car design thread | Page 446 | FerrariChat

car design thread

Discussion in 'Creative Arts' started by jm2, Oct 19, 2012.

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  1. Qvb

    Qvb F1 Rookie
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    Rolls Royce designers are certainly not bringing the average up at the moment, IMHO.
     
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  2. Qvb

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  3. VigorousZX

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    If car companies were to make the best designs... they would run out things to market very fast. People would buy a timeless design for $25,000, pass up on the expensive brands, and keep that car for much longer then 10 years.
    By constantly, year in year out, offering ugly to mediocre designs, it creates a perpetual need to upgrade for the consumer.
    There used to be a 'gentleman's agreement' among companies to keep horse power below a certain threshold, the same is the case for beautiful design.
    That pictured Cadillac design is decent I guess, for the middle class price point, but the Civic is mediocre for the poor mans price point. Is there a mass produced poor mans car out there that is elegant? I cant think of one.

    I think the monopolistic strategy was for Hyundai to make an initial statement of nice looking car and importantly, good reliability, but once its image was established to the consumer, now they can roll in the disgusting grills and horrid graphics. Sure good designers will not do much better with constraints, but billion dollar companies shouldnt be limited to bulky proportions and short wheelbases. Its 2020, will Hyundai ever achieve this kind of elegance? This face looks like a genetic deforming down syndrome.
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  4. jm2

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    Well, I was being generous.......;)
     
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  5. 330 4HL

    330 4HL Formula 3

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    "If life was simple these companies can throw money at Rolls Royce designers to achieve true beauty"

    Beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder, but for me, Rolls-Royce & beauty in the same sentance is a real stretch...
     
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  6. VigorousZX

    VigorousZX Formula Junior

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  7. jm2

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  8. jm2

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    Image Unavailable, Please Login For all you aspiring car shaders out there, here is an opportunity to showcase your talent.
    Cor Steenstra posted in How Cars Start Pro.Cor Steenstra
    SINCE THERE DOES SEEM TO BE AN INTEREST IN THIS, I SUGGEST WE WILL START A COMPETITION FOR A 2025 MID-ENGINE CORVETTE. ALL PROPOSALS MUST BE SKETCHED AND RENDERED WITH TRADITIONAL MEDIA, SO MARKERS, PASTELS, CANSON, LETRASET, VELLUM, BALLPOINT, ETC.
    DEADLINE IS JANUARY 5TH,2021. THE VISITORS OF THIS PAGE WILL DETERMINE THE BEST. THE PRIZE IS TO BE CROWNED HOW CARS START PRO KING OR QUEEN 2021!
     
  9. anunakki

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  10. jm2

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  11. Jeff Kennedy

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    No just the La Ferrari but many of the Pf designs. They exhibit refined subtleties that are not normally recognized.
     
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  12. Jeff Kennedy

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    I love it that they initial picture is the 4-rotor. A design that continues to stand the test of time.
     
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  13. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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  14. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    https://www.lsxmag.com/news/video-gms-iconic-mako-shark-ii-corvette/
    Video: GM’s Iconic Mako Shark II Corvette

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    By JUSTEN SPENCER JANUARY 11, 2016


    Image Unavailable, Please Login Imagine you’re cruising the highway alongside of a sandy beach enjoying the beautiful weather and your hair suddenly stands up on the back of your neck … you get the chilling feeling that you’re lower down on the food chain than you were before. You can almost hear the ominous tones of the Jaws theme in the background of your Sunday cruise. You look nervously around, and then you spot it pulling up along side of your ride — the distinctive look of a predator on the streets — the Mako Shark II Corvette.

    In 1965, General Motors produced a short film introducing this experimental vehicle. An offspring of the Corvette Stingray, it was a prelude to future models that would appear on showroom floors.


    Developed at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan, the Mako Shark’s beautiful demarcation is further refined between subtly shaded deep blue/gray draping the top body and silver/white on the sleek underbelly. The exterior design is an indicator of the time and effort put into this iconic concept car. The brainchild of Bill Mitchell, Vice President of GM’s Styling and Design Department, it takes styling cues from nature and the lethal creature that patrols the depths of its namesake, and culminated in the design of two cars (an operational and a non-operational version). Although based off the iconic paint design of the original Mako Shark I built in early 1961, this is where most of the similarities between the pair of edgy concepts ends.

