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Friday, September 30, 2011
'We are going to be more dynamic'
Okay, so will Toyota actually build cars (that look like cars), too?
FRANKFURT -- The Toyota brand's flamboyant new global styling chief wants to put an end to a long tradition of conservative design.
In the future, he says, the styling of Toyota-badged vehicles will be more aggressive, reflecting the more emotional approach being called for by Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda.
In charge of the design metamorphosis is Dezi Nagaya, a veteran Toyota designer who dresses like he's on his way to a trendy Shibuya nightclub rather than off to work at Toyota.
"Toyota has been criticized for being quiet and nonoffensive, of having too friendly an image while lacking emotion," Nagaya said during an interview at the auto show here.
But for the ebullient 50-year-old designer, it also means walking a tightrope -- trying to upend several generations of conservative design in a risk-averse, consensus-driven corporate culture.
And Nagaya needs to juggle design strategy for global markets that may have quite different perceptions of what a Toyota is.
So while he tosses around such words as "passion" and "emotion," Nagaya also frequently returns to expressing the need to have "rational value" in Toyota design.
Nagaya listens carefully to constructive criticism about vehicles Toyota has delivered, including some of his own work. And he says he knows Toyota's styling ethos needs to change.
That's why the concepts for the sporty FT-86 coupe, which first arrives next year as the Scion FR-S, have become more aggressive, rather than less so -- even though manufacturing engineers may wonder how they are going to bend the metal.
Of course, the new direction may give Toyota designers fits: Trying to evoke emotion in a car like the Camry.
"The Camry has a wide selection range with customers who don't want something too aggressive," Nagaya said. "But it has the responsibility of being the highlight of the lineup."
For vehicles such as the Camry and Prius, Nagaya says, the sliding scale of emotion and rationality leans more toward the rational.
"If we don't stand between those two pillars, then it won't look like our product," he said. "But each needs to have its own distinct element besides the family resemblance."
He says Toyota needs to be like "a department store," where there is a united styling language among many products that have little to do with each other. In that sense, if there are five styling cues that are similar on a Prius, Camry, Land Cruiser and FT-86, the rest can be wildly different.
This line of thinking goes back to when Nagaya was general manager of the Lexus planning department in Tokyo and one of the creators of the "L-Finesse" design language for Lexus.
In developing L-Finesse, Nagaya said he wanted to avoid what he calls the BMW design strategy of "small, medium and large sausages."
As chief designer of the second-generation Toyota Prius, which debuted in 2003, Nagaya took that thinking to the extreme.
"Some people don't know what a Toyota is, but with the Prius, people knew it was a hybrid, even if they didn't know it was a Toyota," Nagaya said.
But when overseeing the expanding Prius lineup, Nagaya said the family resemblance needs to be apparent. So even though the Prius C subcompact concept shown earlier this year seems distant from the regular Prius, the production version likely will be much closer in appearance.
by autonews
Toyota's new global design boss vows to ban the bland
FRANKFURT -- The Toyota brand's flamboyant new global styling chief wants to put an end to a long tradition of conservative design.
In the future, he says, the styling of Toyota-badged vehicles will be more aggressive, reflecting the more emotional approach being called for by Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda.
In charge of the design metamorphosis is Dezi Nagaya, a veteran Toyota designer who dresses like he's on his way to a trendy Shibuya nightclub rather than off to work at Toyota.
"Toyota has been criticized for being quiet and nonoffensive, of having too friendly an image while lacking emotion," Nagaya said during an interview at the auto show here.
"We are going to be more dynamic, more masculine, sportier, with a more obvious design theme and a face to represent the company and the brand," he said. "We have eliminated emotion. We need to pump that up."
But for the ebullient 50-year-old designer, it also means walking a tightrope -- trying to upend several generations of conservative design in a risk-averse, consensus-driven corporate culture.
And Nagaya needs to juggle design strategy for global markets that may have quite different perceptions of what a Toyota is.
So while he tosses around such words as "passion" and "emotion," Nagaya also frequently returns to expressing the need to have "rational value" in Toyota design.
Nagaya listens carefully to constructive criticism about vehicles Toyota has delivered, including some of his own work. And he says he knows Toyota's styling ethos needs to change.
