The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex automotive industry body, organized its 16th Styling & Design Conclave along with 14th Automotive Design Challenge, themed on “Reimagining Mobility for the New Normal”. This year’s conclave has provided diverse perspectives on how the future of shared mobility will be for the Gen-Glass and how the passenger experience will evolve against the backdrop of various transformations happening in the auto sector. The conclave witnessed budding automotive designers showcasing the future of automobile styling in India.
The virtual conclave showcased the select top-five presentations of the Automotive Design Challenge (ADC) 2021 from design students, depicting new ideas on the future of automotive design. SIAM had initiated the challenge to provide a platform to the aspiring automobile designers to exhibit their talent and capitalize on the opportunities for future. The top-three winners of the ADC 2021 were announced during the conclave.
The conclave was graced by industry stalwarts and experts from the automotive sector, highlighting holistic and collaborative efforts of the industry players in reinventing product design and operations while pioneering design innovations of the future. The speakers shared their experiences, effective design process and emphasized on the role of design in building and sustaining brands.
In the welcome address, Mr Rajesh Menon, Director General, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer, said “The auto sector is currently undergoing transformation on various fronts like fuel efficiency, emissions, and safety. There has been a move towards electric, autonomous, and connected vehicles. All these developments are changing the paradigm of how we design automobiles all over the world. This presents all stakeholders with an opportunity to look at new models of mobility, as we will increasingly see a major transformational change happening in the coming years.”
Setting the context, Mr Malo Le Masson, Chairman, SIAM Styling & Design Group & Head-Strategy, Hero MotoCorp, said “The pandemic has challenged us as a whole and few of implications have been carry forwarded. In the world of mobility, shared mobility faced the very first setback because of Covid. Fundamentally, the shared mobility has the power to make us all independent. Shared mobility is more efficient, smarter and sustainable way to move. The challenge today is to think about moving smaller cluster of people in a smarter way.”
In the keynote address, Mr David Carvalho, Managing Director – Link2Concept & Former Vice President – Design, Pininfarina, discussed about how emerging technology has transformed the future of mobility. “Artificial Intelligence driven mobility is managing an extra level of complexity than that by manual processes,” he said.
Mr Aurelien Doisy, Head of European Design, Tata Motors, shed light on the design thinking process behind the new TATA Sierra, with a focus to drive the right ethics, values, modernity, authenticity and social aspects to recreate the iconic version of the SUV. He presented the theme of ‘TATA Design’ to showcase the different design languages that have taken place over the years inside TATA.
Mr Adrian Sellers, Head–Custom Motorcycle Design Program, Royal Enfield discussed about their concept of ‘Design to Disconnect’ showcasing the effect of design of a particular vehicle over their users and surrounding people. He also said “Gen-Glass is driven towards a strong sense of identity and is well informed. To tap onto new audiences, Auto Manufacturers should maximise their USPs and designers must build improved UX.”
Mr Amin Thakker, Chief Designer, Transportation Design and Engineering and HMI, Tata Elxsi, presented on ‘Clean Smart Flexible Seamless Mobility for Gen-Glass’. Different scenarios for shared mobility were shown. Light was thrown on how the new EV design trend is moving towards meeting functionality, in terms of form and design. He advised automotive designers to focus on smart interiors for the next-gen.
The conclave culminated with the announcement of the top-three winners of ADC 2021. The top-three winners of the ADC 2021 were, Mr. Avishkar Kumbhar from National Institute of Design, was the first prize winner; Mr Satya Sai Manoj from National Institute of Design was first runner-up; and Mr. Abhishek Ayush from IDC-IIT Bombay was second runner-up. The saudience consisted of professionals from Auto OEMs, Component Suppliers, Technology Suppliers, Design Students, Design Professors, etc.