Highly respected analysts have indicated appearance as the most influential element for the buying decision of an automobile.
The acknowledgment of this situation by the manufacturers has progressively increased the responsibility of design in the success of the product and therefore raised its position inside their organization.
Design is, furthermore, the most natural and effective way to build up brand awareness and visibility through the product and plays a key role for the success of brand development strategies in the mid term.
The competition gets tougher, the number of cars to develop constantly increases, development time gets shorter and, as a consequence, the pressure on design to keep high creativity standards gets higher.
The conference aims to be an occasion to compare and exchange perspectives and experiences from different players with an international background on the rapidly evolving role of car design in the industry.
Four main themes have been listed as a guideline for the event:
· The relationships of design
Design has the chance to interface with the majority of the players in the business, inside and outside of the companies: marketing, engineering, communications, media.
How do designers live these relationships and, most interesting, how do the other players live their relationship with design?
· The struggle between global markets and local needs
Design of worldwide acceptance is possible, as design specifically conceived for local needs.
Will the opening of new huge markets and the appearance of new potential players affect this balance?
· The way to handle the future
The use of concept cars to introduce the vision of the future has reached a universal popularity.
Is their number reducing their impact?
· The management of creativity
Designers are increasingly international and fast moving, design schools are preparing new talents, and career and competition are tougher.
How to manage these strategic resources at the best?
Italy has built an international reputation for the excellence of its designers, and Turin is the town with the highest concentration of creativity related to cars and all the relevant skills, from design to modelling to coach building, so to become an industrial district specializing in car design.
No other location in the world could be more adequate to host this International Conference on Car Design.