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ADESS AG in final stages of designing new LMP1 car for 2014 WEC

A German-based motorsport design group has become the latest organisation to reveal that it is ready to begin building an LMP1 prototype to the 2014 rulebook.

ADESS AG, which was responsible for the new-for-2013 Lotus T128 LMP2, has announced that it is in the final stages of the design of a P1 for next season.

It is now looking for a partner team aiming to field two cars in next year’s World Endurance Championship to bring the project to fruition.

ADESS boss Stephane Chosse, who formerly worked with Ligier, Sauber, Toyota and HRT in Formula 1, said: “At the end of last year, we decided to do an LMP1 under our own name. This is a completely new car designed according to the 2014 regulations.

“We have undertaken windtunnel and CFD [computational fluid dynamics] programmes and are now close to finalising the design.”

Chosse said that the car could be up and running within eight months if a deal is struck with a team to buy two cars imminently.

“We are looking for a team to work with,” he continued. “This car has not been conceived for multiple customers; we are looking for a single partner.”

The car has been designed as a non-hybrid around a specific engine, whose identity Chosse would not reveal. He said it was still possible to integrate a hybrid system or systems if demanded by a purchaser.

The cost of the car will be “more than €1 million” [£850,000], according to Chosse.

ADESS was set up last year as a sister company to Chosse’s SCE Solutions aerodynamic consultancy with the aim of moving into the LMP field.

ADESS joins Dome, Perrin Limited, Honda Performance Development and OAK Racing in looking for customers for P1 designs ahead of next season.

Rebellion has an exclusive deal with ORECA for a bespoke car, while the German Lotus LMP2 squad is aiming to move up with its ADESS-designed chassis, which has been built to 2014 LMP1 specifications.

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Article source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108117

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‘ Make cars women actually want to drive ‘ : Motor boss says firms should …

• Firms are failing to make cars that
  appeal to females – paying more attention to a car’s horsepower than to
  the effect of high heels on leg-room
• Dr Andy Palmer, executive vice-president
  of Nissan, said research showed half of all women are unhappy with
  their cars and 75% feel ‘misunderstood’
• There is a need to train more women engineers to design and create the ‘female-friendly cars of the future

By
Ray Massey, Transport Editor

PUBLISHED:

10:53 EST, 14 June 2013

|

UPDATED:

21:07 EST, 14 June 2013

Motor industry bosses must learn to make cars that women want, says Britain’s leading car executive.

Firms are failing to make cars that appeal to females – paying more attention to a car’s horsepower than to the effect of high heels on leg-room and whether seats fit women’s backs better than men’s.

This is despite the purchasing power of women who, even if they don’t buy a car themselves, are the key influence in seven out of ten car purchases.

Dr Andy Palmer, executive vice-president of Nissan, said research showed half of all women are unhappy with their cars and three-quarters feel ‘misunderstood’.

A leading motoring expert has claimed that half of all women are unhappy with their cars and three-quarters feel ‘misunderstood’. He added there was a need to train more women engineers to design and create the ‘female-friendly’ cars of the future

There was a need to train more women engineers to design and create the ‘female-friendly cars of the future.

And if Britain and Europe didn’t grasp the challenge it will be overtaken by booming China which already educates three times more women engineers than the UK, he said,.

Dr Palmer, who lives and works in Japan but whose formative career was in the UK car industry, said: ‘Our industry is failing the largest and most influential customer segment in the world.’

He cited uncomfortable seats that were prone to causing more back pain to women rather than men, the lack of space for prams, and the sexist sales patter of predominantly male showroom sales staff.

Engineers must learn to pay more attention to how air conditioning affects a woman’s sandalled feet, or how diamond engagement rings can scratch the car door lacquer.

Firms wrongly pay more attention to a car’s horsepower than to the effect of high heels on leg-room and whether seats fit women’s backs better than men’s

And superfluous ‘boy-toy’ gadgets should be replaced by accessories that actually serve a purpose.

