The Designers Pt3 – Gert Hildebrand, Qoros

Car Design News launched its first ever Car Design Review yearbook at the Geneva motor show, featuring the award-winning Production Car and Concept Car Designs of 2013.

If you're interested in buying a copy of the 160-page yearbook this interview appears in, alongside trend reports, bespoke car design infographics and a special feature on Marcello Gandini, our inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Car Design Review can be purchased here.

Name Gert Hildebrand
Role Head of design Qoros
Age,nationality 60, German
Location Munich & Shanghai
Education Braunschweig University of Art & RCA

"Personally 2013 was a fast-running year. I look back and it seems like only yesterday that it started. In fact the last two years were like this because at Qoros I've been working on this brand day and night, traveling back and forth between our two departments in Munich and Shanghai trying to build up a team. Especially last year, starting with the 2013 Geneva motor show, having designed the stand, the cars, the graphics, and having all the auto and design magazines there, it was a dream come true. Reaction from the public and colleagues was very positive. I think we have built a really sympathetic brand.

"This year I think our colleagues from other Chinese brands will try to catch up now they have learnt that design plays a major role. We all know that a lot of Chinese manufacturers are hiring Europeans as heads of design and I expect in 2014 that a lot of Chinese manufacturers will move away from generic Italian-based design to their own brand direction. So we have to take care how our competitors from Chinese brands react.

"In terms of market trends, I think the SUV market will be cut into many more niche market pieces, starting from the Mini side with cars like the Paceman and the Countryman. There are a lot of followers in the small SUV market, then there are the coupé SUVs, the rugged SUVs and more. The SUV market is still the fastest growing market. I'm not sure how long it will last, but for now this is the direction everybody follows.

"Qoros is not a very well known brand. It's not easy for young designers to choose us because everyone wants to work for BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche. That's a dream which I understand and I had it as a little boy as well. But with Qoros as a start-up and a new brand, you can be part of something very fast-growing and also with an international basis, with its very European and German stronghold in Munich plus the very strong-growing Shanghai department.

"They're two of the world's major car cities, and we exchange young designers across both. The two centers offer a very good chance to learn the classical German way of designing things under my guidance as an old German fart [he chuckles to himself] while also having an international approach to all the design activities in Shanghai including car design and industrial design.

"We have nearly 40 staff in Munich and 29 in Shanghai. That's only designers. The 3D work we do externally with agencies depending on our workload. The next step of expansion would be to add our own plate and hard-modeling equipment in the next five-year period. So for a young designer with two cities well-connected by easy flights, it can be a good life. They are probably the most interesting cultural places, from my perspective and neither studio is out in the middle of nowhere like some automotive cities are."

Concept

1. Cadillac Elmiraj
2. Opel Monza
3. Volvo Coupe Concept

"How the Elmiraj's canopy sits on the basic surface of the whole body is great. The proportion really is a modern transformation of this old brand. For me it's easily understandable and is something special"

Production

1. Ford Mustang
2. Porsche 918 Spyder
3. Jaguar F-Type

"Since I was very young boy I liked Ford Mustangs so I am very biased, but the way the canopy sits on the back of the rear axle with its long nose proportion really works"

By Guy Bird