Martin Uhlarik: “We have nine full programs live in the UK at the moment, 13 globally”

Car Design News: Always a pleasure to come to your incredible studio. Really beautiful. But why don’t you just give us, for those who don’t know, what is it you do here and how does that relate to what I would call the mothership back in India?

Martin Uhlarik: Alright, so first for our listeners at home, we’re in Coventry and on the grounds of Warwick University in the uk. We’re in the NAIC, which is the National Automotive Innovation Center. It’s a very nice modern building, a technical center, which is cross-functional. It is the University of Warwick, it is the Warwick Manufacturing Group, it’s JLR and it’s also Tata Motors, all four entities in this building. In this building we have Tata Motors Design technical centers.

So it’s a combination of designers and engineers and we’re at the forefront of developing products for Tata Motors and also Nia, which is our new brand globally. We have three design studios, one in Pune, India, one here in the uk, and also a studio in Torino in Italy. But this UK studio is at the moment, the mothership. In terms of design development, my role is being VP of design globally.

I’m based here and my office coordinates all activities in the three studios, but as you say, the mothership of the company is based in India. Tata Motors is an Indian company based in Pune. That’s where all r and d is based, and that’s where all of our manufacturing and supplier base is. So it’s an interesting sort of dynamic because we have designed, headquartered globally in the uk, but actually the company is based in India. And so the role of the studio here is to develop all of the programs, define the programs, and design isn’t just, we get a brief in the inbox, we’re doing product X, we actually define product X.

So in many ways we are part of product planning. Many of our portfolio, at least half of the portfolio was born in design as a white paper idea. And we have in the engineering part here in the uk, we have a whole platform team. So when we define a product, we define the platform, we define the proportions, ergonomics, overall dimensions of the vehicle, all of that. That’s for me the design part. Then there’s the styling aspect, which is still the nice part, which is to make it look aspirational and attractive, but a lot of the work that’s done here is strategic.

CDN: And it’s interesting you mentioned defining what that product might be because the latest launch you mentioned there was Avinya, which started out as a concept, has become its own brand, a really interesting development I think.

MU: Yeah, so I mean four years ago we showed a sort of manifesto with a very extreme concept, and in many ways it was a vision of where we would like to take the company and that’s gained momentum and now it’s become an official sort of brand.

CDN: And you are incredibly busy. How many projects do you have on the go?

MU: At the moment now we have nine programs live in the UK, 13 programs globally, and those are full programs being developed. When I joined the company 10 years ago, we had essentially one and a half programs, and when we had a quarterly design review, they would come to see one clay model. And now when we come, we’ve got a quarterly review coming up in July. We were looking at the agenda, it’s a two day agenda and like I said, nine programs, each one gets about an hour slot. And so it’s a huge turnover of models just for operationally the clay modeling and the design modeling operations. They’re down in the basement, it’s like the dungeon and they are turning over an unbelievable, and obviously all our supplier partners around in the area are delivering models for us.

CDN: I mean it’s super exciting. And what is this going to mean for you? I mean obviously with that many projects running, you’re going to need more people. Surely

MU: Yes, we’ve been just mentioning we are doing a huge recruitment push. So we are recruiting around 38 positions and we’re going to be announcing the positions probably in the next couple of days.

On every level, whether it’s from leadership, design, managers, strategy, the usual clay modelers, cast modelers, designers, interior, exterior, CMF on every front, we are growing and that’s a great reflection of the company. Its success, but it’s also a reflection of the Indian market.

CDN: Are you looking within automotive to recruit or are you looking for skills from outside of automotive?

MU: Both. Obviously the expected automotive skills, car design skills, like I said, in any dimension or realm, but at the same time non automotive skills. And it’s because the market is changing. Demographically, half the country is under 35. Very diverse, very global mindset. But also the automobile, as we’ve seen, is changing in the way people value it. They perceive it. There’s this whole sort of dialogue. We’re going from an analog internal combustion product to a digital connected consumer product and the way people perceive the vehicle as a mobility device, whatever terminology we use, you need people who have maybe a different point of view to create a product that connects with them.

CDN: And tell us a little bit about that different point of view. You’ve got this tremendous opportunity for cross-cultural exchange between India, Turing, and as you say, the design hq, which is here. Tell me about how that feeds into what you guys are doing.

MU: Well, to get original ideas and to get ideas that connect with the consumer, you need to really understand the consumer mindset. And to get that, first of all, you need diversity, you need definitely a balance, male, female, more equality in terms of getting those inputs. Car design traditionally is a very male dominated industry, so we need to be promoting more females into the industry, and you have to take an initiative whether it’s in your recruitment, but also in terms of promoting that in schools because you need to get that journey. It’s like any, it’s like a sports farming system. You need to get people in at an early age to be interested and then by virtue of talent, skill, merit, they will get a foothold in the industry. But you need to create the ecosystem that promotes that. We have one program where we always create an avatar of the customer.

We have one product which is on the shop floor, the customer profile is a 28-year-old young woman graduate and all that. Now, if you’re designing a car for that customer target, you really have to understand the value system. What are they looking for? And if you ask a 55-year-old male like myself, maybe I don’t have that actual insight. So I definitely need different voices and different points of view that are going to tell me or the company that this is what we should be doing.

CDN: I think the secret is recognising that you may not have those insights and finding them elsewhere. Absolutely.

MU:So the industry, our company structurally is very old in a sort of structural mindset way, but the industry is changing faster than we are, so we need to be ahead of that curve. So part of that recruitment hopefully will be to tap into those insights.

CDN:And another reason why CDN is here is obviously CDN people awards and Tata are hosting the live judging, which we’re all very excited about from our point of view. The idea was always to champion the teams, but maybe it’s better hearing from a leader like yourself. You need to celebrate and champion these people who are going to give you those insights

MU:It’s a great honor for us to be hosting the judging. It helps put us on the map from a communication point of view. But the main thing is I always thought the awards were a great platform, to recognise achievement in the industry, but in many ways it has another agenda, which is to promote our profession and also to make it attractive to a next generation. I want to see the profession thrive in the next generation. I had role models when I was a student who were sort of the elder statesmen of the industry, and I really took a lot of guidance and inspiration from them, and I always aspired to be part of that business industry. And now I’m hoping that we are doing that for the next generation. Of course, the product is changing, the industry is changing.

Society and culture is changing, but at the same time, this awards platform, like you said, the People Awards, that’s the key USP of the award. And so hopefully when people see it, whether in person at the ceremony or they see it online, you never know. There might be that moment when somebody goes, I want to be part of that. I want to be part of that industry. I remember I had that moment as well when I was 19 years old, and I never thought I would make it. It’s like, I want to play in the NBA or something like that. But nevertheless, why not? People need to have dreams, and so this is a great communication platform for people to go into the industry.

CDN: Well, I hope we do manage to give someone that light bulb moment, as you say, Martin, it’s so nice to chat to you

MU: Yeah, I really look forward to it. It’s going to be terrific and a lot of fun.