What’s it like to be a car designer? Pretty nice job, if you like cars and design. Better question – what’s it like to be a concept car designer? Even better when your boss, is Mazda’s Global Design Director Laurens van den Acker. van der Acker likes to give his team a lot of freedom.
According to Jeremy Barnes, Mazda North American Operations Group Manager Product Communications, Laurens van den Acker encouraged Mazda’s design team in Hiroshima to design two concept cars with carte blanche as the the only design direction. Jeremy explains that the notion was to release two concept cars within six weeks of each other to indicate runway to high-street evolution, if you will.
The first car was the Nagare, launched at the LA Auto Show last November. “Nagare would be clothing you would see on a runway model”. And for Detroit, this week, Mazda proudly launched Ryuga – with a single theme: flowing movement, frozen in a moment, familiar in Japanese rock garden design. “Ryuga is the sort of thing you’d see in a boutique – it’s practical and real”, Jeremy Barnes explains.
But Mazda fans should not hold their collective breath for the opportunity to purchase Ryuga; it’s still a concept car, however practical. “Concept cars allow an opportunity for designers to get out of building real cars… Mazda gives designers an opportunity see where ideas can go”. And what could be better than that for a car designer?
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I love that to, but my hubby doesnt want it, that is really to bad.
What bothers me is that it just seems like a really big waste. The time it takes to come up with the concept and then the raw materials it takes to produce said concept come from the same economy already complaining about being over consumed and over polluted. So it really comes down to "what's the point?" Do you spend your time making a whole vehicle to use one or two elements of that concept in the next design, or do you just build a mock-up of the next generation model with those styling ques included. When Honda was showing images of the next generation Civic Si concept it was silver with a black hood, black 7-spoke wheels, center rear exhaust finisher, and yellow fog lamps. When the vehicle went to production I was working for a Honda dealership and we received our first one to sell and what did it look like...the concept...minus the black hood and wheels, center exit exhaust and yellow fog lamps. But what I really appreciated was the fact that the production model was very close to the concept that I had become familiar with and adjusted to it's styling ques. You want black wheels to make it even more similar, go get the HFP wheels and I saw a Civic yesterday with aftermarket yellow foglamp lenses.
I would just like to see the designers be a little more realistic when designing vehicles. I'll mention one other then I'm done. Jeep a little while ago debuted a concept vehicle named the Rescue. It was a really cool looking, tough, off-road worthy Jeep. Again I got used to looking at the images of that Jeep on forums like this and was hoping to hear that it might go production, but NO...along came the Patriot concept...axed the Rescue from what it seems. It's pointless to me to build excitement in the hearts and minds of the American public with things that we all would like to have then basically deny us the opportunity to have it by not producing what was campaigned. And all along I thought the point of concepts were to build interest in that car brand and keep the loyal from straying to the competitor and make those on the fence want to come to your side and wait patiently in line until release day when you can finally have it...but that doesn't seem to be happening.
When will you sell these in the US
My family wasnts a small suv with a third row. currently our only option is a toyota highlander, but I like to buy american.
I've been looking for a small to midsize truck with four doors. Toyota, nissan, dodge, and honda sell them. yet, ford holds them out of the U.S. to force cosumers to size up to a explorer sport track.
Please bring these products to the U.S.
I will buy both!
Yay Rx-7