GM’s new vice chairman for product development, Bob Lutz, has a simple goal — getting cars designed that people look at and want to have.
“When I got here, I started asking people to describe the design process, and nobody could do it,” he says. “I realized it was just plain dysfunctional.” Cars were being designed once in the studio and then analyzed and reanalyzed by engineers and marketing experts and constantly redesigned to suit their needs along the way….
There’s no better example of the GM riddle than the Pontiac Aztek, the 2001 sport-utility vehicle that was recently awarded top honors by J.D. Power & Associates for customer satisfaction among light SUVs. The trouble is, not many customers can stop laughing long enough even to look inside an Aztek, whose boxy, butt-ugly design has inspired more jokes than any vehicle since the 1957 Ford Edsel. It’s kind of what Lutz had in mind a year ago when he described GM’s products, among others, as resembling “angry kitchen appliances.”
It’s remarkable that this is a lesson that auto companies in the US still have yet to learn — while comfort, reliability, price, cargo space and features are all things that will close the sale, the sale won’t even get off the ground until you catch the eye. US auto owners still identify with their cars, more often than not, so you want something that folks will want to identify with.
(Via Opine Bovine)