Vehicle Design of the Future 

In Episode 4 of the IAA MOBILITY Visionary Club Podcast, my guests discuss how vehicle design has changed over time and the importance of vehicle design in electric mobility. We discuss what good design is, what trends are currently in focus, and what challenges vehicle designers will face in the future. In addition, my guests discuss whether design will be more influential in the future in individual transportation or in public transportation. They also raise the question of the extent to which artificial intelligence can shape and help shape vehicle design in the future.  

My first guest is Pierre Leclerq. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in California and graduated in 1998 with a degree in transportation design. After working at Ford's Ghia studio in Italy, he joined the BMW Group in California and Munich in 2000, where he worked on exterior design projects for the BMW, Rolls Royce and Mini brands until 2011, when he became head of design for BMW M, BMW's high-performance label. In 2013, he was appointed design director of Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motors, and in 2017 he was appointed design director of Kia Motors in South Korea. Since November 2018, Pierre Leclercq has been head of design at Citroën.  

My second guest is Ian Cartabiano. He is a graduate of Art Center College of Design, a leading design school in the United States.  After graduating, he first worked at the CALTY Design Research Studio, Toyota's design studio in California, where he played a leading role as chief designer of the Lexus LF-LC concept car and the Toyota C-HR. After 15 years in California, he moved to Toyota's design headquarters in Japan, where he designed the exterior of the Toyota Camry. In 2015, he returned to CALTY in California as chief designer and project leader for the Toyota Concept I, FT-4X and Lexus LF-1 Limitless. In 2018, he also took on the role of President of ED2 (Toyota Europe Design Development). In 2019, Cartabiano and the ED2 team were tasked with developing a concept vehicle for the Tokyo Motor Show. He was also responsible for the LF-30 Electrified concept vehicle. He has also been involved in vehicle design development for the Toyota BZ4X, Aygo X, Aygo X Prologue Concept, Toyota EV Compact Cruiser and, most recently, the 2022 bZ Compact SUV Concept and 2023 Toyota C-HR. Since the summer of 2022, he has been Vice President of Advanced Design at CALTY in the USA.   

You can listen to the episodes of the IAA MOBILITY Visionary Club Podcast on all known podcast platforms - from Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcast and others. Also in episode 4, the IAA MOBILITY team supported me in cooperation with Force of Disruption GmbH and the Boston Consulting Group. 

Thank you very much!

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