Metamorphosis

Mercedes Takes Design Seriously

Add comment May 30th, 2008

The murmurs of the past few weeks has finally been put to rest and made official, the Mercedes Design Team will move into the former Chrysler Advanced Design Studio in Carlsbad. This move will triple the square footage allowing the group to pursue design excellence in fullsize, a luxury that was none existent in the previous facility and in a time frame as early as July 1st.

With this news I can only assume that the Mercedes Benz group has purchased the Carlsbad facility with all equipment and machinery pre-installed from the previous owner, that means up to five surface plates, prototype build capabilities and spray booth. All this will allow the design team to present fullsize mock-up models entirely in house but this pending move from Irvine is an additional 50+ miles south so what does that mean to the existing workforce you may well ask.

The first thing that comes to mind is a relocation package of some description, I would want my team to be relatively close to reduce travel fatigue but look at the housing market at present, there’s little in way of movement. OK it’s summer, it’s the best time to move the kids, they’re out of school they can adapt but can I sell the house?

I wouldn’t want that headache going on straight away, trying to adjust the family to the new surroundings, leaving friends, schools and trying to familiarize myself with the new facility so I wouldn’t worry about that right now, I’ll just do the commute until things settle down then decide what’s best, no point in jumping too soon. For those with apartments and no commitments it’s a no brainer, just move.

Secondly if you don’t like the move I guess you can leave so I would imagine some type of severance pay for the hardcore who are dead against the move but for me, moving to larger premises is going to be fun. Plenty of room to move, fullsize models, the works, sounds good to me. So taking that all into consideration I would imagine that everyone will be filing their drawings or should I say archiving their images, cleaning tools and finalizing the current projects ready for an early July start.

So who would have been instrumental in this move?

I would imagine it would have been the newly appointed head of Strategic Advanced Design for Mercedes-Benz Cars, Gorden Wagener. Being already stationed here with the advanced group he would have seen the potential and cost saving in taking over an already turnkey operation and no doubt had visions for long term growth. This substantial facility is three times larger than his previous one so with that in mind I’m assuming there will be a significant amount of additional work in the very near future leading to a requirement of hiring new talent from all disciplines. That means designers, modelers and fabricators to shape those future products.

So what will happen to the old facility?

Who knows, the official word is it’s undecided but maybe with a bit of luck a start-up group will take it over, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Leaders and Followers

Add comment May 2nd, 2008

The current credit crunch and ultimately gas prices are decimating a large segment of vehicles that are currently being offered by American companies to the public who right now are skittish at best when it comes to parting with their hard earned cash. The cash cows of yesteryear known as SUVs are on an even more rapid decline, with the more savvy public opting for a Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Nissan Versa or other fuel sipping form of transport to combat the ever increasing cost of gas, in an economy that is teetering on recession.

For us in the Research and Development field all we can do is continue to model the visions that are offered hoping to hit a chord with the higher management who do have a pulse on today’s trends or do they?

My thoughts on this are, can the larger manufacturers especially ones that have relied heavily on SUVs for so long (GM, Ford, Chrysler) design and bring to market a desirable alternative that will satisfy a now pro-green consumer.

People right now demand that their vehicles offer good mileage and can automatically relate to hybrids because of this fact, even if they have to pay a premium for that privilege. If a desirable vehicle meets this level of expectation and is frugal on the gas consumption, without being a hybrid, such as the Scion Brand, Civic, Versa and such like, this would be an automatic second choice for people on less of a budget who could not afford the premium for a hydrid. These offerings by the Asian companies fit the bill and have reliability built in because they are not first generation vehicles and have been refined over time. If the American counterparts balance their portfolio with better offerings surely the brakes can be put on the rapid decline of these once proud companies.

What is needed is a succession of innovative vehicles to whet the palate of todays jaded buyers who need reminding that American design is still alive and it doesn’t have to be the biggest to be the best. Safety, build quality and style will sell these vehicles albeit in a smaller package but once again this decision is in the hands of upper management. Produce a vehicle that can go head to head with the best, forget the parts bin and be innovative, set the trends rather than follow then there will be a future.

We as sculptors ARE the conduit between fantasy and reality and all we need is that green light, the go ahead, couple this with a strong design and there’s no telling where it will go but at least it is a shot. We as sculptors are an integral part of the design process and not just design support so now is as good a time as any to work as a team and produce that winning product. NOW before it is too late.