He added:’Globally, 50 per cent of women are dissatisfied with their car. And a huge 74 per cent of women feel misunderstood by automakers.

‘I know these statistics sound like they are talking about their lovers not their cars, but the reality is our industry is failing the largest and most influential customer segment in the world.’

Dr Palmer, who has been rated by AutoExpress magazine as the most powerful Briton in the global motor industry, said that a step-change was needed and must be more than cosmetic.

More women needed to be employed on the shop-floor – as well as the design and marketing departments – to make a real difference.

He said: ‘One factor is the lack of women in our business. I’m sure that Nissan is not untypical in employing less than 10per cent female managers in our ranks.

‘But our UK universities produce less than 9 per cent of female engineers each year. That compares with China at about 30 per cent.’

He believes universities could help by running fewer hairdressing courses and training more female engineers who could help to design the female-friendly cars of the future.

He said: ‘We need fewer hairdressing courses and more job creation based around those from a technology and mathematical background.

‘If a car company does not have female engineers that is a competitive weakness. Generally the car industry is not seen as female friendly. The best way to address that is to have more females in every part.’ 

His message was delivered to top car
industry bosses at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’
annual motor industry conference in London.

Leading motor industry executive Sue Robinson,  director of the national Franchised Dealers’ Association representing 4,000 official car dealers across the UK and part of the of the umbrella Retail Motor Industry Federation said: ’As half the UK’s car buyers are women, it is very important that we recognise that in the manufacturing and buying process.

‘Retailers are working very hard to  encourage more women into the  industry at all levels from senior management to technicians .’

‘Women are a powerful force in the car market and the industry has improved to and responded to this.’

More women need to be employed on the shop-floor – as well as the design and marketing departments – to make a real difference, said Dr Palmer

Ford is among those firms that does take women drivers seriously and has its own Women’s Product Panel to advise it.

Angela Engel, who chairs the Ford panel, said woman ask questions such as could a door handle be grabbed without a ring scratching the lacquer, will high heels mean knees hit steering wheels, and how easy is it to get in the car when wearing a tight skirt.

Renault’s customer knowledge department and General Motors’ interior design department are headed by women. Bentley’s engineers have designed ‘pearl pink’ and ‘dragon red’ options for China’s women.

The RAC’s technical director, David Bizley said a boom in women drivers over a quarter of a century – now accounting for nearly half – meant car-makers had to adapt.

Of the 27.8million drivers on UK roads in 1989, 11.1 million (40 per cent) were women, the remaining 16.7million (60 per cent) were men.

Today, of the 35.2million drivers, 16.3million (46.3 per cent) are women, compared to 18.9million (53.7 per cent) who are men.

Mr Bizley said: ‘Until comparatively recently there were always far more male than female drivers, which naturally caused a level of bias in terms of vehicle design. But those days have passed.’

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Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2341775/Nissan-boss-warns-firms-design-cars-suitable-high-heels-comfy-seats.html

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Women urged to put their foot down over car design

If only engineers appreciated how air conditioning affects a woman’s sandalled feet. Or that gadgets should serve a purpose. Or that diamond engagement rings can scratch the car door lacquer. And yes, an automatic reverse parking button would be nice (for both sexes).

Britain’s most powerful global motor industry figure admitted yesterday that women were still being ignored by car designers despite the huge increase in their purchasing power.

Andy Palmer, the executive vice-president of Nissan, said that half of women were unhappy with their cars and cited the ergonomics of seats, which cause more bad female backs than male,

Article source: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article3790912.ece

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James Allison to design Honda test car

JUNE 12, 2013

Amid reports he could re-emerge at Ferrari or Red Bull, it appears former Lotus technical director James Allison is actually Honda-bound.

Allison is currently on ‘gardening leave’, after stepping down from his duties but remaining under contract to Lotus.

