The first 5 minutes of this film was pretty cool. The rets of the video is standard factory production stuff Really like the aeroacoustics testing and them working the finishing touches on the clay model
"Bold design elements" well.....ummm....thats certainly one way to describe it/them....."sporty"? "stylish"? Image Unavailable, Please Login How 'bout "overwrought"?
Ah yes a split spoiler on a small suv https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/vehicles/kona/n-line Meanwhile Hyundai has a concept for the IONIQ 5 solely to show off the upcoming performance parts
FWIW, I saw a new refreshed Elentra at the grocery store today. Certainly not as "busy" as the Kona above but also incorporated the giant "arrows" on the side. I thought it looked rather nice. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hyundai boss; "This years design theme... born in Ukraine's Chernobyl" Image Unavailable, Please Login
Chris Bangle (yes that Bangle) now consulting for the Chinese. His critique of the car is typical Bangle. Draw your own conclusions. Sam LivingstoneSam Livingstone • 1st • 1st Director at Car Design ResearchDirector at Car Design Research "The waste that is the new Xiaomi SU7. Why would this most resourced and ambitious of brands choose to enter the upper echelon of the car market with a design that says louder than anything else that Xiaomi’s best idea was to closely emulate others? A design that on this film Chris Bangle can say nothing stronger than ‘very nice’ even when he’s paid to say good things about it. Why would Xiaomi not wish to assert itself as cleverly taking a different path for good reasons unseen by incumbent car brands? Why would it so wantonly waste an opportunity to do something different, to do something better, to do something that would bring it more value? Such a waste."
In other design related news, the Mullin Museum in Oxnard with its fabulous collection of French design gems will be closing in early Feb. https://classicmotorsports.com/news/mullin-automotive-museum-to-close-this-february/?mc_cid=e2f157ee40&mc_eid=fa81004762
Ive yet to watch the video... but I was able to attain the 3D of this car and find the surfaces really nice except for the front side vents. I also dislike the headlight design. Image Unavailable, Please Login higher res https://i.imgur.com/9fmM9U2.jpg
I view Bangle as having great self-promotion abilities and the ability to make a great PR stage presence. Far greater in those skills than with his work. Might re-phrase that as "Better at talking greatness of Design than delivering it". As for this car, not bad, not great, but competent. I find the comments by Sam Livingstone to be harsh. Does an upstart Chinese manufacturer really want to get out in front on design with a mainstream product? Better this than going wonky.
While I would agree, this particular design is simply a Porsche design ripoff. With all the talent at these Chinese studios mpossres, I expected better. Mr. Bangle is playing to the crowd IMHO.
The Koreans built some of their initial work by re-interpreting some high end cars for the mass market. Was it the Stinger that was an iteration of the Ferrari 456? It did actually work for them as they built a validity in the marketplace. Maybe not what we as designers view as the best approach from a pure Design standpoint but maybe not so bad from a business decision viewpoint for an upstart. Could do better? Sure. Could they go down a path that leads to the worst of Nissan? At least they avoided that.
I'm reminded of several of my 'superiors' back in the '70's-'80's that liked to say the Japanese weren't 'creative' and that the Japanese wouldn't be able to design cars. We all know how that turned out. Koreans same thing, only they did it faster than the Japanese did. Now the Chinese are beating the Korean timelines for design and creativity. And the cycle continues.
I believe the Koreans i.e. Hyundai/Kia are leading the charge for creativity and design. Beauty is another discussion. That will vary from person to person, but I believe they are capable.
With the Japanese, wondering to what extent if some of their advancement in Design can be attributed to the California studios and the staffing with designers that did not come from the HQ operations? I am thinking of Calty, NDI, Mazda, and Honda in particular. The operations initially drained experienced talent from Detroit and then eventually started taking the design school graduates. Have the Chinese created any SoCal studios?
Hyundai/Kia is showing (if any other Automotive CEO will bother to comprehend) how to have Design deliver great work. Luc's interview described how he has a relationship to the top that is reminiscent, if not even better, than what Mr. Earl had with Sloane.
I believe you're right. It was the influx of 'western' designers that finally got the Japanese their confidence to break out. The California studios played a major role in that development, although the designers in the 'satellite' studios used to complain that often times their work was ignored back in Japan. If you look at the student enrollment at CCS & ACCD over the last decade, it was heavily populated by Koreans & Chinese. Therein lies the answer. They received their training from experienced designers, then took that knowledge back to their respective countries.
Over 30 years ago the Pontiac Studio had a contingent of Korean designers embedded with us for over 6 months. They took so many notes and measurements it was surreal. They went back to Korea and applied what they had learned. It must have 'stuck'. Image Unavailable, Please Login The irony didn't stop there. Two of the GM designers in this photo later went on to work for Korean car companies. One is currently Chief Designer of the California Kia Studio. The other worked for Hyundai for several years. Go figure.
Can one say "Detroit winter" versus 12 months of driving weather in SoCal? Plus, one might be able to argue about a far smaller organization, at least within the outpost studio. Where is Kia's California studio?
