Automotive design isn’t all glamour. The challenges are many and varied - from designing sustainably through to meeting safety requirements
The car is one of the most complex products available for consumer purchase. It has a greater number of functional attributes than a static design object and, as such, requires several teams of specialists to work on its production. In order not to destabilise the timing and cost of the design and development process it is essential that the automotive designer is capable of efficiently and convincingly communicating his or her needs with the other specialists.
Pedestrian protection regulations present a major challenge to the designer both in terms of basic vehicle proportion and body sculpture. Directives have been issued and studios are currently working to the new constraints. The areas most severely affected are front overhang and the height of the bonnet.
It is now common automotive practice to use the same platforms and components for two or more different vehicles, and the design challenge is to differentiate the vehicles from each other to ensure that the platform commonality is not recognised by the customer.
The End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive (2000/53/EC) aims to reduce the amount of waste generated by cars destined for scrap. The greatest implications of this legislation are for engineering but it also impacts upon the design of both the exterior and interior of passenger cars.
BMW is leading the way so far, offering a free take-back service to owners of BMW, Rolls-Royce and Mini vehicles whose cars have come to the end of their natural life. All the vehicles undergo an environmentally friendly disposal process that ensures that 85% of the vehicle will be recovered and recycled.
In more depth
Find out more about End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Regulations on the
DTI website