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    1965 Mako Shark II (near) 1961 Mako Shark I (far)

    With a more aggressive, lowered, and sharply-pointed nose, a radical chopped roof hinged for easy access, high-rise front fenders, and a Coke-bottle body–the lines are sensational. The GM design team also incorporated cutting-edge hide-away turn signals and a headlight system with dual retractable rear spoilers, making this concept car a state-of-the-art achievement.

    Powered by a beastly Chevrolet 427ci Mark IV with a three-speed Hydromatic transmission, which was available on later production Corvettes, this Shark sounded as good as it rolled. In fact, some of the design concepts were carried over in the form of the C3 ‘Vette that shares the ’65 Mako’s basic body design.

    In this video, the announcer states that the car is “confident, poised, and every bit as capable as it looks.” What are your thoughts after watching? Let us know in the comments below! Image Unavailable, Please Login


     
  15. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    I just did a 2800 mile drive from Texas to North Carolina to Florida and back home. Along the way, I saw a lot of RAV4s. Can anybody tell me what past design they remind you of?

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  16. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    You mean the copied Jeep wheel arches??
     
  17. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    No, look at the back roof line. Remind you of any previous SUV designs?
     
  18. jm2

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    https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a34740272/detroit-style-dia-automotive-design/?fbclid=IwAR03eRgvxFBFKWUBKEBwQd5PK2eNsg7Tpb-Hq_5hMkujF4k48cUCV-XfaKY
    Detroit Style: 70 Years of Automotive Design


    35 years after its last study of automotive design, the Detroit Institute of Art updates the story of the Motor City's finest art form.

    BY JONATHON RAMSEY
    NOV 21, 2020

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    DONALD HOOD
    In 1985, the Detroit Institute of Art hosted an exhibit called “Detroit Style: Automotive Form 1925-1950,” which the institute called a showcase “that bridges the gap between industrial design and the fine arts as it demonstrates the aesthetics and history of automotive design in a period now considered classic.” Thirty-five years later, the DIA completes the design story with a new exhibit called “Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950-2020,” open now and running until June 27, 2021.

    By the 1950s, motor vehicles had begun their transition into commodities, not yet as pervasive and presumed as electric light and ice, but swiftly cruising that way. Even today, though, the car is a peculiar product—obliged to run as reliably as an appliance while still expressing an artful style that precludes it from being regarded as an everyday widget. Cars are expensive to produce, taxing to buy, and the buyer is forced to consider investment-grade concerns such as substantial longevity and resale value.

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    GENERAL MOTORS
    That knotty combination forces automakers to put massive effort into the final designs that reach the showroom floor. The DIA focuses its spotlight on this behind-the-scenes work, exposing “the remarkable artistry of the stylists and designers who define the look of American automobiles.”

    Exhibit curator Ben Colman told us the displays represent four years of planning, with guidance from an advisory committee made up of designers from the Big Three, educators from the College for Creative Studies, and design historians.

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    CHARLES E. BALOGH
    The vehicles, however, are Best Supporting Actors to the exhibit’s stars: the 35 sketches, drawings and paintings that outline the range of ideas designers explored before achieving the final products we saw hit showroom floors. William Porter’s 1959 sketch compares his idea for a “fully streamlined monocoque high-speed six-passenger sedan” to his idea for the six-passenger 1961 Pontiac Catalina hardtop. Ralph Amprim’s illustrations in 1970 for the Toronado describe experiments with detailing on the front and rear fascias. And by being able to view John Gilson Gump’s 1961 line drawing of a two-door Lincoln Continental next to Wayne Kady’s idea for a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, it's easy to see the origins of the long, low, minimalist bodywork that would thrive in the seventies.

    There are examples of capital “F,” capital “A” Fine Art as well. William Brownlee’s 1957 Chrysler 300 Front End could hang anywhere in the DIA. In 1960, Syd Mead’s visualization of the Elwood Engel Design for a Gyroscopically Stabilized Two Wheel Car could be driven straight from the illustration board to his work on Blade Runner and Aliens. And James Sherburne’s Ford Interior Proposal, albeit just a bench seat, a steering wheel, and a door, is so suggestive of place and time that it evokes the car’s occupants, their destination, and their world.

