So, the auto industry continues to fight the environmental strategies like California’s, etc. A lot of professionals I know often ask me what are the current automotive designers doing about it? -Do car designers still believe that the deterioration of the environment some sort of a hoax? -Are they just “working” on “concept models” with no future?
I mean, all the latest car shows are about “power, power, power”… no fuel efficiency. In 20 years fuel efficiency hasn’t been improved significantly but “muscle” definitely has, right?
Blaming an automotive designer for a V8 is like blaming an Apple designer for the brand using intel chips… pointless.
That is true too.
Design duties/ responsibility in the auto industry is even more spread out than the footwear industry is. The person drawing/ “designing” the car, is in NO WAY- affecting the drivetrain or engine.
Design and development are different things-most of the time.
I spoke with a senior Daihatsu designer recently and he mentioned the same things. Styling and engineering are exclusive, very rarely has the designer any say in the engine specs or technology used.
Design and development are more closely tied in footwear than in most industries from my experience. We are in there at the mold shops and tanneries, speccing materials, developing more efficient production processes, looking into new manufacturing techniques…
I was referring more to most other companies- other than yours, and probably you specifically. It would be my experiences that while they do work together- the designers are mostly hands off once the drawing and specs are done. I don’t mean that as an attack on you… you’re just a bit different than the average bear.
No offense taken. I didn’t take it as an attack… just as an opportunity… 
… I replied to quickly though, was super busy yesterday.
You maybe right, I’ve only had experience with Nike Inc, but from friends at other companies, it sounds pretty similar across the industry… with variances of course…
Having done consumer electronics in the past, that seems the most removed, “skin this circuit board kid”… most of the time. Maybe you can spec a vacu-metalized finish… Housewares, tabletop, and furniture seem the most tied, the material and product process are so key in the design, often a design can only be made one or two ways.