Chronodynamics Is A Drag

"CHRONODYNAMICS IS the coefficient of styling in time". Having just thought of the term, I now feel obliged to define it. As a metaphor that pertains to aerodynamics, it helps to understand why some shapes date faster than others. What does it mean to date? Let's think of design as something that creates aesthetic turbulence as time passes. The greater the degree of turbulence, the quicker the form dates, and thus the level of attactiveness decreases. For example a car whose styling is considered timeless will have a low time-drag –the Porsche 911, perhaps. It will pass through time creating minimal drag, and continue looking attractive for longer. A car such as the Chrysler PT Cruiser, by way of contrast, has dated more quickly: its aesthetic concept is bluff retro, creating greater time-drag.

There are cars, however, that share the principles of the PT Cruiser that have stayed fresher for longer, the Mini being the notable example. How is it then that the Mini still looks attractive, but the PT Cruiser is no longer desirable? Partly this is down to styling resolution in volume and proportion, but there is more: marketing momentum. A more bluff chronodynamic form relies on momentum: this can be achieved through consistency in styling themes matured in successive generations of a given product; it can also be achieved by advertising. Mini uses both to provide the impetus behind a retro projectory. The Clubman, special editions, tightly kerned Helvetica caps, and Superleggera concept all bring life to what LJK Setright described as a ‘very convincing little brick’.

Now consider a more classically timeless design, say, the Honda S2000, designed by my former boss Daisuke Sawai. Many have all but forgotten this was Honda’s 50^th birthday present to itself; there was little to no memorable ad campaign. However the S2000 endures as an attractive car over a decade since its inception. It is chronodynamically efficient. The low time drag is achieved very simply: by being very simple. Its proportions are classically revivalist –long hood, short butt –the door-section is clean, the details are sparing and the product concept –that of a two-seat sports car –is the clearest in terms of relaying the package concept through styling. I use the term classically revivalist as this was a period in Italian art history when Helenistic, Roman and Egyptian objects were referenced in everyday items such as jewellery and clothing: that is, using the past to define the identity of present day items. It is retro retro.

There were no two-seat sports cars whizzing Caesar Augustus around, and I won’t be drawn into horses-pulling-chariot analogies; instead the classicist reference the S2000 revives is the 1901 Mercedes Simplex, the bedrock of today's car. This turn-of-the-century sports car nailed the package we still use today: engine out front, long dash-to-axle, seats behind engine just in front of rear wheels, trunk out back. We take it for granted now, and it is because we take it for granted that cars that assume this description will be inherently timeless.

Visualise then, for a moment, the drag your design will create in history. A design which leans towards nostalgia will need more push –ergo a rationale to support the whimsy. Yet a design which is advanced is equally and no doubt ironically also in need of support: a bridge that takes the casual observer/potential customer from the present day scenario to a believable future context in which the given product is more relevant. The bridge must vindicate the investment. Toyota successfully did this with the Prius. The media did the hard work for them, by embedding in popular thought the impending peril of the planet. So with the future context established, Toyota created a believable solution.

It is a lot harder when the future scenario is less clear, particularly during a time of economic flatlining. All those customers who so recently worried about the plight of the environment in ten years time now turn their eyes and their wallets to ten days time when the next pay-check arrives. Companies must replace the media in outlining a future scenario if they wish to sell eco-minded products, else natural conservatism will prevail. Conservative products free of garnish are ripe for timeless themes, but it is at the expense of communicating advanced technologies through styling. Whereas once car styling once used space ships and aeroplanes to flaunt technology of the future, today advertising does this job for us instead. This allows one design to be locally targeted across a range of markets, being easier to change words than bodysides. It makes perfect economic sense. But in diluting the exterior styling by forfeiting its communicatory role to marketing, when the check has been paid and the slogans forgotten, customers could be left with products devoid of the personality promised.

