Who is the car designer of the future?
October 29, 2024 6-10pm
The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, MI
Join the conversation #CDNDetroit
Who is the car designer of the future?
6-10pm October 29, 2024 | The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, MI
Join the conversation #CDNDetroit
Who is the car designer of the future?
October 29, 2024 6-10pm | The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, MI
Join the conversation #CDNDetroit
OVERVIEW
The car designer of the future will need a blend of traditional design skills and new competencies that reflect the changing landscape of the automotive industry. As we move towards more sustainable, autonomous, and connected vehicles, the skill set for car designers is evolving. Car Design News brings together an expert panel from contrasting backgrounds to better understand just who is the car designer of the future.
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Agenda
Speakers
Michael Simcoe
Senior VP Design, General Motors
Speaker
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BIO
Michael Simcoe serves as General Motors’ senior vice president, Global Design, leading teams and studios around the world. His team focuses on all aspects of design including advanced, production and industrial design operations supporting GM’s brands and subsidiaries. Recent designs developed under his leadership include the Cadillac CELESTIQ, Cadillac LYRIQ, GMC HUMMER EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV and Buick Wildcat Concept.
Ralph Gilles
Chief Design Officer, Stellantis
Speaker
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BIO
Ralph Gilles was appointed Chief Design Officer for the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram, Maserati and Fiat (for Latin America) brands in January 2021. He is also a member of Stellantis’ top executive team. He is responsible for shaping and directing design across each brand’s portfolio as it moves toward electrification.
Chris Benjamin
Chief Design Officer, Scout Motors
Speaker
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BIO
Chris Benjamin was appointed Chief Design Officer at Scout Motors in 2023. Chris serves as the steward of the iconic Scout design, overseeing interior and exterior design, concept development, user experience, and overall integration of design and technology in Scout Motors products and experiences. Most recently, he led interior design at Stellantis North America, including Jeep, Wagoneer, Chrysler, Dodge, and RAM. Chris earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in transportation industrial design from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Paul Wraith
Program Chief Designer, Ford Design
Speaker
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BIO
Paul designs relevant, inventive and successful vehicles; ones that make a difference to the people who use them, build businesses around them, and make them their passion.
He's an RCA graduate with a professional record of successful segment-defining production and concept vehicles, interior and exterior design, design strategy and people development over 25 years with 4 OEM's in 4 countries.
Joel Piaskowski
Global Design Director, Ford Motor Company
Speaker
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BIO
Coming Soon.
Jeff Hammoud
Chief Design Officer, Rivian
Speaker
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BIO
Jeff Hammoud is the Chief Design Officer at Rivian. Jeff is responsible for how all Rivian’s customer touch points look and feel, including Interior/Exterior design, CMF, User Experience, Mobile app, Website, branding and spaces. At Rivian, Jeff started with a clean sheet, building the team, design process and studio from the ground up resulting in the R1T, R1S, and the recently revealed R2, and R3X
James McLachlan
Editor, Car Design News
Moderator
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BIO
James McLachlan is editor of Car Design News, Interior Motives and Car Design Review writing, commissioning and editing the editorial output across digital and print. A design journalist for 14 years, James is interested in the intersection between car design, urban planning, technology and culture.
Derek Jenkins
Senior Vice President of Design and Brand, Lucid Motors
Speaker
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BIO
Derek Jenkins is Senior Vice President of Design and Brand at Lucid Motors, a Silicon Valley–based luxury electric automaker. In this role, he oversees exterior and interior design, user experience, colors and materials, vehicle accessories/apparel, and brand strategy and creative. The company’s first vehicle, Lucid Air, won MotorTrend’s Car of the Year in its first year of production. Before joining Lucid, Derek was the Director of Design at Mazda North America, overseeing the 2016 MX-5 Miata, Shinari Concept, CX-5, Mazda6, and Mazda3, 2017 CX-9. Prior to that, he was Chief Designer for Volkswagen North America, overseeing Scirocco and Microbus concepts, the Ragster, and Concept T. He began his career at Audi..
Supporting Partner
Architexture design consultancy creates bespoke textures for every surface, using proprietary technology and proven expertise to explore your dream from conception to reality. Textures are designed and tested to express brand identity, to accentuate form and to provide functional qualities. Every step of the process is supported from texture design inception and verification, to engraving and finally optimizing the mold for production. When your idea evolves through our studios into a beautiful, highly-refined surface finish on a final production piece, you’ve experienced creativity delivered. Architexture is part of the largest texturing and tool performance company in the world, Standex Engraving Mold-Tech with 37 locations in more than 20 countries. Design studios are located in every region: Detroit, Michigan; Suzhou, China; and Manchester, UK. Proprietary technology and experience enables us to make changes and research fresh creative options with the speed you’re looking for in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Our studios offer the convenience and assurance of developing options and then testing until the results are perfect. The ability to bring creative design ideas and technology closer together allows us to quickly explore the art of the possible. What can we design and deliver for you?
Michigan-based Prefix Corporation is a recognized leader in the creation of prototype designs, mock-ups, and full-scale concept vehicles for the automotive, aviation, military and a wide variety of other industries. The Prefix team also specializes in low-volume production, component assembly, and specialty vehicle paint programs. With three facilities in southeastern Michigan and over 250 team members, Prefix Corporation has been providing innovative solutions to their clients for 45 years.
Media Partners
As the steward of Detroit’s UNESCO City of Design designation, Design Core tells Detroit’s design story locally and globally. Design Core champions the transformative power of design in Detroit by supporting the creative problem-solvers using design solutions to improve our city’s economy.
Coming Soon.
Venue
Welcome to The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, MI
Proud hosts of Car Design Dialogues Detroit 2024
Venue location
The Henry Hotel, Dearborn, MI
Please note that this is not a postal address. Any event materials or shipments will be refused.
300 Town Center Dr, Dearborn
Michigan 48126
United States
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