Turin “Designer Day” explores the future of Car Design

The conference, titled “What is the future of car design?”, was held in the Sala d’Onore of the Castello del Valentino and hosted on the occasion of the Turin Show. Each speaker shared his vision, along with a number of stories, projects and anecdotes from their careers.

According to Fabrizio Giugiaro the future of supercar is “electric”, as testified by the REN designed for Techrules, the 1500 hp hypercar recently unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.

Another theme is the connection between design and fashion, demonstrated by the seats partially trimmed in denim fabric developed by technical partner PTO1.

Italdesign’s Alessandro Serra shared a similar vision, underlining the importance of supercars for the future of design. The design firm’s direction is well showcased by launch of the Italdesign Automobili Speciali brand and the Zerouno, the first in a series of exclusive low-volume supercars.

Paolo Pininfarina identified important aspects in the culture and style fusion, sustainability and innovation, and spoke about some of the studio’s recent creations: from the NIDO EV to the Cambiano to the Ferrari FF.

David Melvin Wilkie focused on the deep changes that are transforming industrial transportation and mobility: an example is CNH’s recent unveiling of autonomous tractor concepts or the semi-autonomous trucks developed by New Hollande.

According to Leonardo Fioravanti the future is all about eco-friendliness and sustainability; he focused on how the Italian industry needs to catch up in the development of electric vehicles, compared to areas such as Northern Europe, California and Japan.

Chris Bangle explained his vision of car design historic evolution: he identified three different eras, and we’ll discover if the third one will last indefinitely or if today’s designer will be able to start out a fourth era.

Laura Milani, IAAD Director, commented: “Automobile is one of those products that best reflect the fast-paced changes of today’s world. The automotive industry is more and more multidisciplinary, with influences from the worlds of fashion, in terms of style, languages, methods and creative freedom. Experimentation and innovation are combined with advanced technologies in the name of a future mobility which is more and more sustainable.”

(Image Courtesy: IAAD for Car Body Design)