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Hyundai
David Labrosse, Manager Product Planning, Product
Management, Hyundai
What social/economic/technological trends do you think will have the greatest
impact on car design in 2018?
One the biggest trend that will influence the car design in the future
is probably the way individual mobility will be perceived by urban citizen
and how much car driving will cost: City mall, parking cost, CO2 linked
taxes i.e. would a hybrid car satisfy a large amount of costumers?
Beside trends, environmental affairs remain almost since the beginning
of the car industry a very important challenge. As this topic became again
very up-to-date and technologies improvements are accelerating, car design
will be strongly affected as usual by aerodynamics, light weight, roll
resistance and internal friction reductions but also by the electrification
of the powertrain and/or the energy management of it.
In what ways will the powertrain technology differ?
The powertrain will continue improving by reducing fuel consumption and
reducing emotions. To support this objective it will be separated more
and more from accessories that reduce his efficiency and switch of when
not needed. Also electrified powertrain will support or replace conventional
engine in certain phase.
What materials will vehicles use – can we
expect serious alternatives to steel to emerge?
As row materials are getting more expensive, steel continues to develop
and improve. Steel is also very practical in workshops compare i.e. to
aluminum or magnesium. Plastic parts and composite material will keep
on growing in importance but will not replace steel in the mass production
in the near future. Weight reduction will be mainly driven by integration
of function and optimization of shape due to new production processes.
What technologies will be making the big advances in safety in 2018?
Now the passive safety improved drastically in the past years, electronic
systems will democratize to reduce impact speed or even avoid accident.
Laser system will make pre-crash system cheaper and therefore available
in the large volume market. It could also offer all around protection
by assisting the driver with informations about other vehicles and the
environment it is moved in. Also Car-to-car communication will developed
and offer precious informations to the driver and onboard electronics
systems.
How will automotive engineers' working lives be different? What skills/specialisms
will be important?
On top to all classical technical skills needed today, electrical/electronics
and software competence will be needed in all disciplines. Materials technologies
needs to keep improving. This will require even greater communication
and social skills to integrate those different competences to harmonies
in enthusiastic new product...
Next...
Land Rover
Index
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January 2008
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