‘Automotive design more provocative than evocative today’: Maurizio Corbi

With edgy lines and sharp styling cues getting harmonised in modern vehicles, Italian car designer Maurizio Corbi believes automotive design is darting towards becoming more provocative than evocative in today’s digital age where social media trends are significantly influencing car designs.

Moreover, just like social-media trends, most of these car designs tend to become short lived, compared to the timeless art forms that used to be created almost two decades ago, and would represent an artist’s expressions.

Corbi, who started his design career at Pininfarina in 1989, has contributed to several iconic designs from Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari . . . like the F355, 456, 550 Maranello and California, among others. On a recent visit to India as a guest lecturer at the School of Design, at UPES Dehradun, he pointed out that the definition of ‘beauty’ with respect to automotive design has changed significantly in the present scenario.

Social media and its impact on automotive design
In an exclusive interaction with Autocar Professional, Corbi said: “The globalisation trend is creating an identity crisis in automotive design. People are getting influenced by what they see on social media, and that is what is creating this crisis. Everyone is creating standardised designs which are hard to differentiate.”

“While the quality of the vehicle is going up, it is coming at the cost of the identity of a new model. In today’s world, the shelf life of a model is getting very short, and people are not able to appreciate a new design for long. This is killing design in a way. It is more like a provocation, rather than designing a beautiful object,” he added.

According to Corbi, while OEMs continue to spend heavily on the exterior styling of a vehicle, the mega trends of autonomous driving and shared mobility are also calling for an extra level of attention to the in-cabin experience and interior layouts that would offer a wholesome experience to vehicle occupants. “The car interior is becoming a lot more important and more sophisticated. Compared to the past, there is a greater emphasis on the cabin and user experience,” he pointed out.

With car becoming the third living space and an extension of an individual’s digital lifestyle, OEMs are focusing on making the interior more comfortable, and are finding means of keeping them engaged by virtue of infotainment, comfort, and convenience features such as massaging seats, hi-fidelity audio, and mood lighting, among others. “With autonomous vehicles, it is about making the interior extremely comfortable, and engaging,” he said.

Foray of AI, digital tools
With most OEMs adopting a platform approach that call for multiple body styles and exterior designs on a single architecture, product lifecycles are getting shorter and thus, demand faster ideation in terms of new designs or re-skinning. As a result, digital tools and the foray of artificial intelligence (AI) are having a huge impact on the automotive design process.

From paper to tablets, to now AI, one can create high-quality renderings and 3D models in a matter of a few minutes. While studios are also doing away with the process of clay modelling with the advancements in simulation, according to Corbi, “AI is the new frontier, and at the end of it, it is very important to have a prototype, and life-size car models. However immersive a digital render could be, the touch and feel of a real-life model is completely different.”

The edgier styling is also part of the advancements in manufacturing technology, which enable the formation of complex shapes, thus making it possible to bring radical shapes to life. “Design and manufacturability go hand in hand, and the latter has a strong influence on design. Today, several advanced tools allow the manufacturability of a design and that is leading to radical shapes come out. There is a lot of reskinning that keeps happening on a common platform – therefore, the process is also a lot faster compared to the past,” Corbi said.

He attributed the recent success of homegrown OEMs like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra to the advancements in manufacturing technology that have enabled the production of some of the best-selling models of these carmakers. Cars like the Tata Nexon, and Mahindra XUV700, which find a wide appeal, see design playing a key role in enamouring the car buyers who have reciprocated with strong volumes.

Showing his optimism about the Indian automotive industry, Corbi said, “The automotive industry in India is growing rapidly and design students have strong opportunities in the future. It is all about the passion – one must have a strong passion if they want to make a successful career in automotive design,” he signed off.