Global Viewpoint Europe The designers

Despite constraints such as government regulation and an aging society, designers have room enough to exercise their imagination for innovative and stylish solutions.

“At first when we faced pedestrian-impact safety regulations there were some sad faces. But as always in the automotive industry, one works within the constraints to find ways of integrating the changes-and not as badly as one might at first imagine.”

So thinks Patrick le Quément, Renault Senior Vice President, Corporate Design. He chairs the Joint Design Policy Group of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and, as one of the world's most experienced car designers, is not fazed by the invasion of legislation and technology on his design domain. In fact, le Quément embraces such challenges as pedestrian safety legislation as a spur to fresh design. “At present,” he said, “the problem is whether the current constraints will push us into having a single solution shared by all, which would be a great shame for those who want to defend a certain type of front-end identity.”