Car design is a bit of an enigma: we’ve meet dozens of the most highly regarded designers over the years, but the conversations have been fleeting. The first Car Design Event, which took place Drivers & Business Club in Munich in May 2023, as the name suggests, put car design fairly front and centre on the agenda and allowed the 30+ international journalists (including us!) to focus on designers and their stories and ever evolving roles.

Participants included Andreas Bovensiepen (CEO, Alpina), Luc Donckerwolke (Chief Creative Officer and President, Hyundai Group), Marcus Holzinger (CEO ELEGEND), Marc Lichte (chief designer, Audi), Andreas Mindt (chief designer, Volkswagen), Bernd Samland (CEO, Endmark), Anders Warming (chief designer, Rolls-Royce) and Professor Othmar Wickenheiser (Head of Transportation design, University of Applied Sciences in Munich), who visited with a select group of the design students. The event was also supported by Honda, McLaren and ZF.

The list of vehicles present at the event included the Audi grandsphere concept and the heritage concept Audi ASF, the Volkswagen IS. 2all and ID. Buzz, the McLaren Artura, the Alpina B4 Gran Coupe, the upcoming Hyundai Kona, the fully electric super sports car ELEGEND, the trilogy of Genesis X concepts (Coupé, Speedium, Convertible) and the Genesis GV80 Coupe Concept, which was shown in Europe for the first time. Additionally, several historic vehicles were present for display and available for drives.

During the Q&A the topic of Artificial Intelligence was one theme which dominated. The expert panel of designers were certain that AI is not something that will be not be a threat to the industry, but may well be a tool which could, and already is, assisting designers and aiding efficiency.

A personal highlight was seeing the Audi Grandsphere Concept together with Audi chief designer, Marc Lichte. This imposing concept debuted at IAA 2021 and aimed to be the first private jet for the road, complete with full autonomy and retractable steering wheel.

 

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We look forward to attending the Car Design Event in coming years!

 

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