2015 Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury In Motion Concept Shows The Value Of Enterprise

AN INTERIOR where anyone can sit anywhere, and where anyone can drive: this is the potential of autonomous driving. The car avoids accidents, so one need not wear a seatbelt. If you do have an accident, intelligent airbags inflate where required. The steering wheel is detachable, and can be passed from person to person to take control. Dashboards become less complex, buttons are fewer and screens are irrelevant because we all carry on our own device. Materials and quality and customization become even more important. It is a relaxing, open place to spend time and enjoy the company of others or the peace of solitude.  Mercedes hasn't gone quite that far with their latest concept, but in producing the F015 they have made a memorable start. 


Here's the message in two steps: fat seats suggest luxury; seats facing each other implies autonomous driving. And now Mercedes owns the image of luxurious autonomous travel. Nevermind that the rest of the interior looks like a set from Star Trek (screens do not an interior make), in terms of communicating a message the Mercedes is faultless. 

Faults are saved for the exterior instead, and here one sees the challenge designers face in providing an attractive shape while providing head-room over rear-facing front seats. It would be unfair to criticise the exterior too harshly, though, as it was always the interior that we are meant to see, but it does point to an interesting communications strategy. You won't see many poorly resolved concept cars from BMW or Audi, but Mercedes is willing to compromise design to gain an edge for innovation, which begs the question Does design or concept do more to reinforce brand image? 


Cars are the ultimate industrial design overachievers: throw a new market at it, introduce new legislation, tighten emissions and threaten congestion charge: so far every obstacle has strengthened the breed and cars are more capable than ever. It proves the desirability of the concept of private transport, a demand that shows no signs of withering. Underlying the success of the car is its supreme adaptability: A thirty year old Peugeot will drive on a road built last year in Pakistan by someone who was not born when the car was designed using fuel bought today.

But autonomous driving is more than taking your hands off the wheel and turning the front seats around; it is an opportunity for designers to redefine the relationship between man and machine. Traditionally this was done mechanically, through the steering wheel and gearshift and ride quality. Now, in an electric age, everything is assisted, and what we feel is largely artificial. We are in a peculiar purgatory between old-world interaction and a future where the car is simply transport. 

This is an indisputable trend, and it is your fault. You liked it when in 1951 Chrysler introduced power steering on the Imperial. You raved when gears silently shifted, and rejoiced when windows wound themselves: autonomy and anaesthetised cars are the culmination of many years of smaller innovations. We kept buying them, and maybe we are the last generation to know that a car used to provide feel. 

1951 Chrysler Imperial

That’s why I drive an older Mercedes. I want to smell leather, to view the road through untinted glass, and hear those colossal doors slam. It is one of the ironies of electric cars that their success coincides with the sales increases of those soulful classics. In the past cars felt mechanical simply because no alternative existed; now, with so many options available to designers we must be careful to do what is right, and not just what is possible.

2014 Audi Prologue Concept. I said, THE AUDI PROLOGUE CONCEPT

THERE ARE 15 trillion good reasons why grey is the new black, each one green-backed. Youth unemployment, stagnating wages and high personal debt means it is aging baby-boomers who will drive economic growth. You can bet your bottom dollar there will soon be myriad products designed specifically for the silver surfers. A Porsche Design stair-lift is closer than you think.

Age cannot be mentioned without health. The ‘internet of things’ means you can be sure your behaviour is being analysed. If you fail to use your Zojirushi I-Pot kettle in the morning to make tea, a relative is informed, just in case. You may not realize it, but your car is watching out for you too. It may not be pressing your hand, rolling up your sleeve or asking you to cough, but a car is fast becoming even more central to our lives, and indeed life.

A car is already a cage in which we shield ourselves to protect us from harm. Big steel pillars sealed with glass separate us from the vigour of our surroundings. Occasionally, they keep other bits of steel and glass out too. Volvo watches your eye movement: blink to often and a small coffee icon chimes to encourage a pit-stop. GM has experimented with sensors that immobilize the engine should you be over the alcohol limit. Brakes know when a wheel is slipping: if ever you’ve been caught in a downpour, traction control has been your guardian angel. Pity the Lincoln Sentinel missed exemplifying the virtue of its namesake.