    An automakers’ intellectual property–often safeguarded for need-to-know personnel or destroyed–rarely gets a public viewing. Most of the illustrations, in fact, are from private collections. Colman said sourcing it all took a good bit of detective work.

    The vehicles on show serve as talismans of the connection between art and reality, grouped by decade and starting with the postwar and techno-utopian optimism of the 1950s. Harley Earl’s 1951 GM LeSabre concept hid technical flourishes like a cast magnesium hood and honeycomb floor behind styling from warplanes. Virgil Exner’s 1957 Chrysler 300C was low-slung and mean enough for Mechanix Illustrated to dub it “the most hairy-chested, fire-eating land bomb ever conceived in Detroit.” It also had enough panache for Mad Men types, and enough punch to take second in the flying mile at Daytona Beach in 1957.

    Colman said the exhibit is also representative of the cyclical nature of design. The 1958 GM Firebird III, a Batmobile in all but name, fitted sensors for autonomous driving on GM’s Highway of Tomorrow. That LeSabre had alt-fuels in mind, with one tank for gasoline and another for methanol. And drivers switched gears in the Chrysler 300C with the push of a button.

    The road from there runs through the youth culture and rebellion of the 1960s and 1970s up to the modern supercar fixation. The 1980s are the only questionable stop, when the fetish for computers enforced straight edges on erstwhile sensuous lines. Design-wise, leaving the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda for the 1987 Chrysler Portofino concept is like giving up the Allman Brothers for a novice keyboardist experimenting on a Yamaha DX7. Even so, as a significant step in the journey of Detroit Style, the 1980s gallery, and the entire Detroit Style exhibit, should not be missed.
     
  19. tritone

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    Trolling one of our esteemed posters here Dale? :D
     
  20. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    https://www.midcenturycarart.com/?fbclid=IwAR3lroJiu2XBTEGDGfe0_Sml59X2Ik_0tVhag0Wj6tMh9Gb_wtNaB_pcOnk



    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    About me



    G. Gordon Davis was born and raised in Ludington MI during the Great Depression. As soon as he could hold a pencil he drew cars. He was still drawing cars when he was accepted into the University of Notre Dame in 1953. His sketches from that time were discovered by Bob Bourke, then Director of Design at Studebaker in South Bend IN. At Bourke’s suggestion Davis transferred to the Art Center School in Los Angeles (now the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA) where he studied automotive design.



    As an Art Center alumnus, Davis was hired by Director of Design Virgil Exner at Chrysler Corp. It was fortuitous, as it was the dawn of the legendary Forward Look era. First assigned to the Advanced Design Studio, Davis contributed to Chrysler’s turbine concept designs. He was soon transferred to the Chrysler Studio where his 1957 Forward Look that visualized future concepts inspired Exner’s Ghia-built XNR prototype. The XNR in turn influenced Chrysler’s early 1960s product lineup.



    By late 1957 Davis was assigned to the DeSoto Studio where he designed the exterior trim for the 1959 DeSoto. Although the ’59 DeSoto’s sheet metal had been approved by 1957, the “jewelry” had not. Davis designed the eagle medallions that appeared on the front bumper and deck lid, the DeSoto lettering, the Firesweep side moldings, the “turbine” wheel covers, and the optional bumperettes.



    Davis was one of three Chrysler designers recruited by Exner’s second-in-command Wm. Schmidt, when Chrysler management gave Schmidt a contract to design concepts independently of Exner. Future American Motors VP Design Dick Teague was one of the three designers. When that assignment ended both Teague and Davis joined American Motors. Davis also freelanced and designed motorcycle and auto accessories, construction equipment and RVs.



    Davis and his wife now make their home in Southern California. They have four children all grown, gone, and successful. Davis is also a published author. You can find his “Road” trilogy on Amazon here.



    Or, visit: ggordondavis.com.
     
  21. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    You're either trying to get someone to talk about ass sniffing dogs, or...?
    To say the'A' word.
    You're getting boring.
     
