“Ratan Tata is particular about designs. He wants to bring back to the Jaguar its past glory. Currently, our team is working on three major projects,” said Wayne J Burgess, chief designer, Jaguar Cars Limited, about the role of Tata after the group acquired the Jaguar.
He was speaking to DNA on the sidelines of the 5th Styling & Design Conclave organised by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) as part of the Pune Design Festival on Friday.
He said design is one of the main aspects for positioning of cars among its rivals. “Jaguar enjoyed a key position in the 60’s and the 70’s due to the designing and styling aspects. Over the years, it has changed. However, Ratan Tata is positive and wants to bring back to the Jaguar the glory that it enjoyed. Jaguar XJ, XK and XF models are doing well. Design is one of the key areas and it’s from there the ball really starts rolling for a new product,” he said.
Oliver Stefani, head of design, Volkswagen Group, Germany said, “Various car models should be siblings from the same family, but have to look different. It is always creativity that is the driving force. In our core designing team, we have 14 members and only four are Germans. For work in the automobile sector to be successful, one should have a passion for cars,” he said.
Ramkripa Ananthan, general manager, Mahindra & Mahindra, Yoshinori Noritake, chief engineer, Toyota Motor Corporation and M Hattori, general manager, design division, Suzuki Motor Corporation spoke on design challenges in the emerging market.
The results of the Automotive Design Challenge (ADC) for engineering and design students organised earlier by Siam were announced. The award winning products were displayed on
Saturday.
As part of the festival, design research and ethnography was held by Onio designs and a design clinic was held at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture auditorium.
