Working together

The European industry's leading designers and engineers ponder the shape of things to come.

Will technology soon take the senior role in a hitherto equal partnership, or will designers meet fresh challenges with a flair that uses technology and legislative rules to create aesthetic engineering? Will Europe be convinced by the diesel hybrid? And will the “computer generation” bring radical changes to interior design? AEI talked to many of Europe's most influential and senior automotive R&D, engineering, and design executives to uncover the hopes and needs of an industry of change.

An automotive industry adage is that if a car looks right it will probably drive right-and sell right. Those looks are dependent on the integration of advancing technology, interpretation of market requirements, and original styling flair. Until now, with one or two notable exceptions, this cohesive melding of requirements, to form an end product that achieves a successful cost-benefit ratio and also “looks right,” has generally worked smoothly.