  22. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    No. I noticed on my trip that every new RAV4 I saw looked like....

    wait for it....



    An Aztek.
     
  23. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Sorry, never mean to be boring, but yes the new Toyota RAV4 reminds me of an AssTek!
     
  24. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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  25. jm2

    jm2 F1 World Champ
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    Car Design schools.
    https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/gallery/elite-schools-car-designers-2870058/artcenter-college-of-design-2/?fbclid=IwAR1dzbR1Pq6mqzMx_YrpLJ0BvPfGl9T1KpLexFWZpreAAabnjXO_QEZ5uwY
    OCTOBER 9, 2019
    At These Elite Schools, the Car Designers of Tomorrow Are Perfecting Their Craft
    There's no denying the influence these programs have on the automotive world.
    By LAURA BURSTEIN

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    Early auto manufacturers focused on functionality over aesthetics, but it wasn’t long before marques and their customers valued the automobile as much for its emotional allure as for its practicality. Before and after World War II, formal courses of study on the subject began to emerge, drawing from the disciplines of fine art, architecture and industrial design, each reflecting the culture and character of its environs. Today, transportation design is more global than ever, and with many aspiring artists in the field vying for so few coveted spots, top students flock to the handful of institutions that have produced some of the biggest names in the business. There is no denying the influence these programs have on the automotive world.

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    Photo : Juan Posada
    ArtCenter College of Design: Pasadena, Calif.
    Founded in 1930, ArtCenter originally offered programs in advertising, publishing and industrial design. In 1948, the automotive-design program was formally organized on the school’s old campus in downtown Los Angeles and, because of its location at the epicenter of California car culture, quickly became the incubator for the industry’s top design jobs. “Back in the 1950s, this was the only game in town,” says Stewart Reed, dean of the transportation-design program. “There are other schools, but none with the legacy that ArtCenter College of Design has.”

    As for the school’s approach to the automotive arts, personal expression is at the core, according to Marek Djordjevic, an adjunct professor who designed the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII. “No aesthetic is being pushed,” he says. “Quite the contrary, the whole point of the design teaching effort is to encourage originality and individual creativity, both stylistically and conceptually. Design is the balance of art and engineering.”

    Michelle Christensen, lead exterior designer for the second-generation Acura NSX, says the location was as much a draw for her as the program itself. The best design schools share a closeness—both in proximity and relationship—to the car-company studios around them, and ArtCenter is no exception. “Many of the instructors I had were actively designing and managing in the Southern California studios,” Christensen says. “It provided exposure to people currently working in the auto industry and created a great opportunity to develop relationships and understand real-world processes and challenges.” Christensen, who graduated in 2005, says ArtCenter taught her to test her limits and to keep it together when things got heated. “For my role on the Acura NSX, staying cool and collected in a pressure cooker was critical. It was an exciting and politically charged project, with very high—and sometimes conflicting—expectations globally and, of course, huge shoes to fill. My education taught me to stay focused on the goal despite the noise.”

    Notable Alumni:

    Karim Habib Infiniti, executive design director; former BMW design director

    Koichi Suga Lexus, general manager of design division

    Franz von Holzhausen Tesla, chief designer

    Tisha Johnson Volvo, head of interior design

    Joann Jung Lucid Motors, head of interior design

    Henrik Fisker designer of the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9

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    Photo : College for Creative Studies
    College for Creative Studies: Detroit
    Located in the heart of Motor City, the College for Creative Studies (CCS) enjoys a strong, symbiotic relationship with America’s automakers. Ed Welburn, former General Motors vice president of global design, once said, “The entire auto industry here is dependent on CCS.” William Mangan graduated in 1999 and went on to lead the interior design of the third-generation Ford GT. Now working on the forthcoming Bronco, Mangan says the quality of work he saw as a prospective student there compelled him to sign up. “I vividly remember touring the campus prior to my decision and stumbling on a room filled with automotive renderings from the junior-level class and being blown away,” he says. “That trip cemented in my mind the caliber of work and teaching I would be exposed to.” As with the other schools mentioned here, CCS collaborates closely with car companies and industry leaders to recruit and train top talent through design competitions, mentorship opportunities and outreach programs to students as early as high school. “Our classes were taught by working automotive designers from the Big Three,” Mangan recalls. “Having direct access to professionals who taught from their daily experience was a difference-maker.”