So a car already does its best to keep you alive, now the goal is to improve your wellbeing. Massaging seats are just the start. They will also rise to meet you, swiveling to accept your corpulent buttocks. Augmented reality will improve visibility, and don’t worry if you never got the hang of touch-screens, buttons will fatten for rheumatic paws, or disappear in favour of voice-control. There is a long list of features that cars will have to tick-off if they are to remain relevant for an aging demographic. But what is the OAP aesthetic? Nissan Juke designers are already used to seeing their creations driven not by sk8erboiz, but by middle-aged women off to the garden centre. The raised H-point (seat height) helps: easy to get into for creaking limbs. But I wonder how many billions playful styling will garner from the trillions available. There is also the challenge of getting Gatoraded designers in the mindset of port-swilling retirees.

So how about the Audi Prologue concept? Of course it is really an A9, a name to draw Audi upmarket to target retired dentists in upstate New York. The designers are the same age as those in Nissan, but the non-niche classicist aesthetic looks suitably elitist and discerning. Over cigars at a dinner party, the A9 would be talking about campaign funds while the Juke juggles the bread rolls.

Having introduced you to my SLC earlier, I am inclined to draw comparison between it and the A9. Naturally, thirty years has brought a sea-change in proportions, but beyond this the thing that strikes you is that Audi has scored a coup with the C-pillar: the SLC’s louvred windows has been re-interpreted as the filler-cap. Audi also uses chiseled swells above each wheel to highlight Quattro provenance, but for both cars I see similarities in the classical proportions with generous brightwork that conventionally lures mature customers. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. But so far no car can stop you from driving at 15 mph in the gutter with the left-indicator blinking.

2015 Lexus NX Brings Hope To A Chemical World

2015 Lexus NX

IF YOU don't like the nomenclature used by car companies, look away now: this is about to get complicated. Sounding more like chemical formulae than soulful machines, Lexus names have seldom resonated with me. NX, LS, MSG... It is simply impossible to match name to character to car. So building on the LF-NX concept from last year, Lexus has built the NX, a premium SUV based on the Toyota RAV4. With me so far? Then let's continue.

2011 Lexus LF-LC Blue Concept

The Lexus periodic table spans attention-grabbing show cars and attention-seeking production cars. The brand is just beginning to consolidate the two, starting with the LF-Gh concept in 2011, which outlined a new face and fresh take on headlamps, followed by last year’s powerful LF-LC concept that introduced a dramatic gesture and beautiful interior.

The stance of the NX is defined by a high-point somewhere over the rear passengers, lending a gesture that is more dynamic than the surging Infiniti FX55. A triangular shoulder peaks in width at the B-post, where it creates a diagonal bone-line that intersects the front axle. The shoulder dives into the window-line ahead of the A-post, making way for a prominent front wheel-arch from which point forward the LF-LC’s face is found. 


At the back, the haunch resists bringing the shoulder out to cover the wide track: the vertical surface below pressing into the wheel-arch is the more memorable aspect. In this space, between arch and shoulder, the short surface is drum tight, giving a machined look that softens as one reaches the middle door-cut.

Much has changed since I first walked into a Lexus design studio. Today's cars embrace a deeper appreciation of worldly tastes, the richness now inherent in their designs as strong as the marketing and engineering that propelled the brand nearly thirty years ago. Japanese companies have been the slowest to promote foreign design leadership, so the mixing of cultures at Lexus must be the harbinger of change if their compatriots are to expect the same success.

Car Design Offers The Possibility Of Unperceived Existence

IF A tree falls in a road, and no one is around to move it, does it make a sound?  

After a dark and stormy night (it really was), I awoke to a battered day still nursing its boughs. At that time I was working in an adjacent studio which required crossing a busy road. That day, a large mass of foliage was causing cars to brake and swerve. I saw two almost collide. So the next time the traffic paused, I ventured into the road and lugged the fallen timber to the verge. Cars proceeded again.