In the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, correspondent Luis Vasconcelos claims his next destination is the Japanese marque Honda, who are returning to F1 in 2015 for a works engine collaboration with the great British team McLaren.

The move would appear to make sense, as Honda moves to quickly get up to speed with new rules after a five-year absence from F1, and McLaren reels from the departure to Mercedes of its highly rated technical director Paddy Lowe.

Vasconcelos said Briton Allison will apparently start his new job in 2014, long before Honda is bound by F1′s regulations governing its 2015 foray.

That will mean the Japanese marque is free to run and develop its 2.4 litre V6 design throughout 2014 with a test car, and Turun Sanomat said these tests are likely to take place at the Japanese circuits Suzuka and Motegi.

Vasconcelos said: “According to our sources, Allison has accepted the offer and will lead a small group to produce a car for the testing of Honda’s turbo engine.”

(GMM)

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Mark Phelan: Eyes On Design to exhibit power boats and classic cars

A Father’s Day institution aims to broaden its appeal next Sunday. The annual Eyes On Design show will feature a selection of glorious Chris-Craft power boats and a pack of carefully crafted pedal cars in addition to 230 cars and 25 motorcycles at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores.

A pair of legendary custom vehicles with Detroit roots will be center stage: The 1932 Ford coupe immortalized as the “Little Deuce Coupe” on the cover of a Beach Boys album and the 1965 Dodge Deora, a futuristic pickup so eye-catching that Chrysler leased it to display alongside its own concept vehicles at auto shows.

The Deuce Coupe and Deora were both worked on at the legendary Alexander Brothers body shop on the west side of Detroit, said Werner Meier, a member of the show’s selection committee.

The Deuce Coupe, which became synonymous with California car culture, began its life as a Detroit teenager’s pet project. He took it to California when he went to college. It caught the eye of car buffs and album photographers, and the rest is pop culture history

The Alexander Brothers did some of the early work on the Deuce Coupe, but the stunning Deora was their crowning achievement. In addition to a shape that still looks like next year’s model, it features a single door that swings out over the front bumper. Mike Alexander, who ran the business with his late brother Larry, will be at Eyes On Design Sunday.

The show’s theme is Revolution, not Evolution. Most of the cars were chosen because they illustrate dramatic changes in design.

Categories include:

■ Extreme Makeovers Two — Pairs of cars showing major design changes from one model year to the next. Displays will include the 1962 and ’63 Chevrolet Corvette, ’52 and ’53 Studebaker and ’67 and ’68 Pontiac GTO.

■ Pure Michigan, the Cars of Jackson — Cars tracing Jackson’s evolution from a carriage-making hub to the home of more than a dozen automakers in the early 20th Century and the finale of the innovative 1953 Kaiser Darrin.

■ Upper Class Reunion — Trios of cars displaying the evolution of American luxury car design. The five-year increments will feature a Cadillac, Lincoln and Imperial each from the 1950, ’55, ’60, ’65 and ’70 model year.

Eyes On Design culminates a weekend of events honoring exceptional automotive design. It benefits the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology.

Tickets cost $20 for adults. Children under 12 accompanied by an adult and active-duty military personnel with ID get ID free.

For more information, go to www.eyesondesigncarshow.com, or call 313-824-4710.

Odds and ends

If you’ve got an extra $15,000 burning a hole in your pocket after Father’s Day brunch, check out the Porsche GT3 at Eyes on Design. It features carbon-fiber wheels from Australian supplier Carbon Revolution that retail for $3,750 each. The wheels can cut weight 50% compared to aluminum. Carbon Revolution currently makes wheels for the Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi R8. It’s in Detroit looking to win a contract to supply higher-volume, less-expensive vehicles.

Also next weekend, Greenfield Village hosts “America’s most innovative vehicles” with a display of more than 900 vehicles from the 1930s to ’70s.

