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| Car Dec. 1986 | ||||||
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Study the designs on the following, pages carefully. They are the work of first-year automobile design students at the Royal College of Art -post-graduates, most industry sponsored, who will steer car styling into the 21st century. The RCA has trained a fifth of all stylists now working for European car makers. It is one of only three independent academic institutions in the world producing such graduates. Chris Harvey gave them CAR's brief: restyle the cars of today you would most like to see improved. There's a lot to be learnt about cars from people who aren't interested in them. Apart from reliability grumbles and how much they cost to run. The rnost common complaint is that 'they all look alike...'Considering such people comprise the vast majority of car buyers, it's obvious there are huge prizes for manufacturers who produce models that look appealingly distinctive. Performance, economy, comparative cost, quality and durability can be measured. A good salesman can fudge such figures, but he cannot talk magic into styling that is unappealing. The buyer either likes it or he doesn't It takes skill and luck to lead the market in such areas: if the styling is too radical it can be a severe handicap, at least early on in a model's life: if it is too conservative, the car will be harder to sell later. Recent design trends have favored highly aerodynamic shapes. The car being made to work within those parameters. Hence the complaint that so many cars look alike. Surely now the trend must be towards getting an attractive shape approved and then making it aerodynamic. This return to the soft round shapes of the late 1960's is likely to call for a new generation of designers, however, because it's hard for the wedgeheads to junk all they've stood for. We asked the Royal College of Arts first-year Students what they thought today's solutions should be. Alex Padwa, an Israeli industrial designer aged 30, had little automotive experience when he arrived in London and had hardly ever seen a shiny Car, most examples in Tel Aviv featuring a sand blasted 9rish. As a result he is heavily into the quality of reflected light. All the same, he has tried not to go over the top with his Audi, seeing it as a visual statement in general, not just an Audi and not necessarily next year's model. He would have -liked to have been able to spend more time on hiss Citroen BX. 'AS a consumer, I have been fascinated by Citroen,' he says, 'almost as though other cars did not exist, because as a marque it has always been a cult object Even today's Visa is something of a personal statement. I am afraid that Citroens have started to lose their individuality because the company has to survive. Remember, though, that even the Traction Avant was not a commercial success at the start' Padwa, who is sponsored by the Jerusalem Foundation, has been working for the Peugeot group in Paris. French companies do not put much emphasis on car design as a specialty and it is rare for them to sponsor a student to a college such as the RCA. Padwa, who spent four years in industrial design in Israel, points out that there is no car industry there. 'The only outlets are for small-range vehicles like those used by the army, although I once did a concept for a collapsible car.' His dream cars would be a white Traction Avant, a late Countach 'with all the arches, wings and scoops, because of its dramatic appearance', a Jaguar D-type, a 1953 Bentley Continental 'because of that lovely tail,' a 1949 Chevrolet Bel-Air convertible 'to cruise across America in', and a Lotus Esprit. As it is, he drives a new model Citroen BX which he didn't like at first, but says it's so nice to drive that it's growing on him. |
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