New directions in design: OEM designers discuss the risks and rewards of changing brand image

Automotive Industries, Dec, 2003 by Gary Witzenburg

Chrysler, too--even before the "merger" with Mercedes-Benz--was pondering a return to rear-drive for its large and prestige cars. "We had been toying with a series of rear-drive concepts," Creed relates. "If you look at the prestige brands--Lexus, BMW, Mercedes--they have an entirely different look [compared to front-drive cars], with a long wheelbase, shorter overhangs and a more efficient package.

"We did a series of internal models using rear-drive architecture, then a concept called Chronos. It was an entirely new look, a very upmarket-looking car, and we said, 'Boy, if we could do a rear-drive car, that's the direction we would go.' Then when the merger happened, and we began to share the vision that we would like to do rear-drive prestige vehicles, everything fell into place. All of a sudden, we had access to the Mercedes-Benz toolbox and could learn from all their experience in doing modern rear-wheal drive.

"Then we said, 'Wouldn't it be great ff we could do a hemi engine and get back to the classic nature of the original 300-Series cars, when they were real American muscle cars and had this great image,' and along with that goes rear-wheel drive. And we needed to do something for Dodge, because Dodge is very clear on the truck and SUV side, but a bit muddled on the car side. We needed to create a unique and flesh look for Dodge that would make people say, 'Wow, that's really something! What is it? It's a Dodge," and that would begin to establish an identity for the brand. And we began to do a series of models that culminated in the 300C and Magnum."

Creed points out that his senior management is included in the process "from the initial sketching right up until the vehicle is completely finished and approved and ready to go to production, because it's really important to get their buy-in and for them to understand why we're doing what we're doing."

Semple points out that Nissan's design centers in Japan, the U.S. and Europe compete and collaborate on new designs. And while product-savvy CEO Ghosn is open to input from ,all involved, he makes the final call himself. "We've had competitions where we'll do a car and they'll do a proposal ... not like before, where we were working totally separately. We know exactly what they're working on: they know exactly what we're working on, and we try to give Mr. Ghosn two good choices.

"The last design decision meeting here at NDA was one of the longest we've had because he took a long rime to make up his mind. He heard from different factions and finally decided to go a certain way. But he said it was a good job, because [both candidates were so good that they] made the decision difficult, and that's what we want to do. If it's a global car for multiple markets, we'll usually have three alternatives--contributions from Europe, America and Japan--in the bake-off."

BMWs Bangle, who held design leadership positions at GM's Adam Opel AG and Fiat's Centro Stile before joining BMW AG in 1992, explains that "The BMW way is different from what I experienced at other companies. Their way is, 'Let's first put together a strategy of where we want to go, so we all understand the kind of car we want and the targets it's got to fulfill.' Then we take that and say, "All right, fulfilling those targets allows us this spectrum of alternatives, sort of" a bandwidth that we can play in."