at Volkswagen New Mobility Services Investment, looked at the other ways of streamlining mobility within the urban environment. He spoke of a need to find yrban solutions for urban challenges as economic growth relates to increasing mobility needs, mobility needs grow faster than transportation infrastructure andcities consider more regulations and incentivised green mobility solutions. He shared three of VW's projects that they have underway which seek to address the issue. He also introduced three 'smart' mobility programs launched by Volkswagen.

Olivier Boulay, Vice President at Daimler's Advanced Design Center China, was another to look at the infrastructure in China and how problems surrounding mobility could be tackled. He asserted that because China was a completely different environment to Japan and Europe, new solutions would have to rapidly evolve to meet the problems that are beginning to show. He believes that it is time for car designers, officials and architects to all sit down to address the issue, and that before long the whole transportation infrastructure would be transformed.

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By Rufus Thompson