SIAM hosts 15th Styling & Design Conclave and 13th Automotive Design Challenge
In its bid to strengthen the automotive sector in the new normal, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
(SIAM) hosted its 15th Styling & Design Conclave on 19th
February 2021 virtually. With the theme “Influence of the New Normal on
the Future of Automotive Design”, the conclave witnessed leading
experts from automotive sector to deliberate upon the
industry’s need to reimagine design capabilities as per the new normal.
The
virtual conclave also had select presentations from the Automotive
Design Challenge (ADC) 2020 from design students, depicting new ideas on
the future of automotive design. The challenge
has been an outstanding initiative by SIAM presenting a platform to the
aspiring automobile designers to showcase their talent and capitalize
on the opportunities for future.
The theme session had leading luminaries from the sector highlighting holistic and collaborative efforts of
the industry players in reinventing product
design and operations whilst pioneering design innovations of the
future. They shared their experiences, cited case studies on iconic
products and effective design process and emphasized
on the role of design in building and sustaining brands.
Beginning
with the opening address, Mr Malo Le Masson, Chairman, SIAM Styling
& Design Group & Head-Strategy, HeroMoto Corp, said
“Due to the impact of the pandemic, the industry has to initiate a
course correction, which we call the new normal. Designing has been all
about transporting more people in less space and shorter time. But after
Covid-19, even in mass transport we need to
ensure that individuality is preserved.”
Mr John Antony Sahs, Head of Design, Nissan Latin America, Brazil said,
“There are major disruptions globally due to
Covid-19 but it also mean endless possibilities for the future. Working
from home is the new normal and working together includes a certain
degree of insulation from each other. The future of designing human
existence is going to be Phygital, a combination
of physical and digital, focussed towards new customer experience.”
Mr Teofilo Plaza Garcia, Head of Design, Hero MotoCorp, said,
“The vaccine is like the light at the end of the tunnel as we observe a
bounce back in global
transportation. There will be a global shift to Two-Wheelers as a
prominent personal mode of transport as well as big shift in
recreational products, which has gained prominence in the new normal.”
Mr Markus Wechselberger, Client Director, KISKA, Austria said,
“In urban mobility we realize user needs are constantly evolving. One
of the most significant
fear is of car ownership dropping by 80% in the USA. A situation will
evolve where one may only pay for service on demand. Design and Styling
is completely irrelevant and have bigger objectives, which is to solve a
problem. It is your magic tool to create
the future of mobility and will help introduce new product and
services. In the long run, designing will be all about user experience
and branded emotions.”
Mr Detlev Reicheneder, Sr Director – Industry Strategy Design & Manufacturing, Autodesk, Germany
said, “The design studio of the future
will be fundamentally different than that of the past. It will be all
about creating and visualizing designs and ideas, managing processes by
cutting non-productive time and furthering innovation, and about
ensuring customer experiences by bringing people
together from across the world through virtual reality capabilities to
on the designs.”
Mr Thomas Dal, Dean – Strate School of Design said, “There
can be two scenarios in the future. Either cars of tomorrow will look
like a car with a difference
of experience or they will be diminished. OEMs will be shifting from
being metal shaper to programmer and there will be a shift from
ownership to user-ship”.
The
conclave involved a brief presentation of automotive designs by ten
shortlisted students of ADC’2020. The top-three winners of the ADC 2020
were Mr
Harmeet Singh, from National Institute of Design as the first prize
winner, followed by Mr Rugved Atul Patil, from World University of
Design (WUD) as the first runner up and Mr Ganesh Borse, from National
Institute of Design (NID) as the second runner up.
The audience consisted of designer practitioners from Auto OEMs and
Component Suppliers, Design Students, management executives from the
automotive fraternity and concerned stakeholders.
