Klaus Zyciora VP design of Changan on the Nevo E07

Klaus Zyciora, vice president of global design for Chinese automaker Changan, took a few moments out of his busy schedule at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show to speak with Car Design News about the brand’s growing portfolio of EREV and EV brands. According to Zyciora, the increasing pace of automotive development in China has led to major shifts in the way designers and engineers must work together.

Car Design News: Changan uses both EREV and EV powertrains in many of its vehicles; how do you create a design language that can be adapted to both?

Klaus Zyciora: Yeah, we are also here in the midst of tearing this apart a little bit or combining it in a way that the customer can read from the design what drivetrain technology is incorporated. There are multiple technologies that we do apply. In China, people are used to driving long distances, so range-extended EVs are very popular, or becoming very popular, but also pure EVs are playing a major role and we see big growth rates here, and the range that you can get from Changan EVs is ever growing.

We develop our own battery technologies and we have pretty innovative platforms at hand. So, products per se are getting much more interesting, much more innovative, and also at the same time more affordable.

CDN: One of the phrases that comes up a lot when covering the Chinese car industry is “China Speed”. i.e., the fact the pace of vehicle development here is far faster than in other markets. How does that affect the way that you design a car, especially when it comes to the relationship between the designers and the designers?

KZ: Here everything happens at the same time. You’re not going step by step, gate by gate. That is very time consuming. Here it’s more like everything all at once. It happens directly together in a very close collaboration, in a very digital communication that is very intense and very challenging and demanding. So, you have to be sure what you want to do, and you also listen to the customer very carefully here in China.

The relationship to the customer and to resonate with the customer is also very important for Changan, and we spend a lot of attention on communicating with our customers in all types of media and taking really serious what customers do feedback to us.

CDN: So, you feel as though in this modern age, the maybe the connection between the design team and engineering team is a little bit closer than it was in the past?

KZ: Oh, a lot. Here in China, a lot more, and it’s also much more one team instead of separated teams that are fighting each other. Here it is much more, “Okay, what’s the idea? What’s the mission? What do we want to achieve? How do we attract the customer?” and then we just go, and by doing that, you can cut down the development times quite a bit.

CDN: And you must because the development cycles are say, 18 months, as opposed to previously 3-4 years.

KZ: Yeah, even shorter.

Klaus Zyciora, is speaking at Design4Production on 15 May 2024 in Munich. Register here to join experts from the likes of ArcelorMittal, Changan, Ford, Hyundai, Italdesign, Nissan, Valeo and Volvo.

CDN: The demands of Chinese consumers are somewhat different than those of markets abroad, with a greater focus on connectivity, screens, and other technology. How do you feel that Changan can integrate all that technology while still maintaining a high-quality user experience?

KZ: You know, it’s not about just throwing screens and screen-estate at the customers. You have to fulfill every promise that you make, and for Chinese customers, cars are much more a third space than in other regions of the world. So, it’s also about noise and harshness, ride quality, the ability to have a rest, to sleep, the connectivity, of course, and entertainment does play a major role.

You indulge yourself in material, in sound, in scent, in all dimensions, and in all senses. We attract customers today with our products, and that is an ever-growing trend, that the car becomes more and more a rolling home.

CDN: Can we speak a little bit about Changan’s approach to interior materials and what kind of innovation that you see there?

KZ: For Chinese, perceived quality does play a major role, but also, they like to sense the love that you spend to give the customer a very rich and attractive interior space. The spaciousness also plays a major role. Looking at the E07, you can see on the co-driver side, you have the possibility to have a zero-gravity seat. You can relax, you can sleep on long travels, or while you’re charging, you may watch a film or you just take a nap.

Whatever comes to our mind as a scenario, we’re going to cover that. As for materials, authenticity will play a major role going forward. So stitching is stitching, leather is leather, or sustainable materials. Decorative elements should convey quality and style in respect to the brand positioning. So, we have a lot to offer in the future and also now.

CDN: The E07 is an interesting combination of SUV and pickup truck. Who do you feel is the ideal buyer for that kind of vehicle?

KZ: We tested this vehicle quite a bit and from what we have learned from the customer in the different user scenarios, they asked for something that is transformable and is giving you a lot of opportunities in one product. Here in China, although you start to see that people do buy more than one product, you still have the ownership of one, and this need to serve all different user scenarios.

So, this product is made for this typology of customers that look for safety, connectivity, flexibility, every user scenario that you might possibly think of, like sleeping in the car. With more than two-meter bed length, so to speak, having a pickup, having an SUV, having a lot of loading capacity, towing, whatever you can think of, this car is delivering it. And we of course do hope that it resonates quite a bit with Chinese customers.

CDN: Sounds like a Swiss Army knife of vehicles.

KZ: Yes, you got it. It’s the Swiss Army knife of cars.