6) United States: The American Dream! What splendour, modernism and extravagance that has come out of this country of all opportunities! Cradle of the automobile for the masses, big cars and muscle cars, the United States represents the first country where the majority of people have the means to purchase a vehicle. Their architecture, their art, their technology and their cinema have all been evocative of their idealism, their will to show their power and their good child side.
Learning more towards tinsel and gigantism, the American design is the new wealth of world design. Automotive speaking, its design has not always been subtle, often provocative, and has sometimes shown an audacity that others have lacked. However, the bodywork and the look have often been more important than the technology. It seems as though the best way to confront adversity is to try to add on to that "American" style.
But the way of doing things that made people of all over have dreamed about and that has made American automobiles so desirable does not attract many people anymore outside of North America. The will of its industries to make short-term profits is harmful to the visionary spirit and patience that's necessary for it to progress.
Cher, symbol of the American decline
It seems that like Cher and numerous Americans, the U.S. automotive industry suffers from a tendancy to expand forward. Its models, like its citizens, are mostly flabby and rather than exercising, manufacturers make models that consume more fuel by installing more powerful engines. That solution, that shows incapacity of adaptation from their part, is slowly sinking their industry.
I can't help recalling a debate that happened in the United States after the terrorist attack of September 2001. Certain people have started saying that the best way for Americans to reduce their dependency in the oil from the Middle East would be to build vehicles that consumed less and incentives to buy such cars. It was even calculated that if Americans would buy cars that would consume an average of 5 mpg less, they could do without oil coming from that region.
What was the reaction of the majority of Americans and the President himself? All that they can answer is that if they'll have to change their ways, terrorists would "win"! What logic!
So, they continue to put models on the market that underwent facelifts even if their powertrains are old and lame. What can we say when supposedly "new" models are introduced on the market, and when we look under the hood, we find the same engine that was conceived over forty or fifty years ago? Just as an example, know that the engine in the new Buick Allure was put on the market in 1963. Is this why it's called Allure?
The design is the reflect of culture, history, symbols and aspirations of a population. When I started in this field, I understood all the evocative power of design. When reading about the big design waves, and although globalization has resulted in styles being less distinct from one country or region to another, maybe will we someday talk about the great automotive manufacturers of the past, just like we will talk about the great American empire of the past? Remember the glory and great power of the British empire a century ago, as well as their industrialisation level that was well above the rest of the world; now stop and contemplate what its automotive industry is like in 2005.
China and India are the rising powerhouses of the 21st century. Maybe the designs that announce the future will come from them.
Ecology and problems related to pollution, traffic congestion, and global warming are addressed in many countries of the world and by many car companies. If the automotive industry and the American population don't adapt to the new reality of the 21st century, their industry will end up looking like Cher, outdated despite all the aesthetic surgeries in the world.
One thing is for sure, the pragmatism, vision and need for durability that the new worldwide challenges require will probably favour the design and concept philosophers of Japan, Germany and Scandinavia.
Learning more towards tinsel and gigantism, the American design is the new wealth of world design. Automotive speaking, its design has not always been subtle, often provocative, and has sometimes shown an audacity that others have lacked. However, the bodywork and the look have often been more important than the technology. It seems as though the best way to confront adversity is to try to add on to that "American" style.
But the way of doing things that made people of all over have dreamed about and that has made American automobiles so desirable does not attract many people anymore outside of North America. The will of its industries to make short-term profits is harmful to the visionary spirit and patience that's necessary for it to progress.
Cher, symbol of the American decline
It seems that like Cher and numerous Americans, the U.S. automotive industry suffers from a tendancy to expand forward. Its models, like its citizens, are mostly flabby and rather than exercising, manufacturers make models that consume more fuel by installing more powerful engines. That solution, that shows incapacity of adaptation from their part, is slowly sinking their industry.
I can't help recalling a debate that happened in the United States after the terrorist attack of September 2001. Certain people have started saying that the best way for Americans to reduce their dependency in the oil from the Middle East would be to build vehicles that consumed less and incentives to buy such cars. It was even calculated that if Americans would buy cars that would consume an average of 5 mpg less, they could do without oil coming from that region.
What was the reaction of the majority of Americans and the President himself? All that they can answer is that if they'll have to change their ways, terrorists would "win"! What logic!
So, they continue to put models on the market that underwent facelifts even if their powertrains are old and lame. What can we say when supposedly "new" models are introduced on the market, and when we look under the hood, we find the same engine that was conceived over forty or fifty years ago? Just as an example, know that the engine in the new Buick Allure was put on the market in 1963. Is this why it's called Allure?
The design is the reflect of culture, history, symbols and aspirations of a population. When I started in this field, I understood all the evocative power of design. When reading about the big design waves, and although globalization has resulted in styles being less distinct from one country or region to another, maybe will we someday talk about the great automotive manufacturers of the past, just like we will talk about the great American empire of the past? Remember the glory and great power of the British empire a century ago, as well as their industrialisation level that was well above the rest of the world; now stop and contemplate what its automotive industry is like in 2005.
China and India are the rising powerhouses of the 21st century. Maybe the designs that announce the future will come from them.
Ecology and problems related to pollution, traffic congestion, and global warming are addressed in many countries of the world and by many car companies. If the automotive industry and the American population don't adapt to the new reality of the 21st century, their industry will end up looking like Cher, outdated despite all the aesthetic surgeries in the world.
One thing is for sure, the pragmatism, vision and need for durability that the new worldwide challenges require will probably favour the design and concept philosophers of Japan, Germany and Scandinavia.