The show will include muscle cars like the Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird, Ford Torino Talladega, Dodge Daytona and Mercury Cyclone. The 50th anniversary of the 1963 Studebaker Avanti also gets a nod.

The Motor Muster takes place next Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to www.thehenryford.org/village.

Article source: http://www.freep.com/article/20130609/COL14/306090075/Mark-Phelan-Eyes-On-Design-to-exhibit-power-boats-and-classic-cars

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Ford-powered Radical RXC brings full-on race car design to the streets

There are a lot of sports cars on the road that make claims of being street-legal race cars. Few of those claims are as legitimate as the Radical RXC’s. A Le Mans prototype-inspired racer that looks like it was plucked from the circuit and slapped with a pair of license plates, the RXC is the car that a company named “Radical” calls its most advanced ever.

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Even cars as heavily race-inspired and track-cozy as the LaFerrari and McLaren P1 have been tamed and tucked for on-road suitability. Designed to be the world’s most extreme road-legal coupe, the RXC receives no such tucking. If you saw it driving next to you on the highway, you might think that a race car fell out of its trailer and was desperately trying to catch up. In Radical’s words, the car brings “current Le Mans Prototype (LMP) styling and aerodynamics to the street.” And what it lacks in prettiness it makes up for in a level of performance that Radical promises will cost well less than comparably-performing supercars.

Formed in 1997 by Phil Abbott and Mick Hyde, Radical is a British motor firm that got its start building lightweight race cars based around motorcycle engines. It claims to be the “the first company to create a bespoke powertrain system for a superbike-powered sports racer.” During its 16-year run, it’s built several club and track day race cars and has recently gotten into building dual-use, street-legal cars that have all the same track power and grace of its racers. The SR9 Le Mans Prototype, a record Nurburgring time of 6:48 and the Radical Masters Euroseries race series are other accomplishments to Radical’s credit.

While Radical calls it a “supercar,” the rear-wheel-drive RXC belongs more to a different niche of car, alongside other lightning-quick, ultralight, track-focused racers like the Ariel Atom and KTM X-bow GT. It looks like an evolution of the other race cars in Radical’s line, but the manufacturer maintains that it was designed from a clean slate and shares only a few components with its other cars.

The primary engine is a 380-bhp version of Ford’s 3.7-liter V6, optimized by Radical’s powertrain doctors. The RXC can also be fitted with an in-house 480-bhp 3.0-liter RP-series V8 engine, a version of the engine used in the SR8 RX race car. Either way, shifting comes by way of a bespoke 7-speed transverse Quaife gearbox with paddle shifters. The car also employs a fly-by-wire throttle.

The powertrain is fitted in the rear of a car that weighs just 1,984 lb (900 kg). The carbon fiber and composite body panels are fitted atop a tubular steel spaceframe that Radical plans to put through FIA crash testing. The chassis includes front and rear monocoque crash boxes. The car uses a bespoke Intrax Racing Suspension inboard push rod suspension system with double wishbones all round. Fully floating disc brakes with 6-pot calipers inside the 17-inch wheels handle stopping duties.

Radical is still testing the RXC but has whet car lovers’ appetites with an impressive spec list. The car’s top speed of 175 mph (282 km/h) falls short of the “supercar” class (though it’s plenty fast for the average drive down the highway), but in just 2.8 seconds it arrives at 62 mph (100 km/h) quicker than most cars not named Veyron. It’s sure to perform equally impressively around curves and corners thanks to the fact that it’s sucked to the ground with up to its weight in downforce.

Like the exterior, the interior is entirely focused on function, with fashion left as the folly of more vain vehicles. After stepping in through the gullwing doors, the driver and passenger (co-driver) are wrapped in bespoke Corbeau FIA-compliant bucket seats with 6-point harnesses. Internal equipment includes an adjustable steering wheel and pedal box, electrically adjustable and heated wing mirrors, and air conditioning. An AiM MXL2 LCD dashboard shows engine and performance information, and the optional data logging system expands the tracked data set to include metrics like brake pressure, G forces and suspension travel.

