While Volkswagen once dominated the Chinese automotive industry, it has been struggling in the market lately. EV manufacturers like Tesla and Xpeng are beating it in the EV space, Chinese automakers in general are becoming more and more powerful in their home market.
In response, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume said that design was one of his top priorities for the company last month. Aesthetics, among other qualities, will help all VW brands stem losses in China and entice more EV buyers, which is good news for German designers who want a little more freedom.
“These startups, with no heritage, they can do things completely different,” Michael Mauer, the head of design at the Volkswagen Group and the Porsche brand, told Bloomberg. “I consider it a positive thing actually, as a designer, because that makes the decision-makers — i.e., the management board — more open-minded.”
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Already, Blume’s move is pushing Volkswagen’s brands, like Skoda, Cupra, Audi, and VW to come up with more distinct designs. Ultimately, the hope is that this focus will help historic models like the Golf experience a renaissance while pushing sales of its expensive electric vehicles.
That’s easier said than done, though. Mauer explained that getting an edgy, futuristic design right is tricky, and requires a lot of careful consideration from the people in charge.
“I always have this image in my head of this stone that you throw into the future,” he said. “The question is, how far do I throw it? Hitting that sweet spot exactly, going far enough into the future, but not too far, is a real challenge.”
Mauer said that German automakers, in particular, have a lot of room for improvement as they need to connect with Chinese buyers, both in terms of aesthetics and in-car features — two areas that play into one another. Although he doesn’t believe that the design situation at Volkswagen is dire, he says that it’s more important than ever to get it absolutely right.
“The success that Volkswagen brand had in the volume segment was, in my opinion, due to the fact that there was a strong focus on design and design quality,” Mauer said. “Design is certainly not the biggest issue in the company, but it’s an area where I can still achieve a lot with relatively modest resources.”
