| The future of motoring is green, this
we are certain of, and any carmaker worth its salt is busy showing off
its eco-talents. But how boundless are designers when it comes to making
stylistic choices, asks Nargess Shahmanesh-Banks.
The Citaro fuel cell bus
has had to literally spell-out its green credientials to convince
customers |
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New on the scene is a limited
edition A-Class fuel cell car |
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"It is almost a philosophical question because you can sit down,
do a brainstorming session, and at the end come up with a flying car,"
says head of interior design at Mercedes-Benz, Stefan Sielaff mockingly.
In reality though things are happening slowly, step by step, with designers
working alongside research engineers and it is very challenging for both
parties, mainly because they can try out new things. "'Trying out'
is an important word in this sentence because as with other aspects of
life some things happen when planned and others take place coincidentally,"
says Sielaff. He resembles it to cooking, where you add a new ingredient
and all of a sudden a whole new taste emerges. "For us it is like
having a playground where you can give coincidence a chance."
Technically alternative drivetrains like fuel cell and hybrids allow for
new visual possibilities. It enables a change in configuration and therefore
an entirely new architecture for the car, as well as encourages new and
novel usage for the interior space. But what the designer must always
consider is to create an advantage for the customer, not just for himself,
says Sielaff.
The market has changed so dramatically in recent years with cars expected
to provide so much more than just mobility. "It is not a question
of what the manufacture does or doesn't want to do, it is simply the pull
of the market," he says. "We are not artist doing something
for the sake of being beautiful. At the end of the day you need to make
money."
New on the scene are the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Citaro buses that run
on fuel cell. In the case of the buses, the project started off originally
in California and has spread throughout Europe with great success. Being
such a populist mode of transport has in some senses opened the 'eco-car'
debate to a wider audience.
Industrial designers at the turn of the last century argued for technology
itself to become a feature in design. In this case both vehicles have
had to resort to literally spelling their eco-credentials out. "I
was driving with my family in Stuttgart and my daughter who is ten said
pointing to a Citaro bus in front: 'there are a lot of fumes coming out
of that bus'. Then she noticed that under the exhaust pipe it said: 'this
is pure water steam coming out of the pipe'. She then said 'wow, super'.
You have to write it on top, otherwise a lot of people will just assume
it's blowing a lot of emissions out," he laughs.
One carmaker has used blue to suggest hybrid, another has created a Perspex
object in the interior that shows water running through to symbolise fuel
cell. However, at the end of the day are people really interested in the
technical aspects of a combustion engine? The customer is mainly interested
in getting the car started, travelling to his destination in a trouble-free
fashion, be kind to his pocket and possibly the environment.
For Sielaff it is also a question of possibilities regarding emotion.
"You have to be responsible in giving people the right dose of emotion
in a product, both in the exterior and interior," he says. If you
take too much of the emotion out of the car for the sake of technology,
you could end up with a compromise and lose customers. If you just concentrate
on the rational aspect and price, you lose the top end of this triangle
which is the emotion.
Designers are not simply artists. They have to create an intellectual
product at the end of the day. "We are the people who have a vision,"
says Sielaff. Maverick Italian director, Federico Fellini, once said 'only
the people with a vision are the true realist'. "This I think is
a good quote," says Sielaff. "We are being allowed to do this
and hopefully at the end of the day there will be benefits for the customer
in terms of the package as well as from a financial and environmental
point of view."
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