It occurred to me that this was probably the most immediately useful task I have done as a car designer. For all the sweat and tears that car design entails, the nature of the work means that few projects make it to the road, and of those that are on the road, few explicitly reflect your contribution. One shouldn't finish a career without also removing branches from the road.

2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupe Strikes Midnight In A Perfect World

"THERE IS no scientific discoverer, no poet, no painter, no musician, who will not tell you that he found ready-made his discovery or poem or picture – that it came to him from outside, and that he did not consciously create it from within.” So said William Kingdon Clifford, a Victorian mathematician from a time when mathematicians looked like arctic explorers with empire-building middle-names. More recently, JK Rowling declared that the notion of Harry Potter simply strolled into her mind, and in Endtroducing..... DJ Shadow confides that the music is coming through him.

Such effortlessness can be hard to do in car design. Scores of designers are endlessly tasked with drawing new cars alongside bodykits and facelifts, sketching to the twitch of the manager’s eye. The analogy of monkeys writing Shakespeare given enough time has been made before, only time is the first thing to go with model ranges expanding so rapidly.

So how does pure design survive, and not lose its simple majesty when the whip is shouting ‘keep drawing’? It comes down to the designer as much as the design, and a chain of managers who recognize beauty in simplicity. Or, for the designer, keep drawing the same thing. Give them no other choice! And so it is with the F-type Coupe. A simple, clean, pure design. Quite heavy, admittedly, but one whose curves you are likely to relish. It isn’t really new, although there are novel touches, and the rear lamps could have come from any one of Jags concepts ten years ago. It matters not. The cynic in me often mitigates superlatives by declaring cars merely attractive, but the Jag is, in fact, beautiful. Not eye-of-the-beholder beautiful, but universal Scarlett Johansson pulchritude, the Jaguar F-Type Coupe lets you count the ways.

2015 Opel Range Is Too Good To Be True

GM Technical Centre, Warren, MI

GENERAL MOTORS is about to go chasing after Dacia. That's the latest news according to the US company as it attempts to increase profitability at Opel and regain market share in Europe. That means a cheap hatchback and a cheap SUV either entering the current Opel line-up or being put within a parenthetic sub-brand. 

Meanwhile, Opel's are styled as though dropped in from a higher price point. The Astra and Insignia are handsome, well-sculpted cars with some expensive-looking detailing. The Monza concept took that to another level, with a sophisticated bodyside and tremendous stance. 

The previous Astra got it right too: a clean, machined and neatly detailed design with each element interlocking with the next. It looked expensive, and also simple. Look at the past two Golf generations, and it is easy to see how Opel could have carried this precise machined aesthetic across the range. Instead, Opel abandoned clearly defined boxiness and chased emotive surfacing to pursue premium-ness.

Here's an easy way to define premium-ness: which car looks the most expensive? Now divide perceived price by retail price and you have an equation for defining value. Parallel to this, however, is the matter of expectations. Do you expect an Opel to look pricier than an Audi? This scenario doesn’t allow much room for authenticity, which is problematic for two reasons. Authenticity is confirmation that the product delivers what was promised. 

Thus, authenticity is trust, which builds relationships. By producing affordable cars that look too good, Opel risks creating a mismatch between customer and product. Only they haven’t: a new Vauxhall Astra costs $30,000. You could by an Audi for that. 

2015 Opel Karl

I believer in using existing consumer behaviour to define strategy. But Opel is tricky. Not even emotive designs can alleviate the dire un-sexiness of the brand, denting prospects for private ownership. Price and products are not going to be enough to sustain. There is, however, an unlikely silver-lining their large customer base in the rental market. Instead of pursuing design-led exclusivity, Opel could harness car-sharing inclusivity with emphasis on service as much as product. DriveNow and Uber show how is being done. Until then, the Opel Karl will have to do.