The new China style in car design has German roots
Visitors are greeted by an Audi advertisement on the baggage carousel at Beijing airport: the A8 "Horch" is being advertised. The luxury sedan with the highest specification only bears this historic name in China: two-tone paintwork, large radiator grille, powerful aluminum wheels, lots of chrome, a crowned "H" on the C-pillar - this is how German car managers imagine luxury cars for the Chinese. However, the mostly young customers in China are no longer interested in such bling-bling cars - or the similarly overloaded Mercedes-Maybach. They want a different design, fresher, simpler, not so overloaded.
Ironically, German designers in particular have shown the Chinese a new design language: stars of the industry such as Stefan Sielaff (formerly Bentley, now Geely), Klaus Zyciora (formerly VW, now Chongqing Changan) and Wolfgang Egger (formerly Alfa Romeo and Audi, now BYD Group). It is expected that the recently dismissed Audi designer Marc Lichte will also soon be working in China. Wolfgang Egger has already been responsible for the design language of BYD, now the world's largest electric car manufacturer, for seven years as chief designer of the Chinese car manufacturer. He does not design cars for China, says Egger, but for the global market: "Beauty is global," he says in an interview with Car-Editors.Net. (aum)
More info for topic: China , BYD , Design , Wolfgang Egger
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BYD Design Center.
Photo: Autoren-Union Mobilität/BYD
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