Interview on Design, Paris Motor Show at Ford with Martin Smith

Who is Martin Smith? One might ask ... Autodesign connoisseurs will probably already have heard this name. Martin is a veteran (that's a compliment) or, more accurately, a "gem" in car design and has now landed at Ford in the role of Executive Director Design of Ford of Europe + Asia . He brings with him a lot of cross-brand experience, as he used to work for Porsche and Audi as well as for Opel/Vauxhall.

Kinetic Design

a. talking about Kinetic Design, I recommend the Kinetic Design Page from Ford for visualization and better understanding of what that is.
I asked him (of course) how he gets inspired and why sometimes cars are also " human "because it is close to you. But it can also become beastly:

I also found Martin's reaction to my comparison with the shark's mouth when it came to the Ford Focus ST - he did not like that, was too aggressive in his expression. We are then on "athletic" suitable, because I'm willing to compromise. Still find, the ST looks "sharky" ... hehe.

Surveys on the design

What a pity I think is that you are not at Ford for answering To report surveys - at least that's what Martin said. Because who volunteers, who is willing to answer a lot more and fill in the free text fields in more detail, if you know what I mean. Ford, you have to change that - my hot tip!

The grille on electric cars

Unfortunately, there was not enough time left to ask Martin what he means by that The look of the grille will develop when the cars are electrically or the air supply is thus no longer needed in the conventional construction. At the Motor Show Paris I have already seen approaches to this, .... more on that later in a post by myself.

Other (former) interviews with Martin Smith from blogmates can be found here:

• by Formfreu.de
• and the Autodesign Blog

Thanks to Robert Wallis (Social Media Coordinator at Ford/Europe) for the video recording, which was a bit bluish advised, but that was not so extreme on the preview image of the flip. Feel blue and watch the video! ; -)

Disclosure: Ford has obtained the rights to use my freely-written texts, photos and videos and reimburses me for any expenses incurred.