Thoughts on Automotive Design
This weekend Detroit is celebrating the annual Dream Cruise. Way back in the ’60′s regular people would take their souped up cars and race them up Woodward Ave., from stop light to stop light (which are a mile apart). At the height of it, engineers of the Big Three would take prototype muscle cars and race them against the fastest cars the city had to offer.
In 1995, Nelson House reached back into time, looking for a way to raise funds for a children‚Äôs soccer field. He hit on a more ceremonial cruise up Woodward. He expected 30,000 spectators, but over 250,000 showed up and the Annual Dream Cruise began. I drove up Woodward yesterday at around 3:00 (the cruise starts today) and people already had their tents set up, “getting their drink on” (as Pearl would say).
So now I’m thinking about car design in the US. It’s so tragic now I want to cry. Why can’t the designers at Ford and GM pull something cool out of their hats? Of all the consumer products out there, cars alone have the ability to change the perception of the entire company by coming out with one really cool design. The VW Beetle is a case in point. It made Volkswagen cool again. You could make Chevy into a cool company by making cool cars! But they have to stop looking back and redoing the past. The HHR comes to mind. It’s kind of okay, but I think of girls in poodle skirts when I should be thinking of girls in Dolce. Something NEW!
So now I come to Marc Newson, who is widely known for his furniture design. He was asked by Ford to create a concept car for Detroit’s big Auto Show. His design was remarkable. The colors are cool, the proportions are interesting, it’s distinctive. Basically, you just want to buy one. (The dashboard photo leads this article.)
Okay, so maybe you’d have to redo the suicide doors, but which car would you rather drive? Do you choose Marc Newson’s modern design or what Ford currently offers (see the Ford Focus, below)? If you could buy Newson’s, would you consider buying an American car again?
