Car Design Fetish

We have quite a fetish for Boyd’s work which will surely be missed. Thank you for passing on your expertise to current builders like Chip Foose, Thom Taylor and Jesse James who can keep this awsome hobby alive.

Anaheim, CA- February 27, 2008 – Boyd Coddington, the creative visionary who took hot rodding to an art form and custom wheels to a new level dies at 63. Coddington who was a long-time diabetic died from complications that were brought on from a recent surgery. It was Coddingtons’ ever forward-looking view at the design and art of the hot rod and his unconditional desire to create the finest quality cars that became the “Boyd Look”.

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The accessory bandwagon continues…now with Jeep. They to are realizing that their customers spend a lot of money once they leave the dealer lot. Many of the accessories are expected but the interesting one is the possibility of a lift kit. No OEM has ever made a stock vehicle which included a lift kit. Great accessories and a lift kit without voiding your warranty, how sweet is that.

They also have a new computer ordering system called–EASy. This stands for Electronic Accessory System. This came out to dealers late last year and will go online for consumers to build their own Rubican Crawlers March 31. We will be keeping an eye on this to see just what else they will offer for the ultimate warrantied Jeep.

Full article at Autoweek

Surfing around this weekend I stopped by carbodydesign and saw they had an article about the Pforzheim student show.   Knowing how most designers enjoy seeing the unpolluted imaginations of students here is the link cbd posted from conceptsalad.  Conceptsalad is a blog showing off student concepts and tutorials.

As for the show, not bad, but there have been better.  There are some interesting designs and hot sketches.  Once those case of the Monday’s kick in take some time and look at what you “used” to do.

Forget about batteries, power cords and all that crap to charge things.  This is all you need.  About the size of a thumb drive this little baby can charge your usb devices such as a cell phone or ipod.   The Powerstick also has a sweet fuel gauge that will surely hit our automotive hearts.  For $70 bucks this could be a life saver when the power goes out or you just don’t have access to a plug.

Thanks to Uncrate for link.

The debut of the H3T was a bit overlooked at the Chicago Show. The bed of this truck is pretty cool and functional but the front half is the same ol H3. Some may say that is a good thing, but I would have like to of seen a facelifted version for this new entry. The most noteable details about this truck is the new availability of accessories for it. All of the blogs pointed out the dirt bike holder, storage boxes and side steps, but no one talked about the other 120 accessories mentioned in the press release.

After surfing through the Hummer website I found these great illustrations showing new accessories with their pertinent sport attached. Hummer has a huge amount of aftermarket accessories for it. It is good to see GM noticing this and doing it themselves in house.

Could Hummer be the next Scion and Mini? Check out some cool pics after the jump or go to the Hummer website and click on the H3T headline to check out all of the options shown so far.  What other options would you want for your H3T?  I want the ultimate tailgate accessory.  Grill, cooler, seats all in a handy package.

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Innovation is a word mostly “abused” in every company anymore. They all talk about it but don’t do anything to show it. The Harvard Business School had a visiting scholar Roberto Verganti talk about his exploration of the new world of “design-driven innovation.”

“In every industry, sooner or later, there is a radical change in the language of its products,” he says. “So the point for companies is, do they want to lead the change, or do they want to suffer the change?”

Here are the categories Verganti puts companies in.

• • Launch and see. The company launches a variety of products, and then measures market reaction to each, relying on the selective capability of consumers to determine which products to focus on.
  • See and launch. The company employs some sort of research process and then launches products based on its findings.
  • Wait and see. The company allows others to experiment with various products, observes what is most successful, and reacts accordingly.

This is a good article on classifying your companies’ innovation attempts. There are no pictures but the article isn’t too long. Check it out here.

As we peruse over galleries upon galleries, and blog upon blog, staring (glaring?) at hot new vehicle designs appearing at auto shows around the world, we all come to the realization that there are certain design trends that have worn out their welcome.

We at CDf would like to know what your top 3 design trends are that need to disappear, whether they be aesthetic, package, or technology. We’ll incorporate your responses into a full feature article that we are working on.

So tell us: What 3 Design Trends Would You Like to See Disappear?

Kia is taking a lesson learned from Toyota’s Scion group and possibly offering customized Soul’s when the new CUV hits production next year. Kia will be showing three custom Soul’s at the Geneva show early March. The one shown above in the header is called the Soul Burner. Matte finish, trendy graphics and 2 tone/piece rims will surely make this a hit with the young ones. Who am I kidding, all the baby boomers will be driving them.

We are a fan of the Soul here at the fetish and look forward to see how true they stayed to the concept. Pics of the concept Soul are posted after the jump…. Read the rest of this entry »

Most corporations rely on clinic studies, marketing, and consumer research to tell them what they “should” produce and what consumers “want.” Once in awhile that process works, but for the most part you come out with vanilla products or total flops.

My question is, why not look to designers to…oh, I don’t know, design. Their is a reason we are payed for our insights and talent. Why not use it. Apple doesn’t do clinics and instead focuses on great designed products. Last I checked they were doing pretty well.
There is an article after the jump that talks about the OEM’s not knowing what consumers want. Well, here is a thought. Consumers always go nuts over concepts cars, so design the production cars closer to the concept cars, that was easy.

Make cars more emotional.

My parents (baby boomers) just bought a new car and almost every vehicle I showed them they thought was boring. And they are easy going consumers that get excited over dual exhaust. If that doesn’t tell you something about the current vehicles out then I don’t know what will.

Check out the article from The Detroit News and have a laugh at how lost these huge stubborn companies are.

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Jeep Compass and Patriot SUVs will get
interior upgrades two years after launches

Hera is some good news. Chrysler is actually going to break the product “life cycle” and make a much needed refresh. Hopefully these will be the first of many.

Chrysler plans to overhaul the interiors of its Jeep Compass and Patriot compact sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) in fall 2008, according to Ralph Gilles, a Chrysler LLC designer. The two models were widely criticized for their interiors since they were launched less than two years ago.
The small Jeeps, which have not sold well, have been faulted for poor fit and finish and their use of cheap, hard plastic interior trim parts.
The interior redesign comes well ahead of what would be the normal schedule, said Gilles. The Dodge Caliber car, built on the same platform as its Jeep siblings, will get a new interior slightly later than the Jeeps, he added. “Even before these products were launched, we did some soul searching,” says Gilles.
That included talks with both Jeep dealers and employees about what was wrong and what could be done to fix the interiors, he said. As part of the redesign, Chrysler hired a consultant who helped develop grainy, European style textures for the two models.
In addition, Gilles said the vehicles’ doors have been softened in the elbow contact area and other places.
These rapid changes – so close to the dates of the product introductions – would not have been possible had Chrysler not been privately owned by Cerberus Capital Management, according to Gilles. “Think about it, the products are barely a year old,” he explained. “We’re trying to put the customer first.”
(Automotive News)