    Getting a job with a manufacturer is not the only mark of success in the design field, as many students go on to work for some of the industry’s largest suppliers. Graduates of CCS’s Color & Materials Design program, for example, have found jobs with Haartz, which makes many of the materials used in vehicle interiors, and BASF, the chemical company that produces much of the paint found on today’s cars.

    Notable Alumni:

    Ralph Gilles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), head of design

    Darrell Behmer Ford Performance, chief designer

    Bob Boniface Cadillac, former director of exterior design

    Crystal Windham Cadillac, director of interior design

    Earl Lucas Lincoln Motor Company, chief exterior designer

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    Photo : Hochschule Pforzheim University
    Hochschule Pforzheim University: Baden-Württemberg, Germany
    At the northern edge of the Black Forest sits Pforzheim, the home of one of Germany’s largest public universities of applied science. When you consider the school’s close proximity to Stuttgart, it’s no surprise that many of its graduates have gone on to work for the likes of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, which both have their headquarters there. “When I started my studies in 1984, Hochschule Pforzheim School of Design was the only German, and maybe even Continental European, design college with a high reputation,” says Steffen Köhl, class of 1988 and now the director of advanced exterior design for Mercedes-Benz. Köhl has worked on such models as the SLR and CLK and now leads the charge for the company’s international design studios, series production vehicles and concept cars such as the EQ Silver Arrow shown in 2018 at Pebble Beach, the F015 Luxury in Motion, the Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury and the Vision Maybach 6 coupe and cabriolet.

    To help preempt the tug-of-war that often takes place between designers and engineers in the real world, Pforzheim teaches students from both disciplines to work together early on. “I also appreciated a lot that courses for drawing, painting and sculpting were part of the program,” Köhl says. “It is essential that a designer knows multiple arts, especially when you work for a luxury brand like Mercedes-Benz.” Köhl underscores that industrial design training provided an important foundation for his future work. “This combination was unique and gave us a complete picture of design and how to grow in it.”

    Notable alumni:

    Mitja Borkert Lamborghini, head of design

    Michael Mauer Porsche, head of style

    Marc Lichte Audi, head of design

    Belinda Günther Mercedes-Benz, head of color and trim

    Domagoj Dukec BMW, head of design

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    Photo : Royal College of Art
    Royal College of Art: London
    RCA is celebrated for its master-of-arts degree in Intelligent Mobility, a program recently redesigned and renamed to tackle the increasingly changing role of automobiles and, well, mobility. An alum since 2003, Robert Melville is now the design director for McLaren and says the program taught him to embrace different types of people—and their criticisms. “It really opened my mind,” he says. “The lesson was not to see others’ opinions as a threat but a challenge.” Melville says the most important thing he learned during his studies was how to conceptualize and articulate the story of a design, which he describes as the “key to a product’s success.”

    In addition to the curriculum, the school has also established the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, a multi-disciplinary research lab that focuses not only on designing vehicles but also on solving related societal problems. “Issues like autonomy are changing the industry radically, and no longer can we just look at the style of cars,” says Dale Harrow, director of the center. “We are moving from product-centered to service models, and this will change the types of issues facing transport design. We need to maintain the traditional design skills but enhance them.”

    For Melville, thinking beyond the automobile is crucial in a dynamic industry. “All of the design schools produce an excellent standard, teaching the basic skills such as 2-D and 3-D software. The key for me is for students to ‘think different’ and [learn] how to identify and reframe problems to deliver fresh solutions,” he says. “The ideas are what will make their portfolios stand out from the crowd. And now more than ever, this will be essential in a world where the motivation to buy a vehicle is evolving quickly.”

    Notable alumni:

    Stefan Sielaff Bentley, design director

    Marek Reichman Aston Martin, chief creative officer

    Thomas Ingenlath Volvo, chief design officer

    Gerry McGovern Land Rover, chief design officer

    Giles Taylor Rolls-Royce, former director of design

    Gorden Wagener Daimler AG, chief design officer
     

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