That's why the concepts for the sporty FT-86 coupe, which first arrives next year as the Scion FR-S, have become more aggressive, rather than less so -- even though manufacturing engineers may wonder how they are going to bend the metal.
Of course, the new direction may give Toyota designers fits: Trying to evoke emotion in a car like the Camry.
"The Camry has a wide selection range with customers who don't want something too aggressive," Nagaya said. "But it has the responsibility of being the highlight of the lineup."
For vehicles such as the Camry and Prius, Nagaya says, the sliding scale of emotion and rationality leans more toward the rational.
"If we don't stand between those two pillars, then it won't look like our product," he said. "But each needs to have its own distinct element besides the family resemblance."
He says Toyota needs to be like "a department store," where there is a united styling language among many products that have little to do with each other. In that sense, if there are five styling cues that are similar on a Prius, Camry, Land Cruiser and FT-86, the rest can be wildly different.
This line of thinking goes back to when Nagaya was general manager of the Lexus planning department in Tokyo and one of the creators of the "L-Finesse" design language for Lexus.
In developing L-Finesse, Nagaya said he wanted to avoid what he calls the BMW design strategy of "small, medium and large sausages."
As chief designer of the second-generation Toyota Prius, which debuted in 2003, Nagaya took that thinking to the extreme.
"Some people don't know what a Toyota is, but with the Prius, people knew it was a hybrid, even if they didn't know it was a Toyota," Nagaya said.
But when overseeing the expanding Prius lineup, Nagaya said the family resemblance needs to be apparent. So even though the Prius C subcompact concept shown earlier this year seems distant from the regular Prius, the production version likely will be much closer in appearance.
"It has to keep the Prius styling language," Nagaya said. "You have to tell it's the youngest brother, that it has the Prius image. The current Prius is too serious, so the Prius C will be more optimistic.
"That's how design works," he said. "It gives people information. It tells them what the function is, what's inside. It's not just styling; it means something."
AKIHIRO 'DEZI' NAGAYA
Age: 50
Title: General manager, Toyota design division
Design credits: 1st- and 3rd-generation Lexus LS; 2nd-generation Lexus GS; 2nd-generation Toyota Prius
Title: General manager, Toyota design division
Design credits: 1st- and 3rd-generation Lexus LS; 2nd-generation Lexus GS; 2nd-generation Toyota Prius
by autonews
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Spied again: 2014 Corvette
Yes, America does still build rocket ships, as Chevy likes to say, and the C7 promises to live up to that hype. Spy shots of the car offer several clues as to how the next-gen Corvette will differ from its direct predecessors yet perhaps draw on the car’s singular heritage.
Looking at these photos, it’s evident the wheelbase of the Corvette will change. The wheels, particularly in front, are clearly off-centered in this C6 body shell being used as a test mule. This indicates a longer wheelbase which could return a more comfortable drive character. The photos also suggest a narrower layout.
In back, there’s a quad exhaust configuration, though intriguingly, the outer two pipes are capped off. That could have a variety of implications.
Corvette also sells the C6 with two frames, one made of steel for the base versions and an aluminum frame for the Z06 and the ZR1. It’s expected that the C7 will go strictly with steel.
GM said in May that it will spend $131 million and will add 250 jobs to improve the Bowling Green, Ky., factory that builds the Corvette. That’s a dramatic increase from the $39 million spent in 2005 when the site changed over to produce the C5. The facility has built Corvettes for 30 years.
Production of the C7 will begin in 2013, and the car launches as a 2014 model.
That dramatic increase in spending has led to speculation that the Corvette could be in for a major facelift. Reports have suggested a seven-speed manual transmission could be offered. It’s also possible that the 6.2-liter V8 could be downsized, perhaps to about 5.5 liters. The current V8 in the Corvette ZR1 employs supercharging, but twin-turbocharging has also been rumored as a future technology. A V6--perhaps reinforced with some kind of forced-induction and making a high output--has also been generating considerable chatter among Corvette fans.
Also look for some carbon fiber, but not as extreme as the tactics employed by some supercar makers such as Lamborghini.
GM design chief Ed Welburn has told Autoweek that the Stingray concept from the 2009 Detroit auto show will not be the C7. But many reports have suggested that the next Vette could get a split-window option.
Chevy has sold 9,123 Corvettes through the first eight months of 2011 in the United States, a 5 percent uptick compared with the same period in 2010.
autoweek
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