Radical introduced the RXC at the Autosport International Show this past January and is still testing and developing it. Watch a teaser of the RXC below and get a closer look inside and behind the scenes by checking out XCAR’s YouTube video.

Source: Radical via XCAR (YouTube)

Article source: http://www.gizmag.com/ford-powered-radical-rxc/27794/

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Peugeot returns to its genius for small-car design

ONE little nugget of information I spotted in the monthly car sales statistics for May released by the Department of Trade and Industry and compiled by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa this week was that Peugeot sold more than 200 of its new 208.

That’s a big number for the French manufacturer in this country, and hints at a change in customer thinking, and that the received wisdom that people don’t buy French cars because they are perceived to be expensive to run and unreliable to own is increasingly out of date.

There are two relevant factors, I think.

In South Africa, Peugeot is quite aware that to take market share from its established German rivals it will need to offer value, which, from R159,000, the 208, with its plethora of safety systems and fuel-efficient engines, certainly does.

But also, perhaps most importantly in a market segment in which younger people reign supreme, Peugeot dropped the goppingly awful design language of the 208’s predecessor, the 207, and have reverted to their genius for small-car design not seen since the 1980s and the legendary 205.

It’s great news that people are finding the 208 a sensible buy, and perhaps it just goes to show that received wisdom is often well worth ignoring. It’s not uniquely clever business to offer a great product at a good price, but it’s something Peugeot are increasingly doing.

And that, I suspect, is why 201 of the 208s found new owners in South Africa in May.

Article source: http://www.bdlive.co.za/blogs/motor/2013/06/04/peugeot-returns-to-its-genius-for-small-car-design

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Porsche Design Tower elevator deposits car and driver inside their luxury …

If you consider your car to be a work of art, then you can have it on display it in your living room … if you live in one of the exclusive oceanfront apartments within Miami’s Porsche Design Tower, that is. The Porsche Design brand has branched into architecture, and aims to give a new meaning to the term “drive in” by using three robotic elevators that deliver both the driver and their car right into the home.

• View all

The three glass car elevators inhabit the core of the US$560 million condominium complex, and although automated parking garages are nothing new, this is said to be the first residential car elevators where you can stay in your vehicle.

When a resident drives into the complex, the car is scanned and proceeds onto a turntable. With the car’s engine switched off, the turntable aligns with the glass elevator capsule that uses a robotic arm to scoop up the car and place it inside. But don’t worry, laser scanners will ensure the arms don’t scrape the vehicle’s paint job.

Upon reaching the desired floor, the same arm will then park the car in the apartment sky garage, delivering the owner to the front door. Whilst riding in your luxury car to your luxury apartment, you can use the 45 to 90-second ride to take in the panoramic ocean views and watch the in-elevator TV.

Designed in collaboration with the Sieger Suarez Architectural Partnership, the building includes all of the features that you might expect: a private restaurant, gym, spa, pool and 24-hour concierge for residents and their cars. If viewing your car through a glass window in your living room isn’t enough, you can watch it travel through the eight-level car observatory that features on the sunset terrace as the valet takes it to the apartment for you.

With condos priced between $4.5 and $25 million, it is unlikely that your average family saloon will feature in many “sky garages” of the 132 residences that occupy the 60-floor tower. Despite the high cost, Porsche Design Tower developer Dezer Development reports that over 50 percent of apartments are already under contract, so we can expect a Cayenne or two to take up residence as the family car when the building is completed in 2016.

The energy footprint of the 641 ft (195 m)-tall building powering three car elevators is not going to win any sustainability awards for Porsche Design’s first foray into real estate, but the tower is a fitting addition to the luxury product line established by Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. As the Porsche grandson’s 911 design celebrates 50 years, we expect Porsche fans will exhibit a similar affinity to his company’s residences.

The video below gives the rest of us a glimpse into the luxury lifestyle.

Source: Porsche Design via AN Blog

Article source: http://www.gizmag.com/porsche-design-tower-car-elevator/27764/

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Rosenthal: Chicago-bound Ford creative chief wants to know what drives us

A beautiful car is the culmination of more than a century of advances in engineering, technology and automotive design. That urge to reach out and feel its curves predates the invention of the wheel.

“The shapes on most of the cars that I find people are drawn to are rounded, human, not necessarily motherly shapes but human forms that you would run your hands over,” said J Mays, Ford Motor Co.’s group vice president of global design and chief creative officer. “The softer the shape, the more appealing, (and) you will find customers drawn to them.”

Mays — yes, J is his first name and there is no period — is part artist, part scientist. His designs shape the future, often drawing on the past. Ultimately, however, he is a salesman.

• Phil Rosenthal

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Known for his work in revitalizing the Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Beetle and Ford Thunderbird, Mays typically starts not with a line on a piece of paper or screen, but a line of questioning of what it would take to seduce potential customers, rev their engines and put them behind the wheel.

Design is an extension of brand, another critical point of differentiation among similar products meant to speak to us and of us.

We live in an era when even the crunch of snack food is engineered to maximize consumer affinity and commercial appeal. What Mays and those who design nearly everything else with which we come into contact in our modern lives — from mobile phones and fashion to skyscrapers and condiment containers — is a marriage of purpose and panache.

“People in the company joke about me being the guy with the Crayolas, but I’m trying to design a product that will improve people’s quality of life,” said Mays, who is to be in Chicago later this week for an invitation-only Chicago Architecture Foundation panel on the cues car design can take from building design.

“It always starts with the customer, so we’re designing around people,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of data on the people who might potentially drive these (cars and trucks). We dig down quite deeply, not just in the reality of what their checkbook looks like, what kind of vehicle they can afford, but I’m always very interested in what their aspirations are.”

Louis Sullivan famously said, “Form ever follows function,” informing architecture’s Chicago School, but modern technology, new materials and production techniques have liberated form in many respects. Mies van der Rohe advanced the idea that “less is more,” but sometimes a judicious amount of more is what seals the deal.

Design tends to be associated with the visual. That is the first and most easily identifiable quality presented, but it’s more about evoking an overall experience.

Buildings simultaneously must stand out and blend in with surroundings. Residences should feel homey and workplaces welcoming but efficient, each availing themselves of the latest technology to improve economy and comfort. Similarly, a minivan needs to feel spacious, safe and easy. A sports car ought to be no less safe but should flatter its driver with the sensation that its power must be controlled, less digital and more analog.

Some aspects of design are intended to make you hyperaware of what’s been done to win you over. Others should be so reliable and intuitive that they are rarely considered. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is meant to call passenger attention to its large windows and other comforts the new jets offer. Airlines are supposed to notice the 787′s fuel efficiency. No one is supposed to be conscious of the Dreamliner’s advanced battery system that makes some of the other features possible.

“It’s like a relationship you would have with a person,” Mays said. “Long before you fall in love, you take off those factors of: Can I trust them? Are they dependable? And that sets up for the customer to think about the sexier side of the business, of: Gee, am I attracted to this? Do I feel any love toward this?”

Mays, who became the first American car designer to have his work as the subject of a major exhibition a decade ago when the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art staged “Retrofuturism: The Car Design of J Mays,” believes that design is tied to the presumed outlook of the consumers being targeted.

The U.S. post-war, anything-is-possible attitude fueled the auto industry’s wilder flourishes of the 1950s, “when designers weren’t afraid of making absolute fools of themselves and (were) encouraged to create their own vision of the future,” he said. “Contrast those types of vehicles, which were very memorable, to what was going on in the ’70s.”

Google, which has created an empire rooted in functionality and utility, is at the forefront of efforts to develop an autonomous car. The concept of a car that drives itself is exciting from the standpoint of moving people from point A to point B, safely and efficiently.

“It’s not that interesting in terms of pulling someone’s heartstrings because it reduces the transportation experience down to a commodity,” Mays said. “It’s no different than (getting) on a train. … It’s no fun to design a commodity. It’s great fun to design something that people get excited about.”

It’s part vroom, part legroom, the curves we see and the curves we corner.

Moving people is only part of the equation. Moving product is what it adds up to.

philrosenthal@tribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal

Article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ct-biz-0602-phil-mays--20130602,0,3344570.column

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Designing cars that women want to buy

“Attention to detail matters,” she adds. “Women are really more
perceptive, they take a look at the detail. We know that typically the Mini
and Fiat 500 have 60 per cent women [owners]. We are looking to capture men
as well, so our vehicle is a little bit more masculine in its appearance,
but you can make it as feminine or masculine as you want.”

The suggestion that women are preoccupied with creating “girly” cars
sounds like gender stereotyping. But Marion Humeau, head of Renault’s
customer knowledge department, has gender studies showing how different male
and female traits apply to aspects of car design.

“Sometimes you have an object and it can be interesting because both
genders view the object in a different way,” explains Humeau. “When
an electric car is presented to the man they think of the advanced
technology and they really understand the car as something futuristic. When
you present the same car to the woman, she understands the participation of
nature and the environment.”

The Fiat 500

Humeau’s department carries out regular surveys and marketing intelligence
that help ensure every new car is meeting changing customer needs during the
full three or four years of product development. “In the smaller car
sector it is kind of the revenge of the women,” she says.

“They want more to express their identity, to have their own codes and
design expression. So it’s really nice to see when the women buy a small car
they really invest much more than a man who buys a small car. They equip it
more and really it’s their own property and their own universe.”

Creating a car that women want to buy is not only about looks – driveability
is just as important. Ford believes that it leads the way in meeting female
drivers’ needs with its unique Women’s Product Panel, a party of female
employees from across the company who meet monthly to analyse new car
designs.

Angelika Engel, an ergonomics attribute specialist who chairs the panel, says
their work is quite similar to a normal engineering evaluation, but reflects
specific female needs such as whether it is easy to reach the controls from
the driver’s seat and how interior materials feel. They ask questions that a
male designer might not think of.

“Can you grab the door handle without your engagement ring scratching the
lacquer,” asks Engel. “How easy is the car to enter with a tight
skirt on? If I sit with high heels is it comfortable, or do my knees hit the
steering wheel? Can I operate the buttons with long fingernails? I’m quite
often asked whether I’m comfortable with the diameter of the steering wheel
because I have small hands.”

General Motors also understands that women have different ergonomic needs to
men, and Wetzel explains how the company ensures that everything is
considered, such as how hard you have to push a seat to make it fold to
whether the tailgate is electronically operated.

“Women are definitely part of the equation from the very beginning of
developing a car, and also when you start to go into further detail,”
says Wetzel. “So, if this is the seat location, where does the steering
wheel need to be so that it can be easily reached? How much travel do you
need to put in the seat so women or shorter people can adjust it to suit
them?

“From the beginning it is all considered and we actually have what we
call the fifth percentile female. This is the lowest, very small stature
female that we use as an extreme – do they feel comfortable? We also have
the other extreme, the ninety-fifth percentile male.”

As much as Engel’s position allows her to help make sure new cars are
user-friendly for women, she also acknowledges that its colour and body
lines must stir the emotion. When she explains it, it sounds a bit like
Swiss Toni’s famous line – only from a female perspective.

“Buying a car at first view is like falling in love,” she says. “If
you do not like what you see you would not look at the character. When I see
a vehicle that’s so appealing, then I go to this car and I open the door. If
you like the outside you will have a deeper look.”

Article source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/10077069/Designing-cars-that-women-want-to-buy.html