Max Wolff: “Ford’s mantra is to make transport accessible for all”

It was an interesting and challenging year in China for the global nameplates. The rise of more ‘off-road-appearing’ SUVs was a design trend that gained momentum, but with varied results. Not all of them could back up their looks with capability. There’s been a lot of slick-looking new sedans too, but they seem to end up with fairly similar typologies, front-ends and lots of flush glazing.

As a designer, you tend to like that stuff, but when you see three of four of them together and they’re pretty similar, you wonder what might be next? There are so many new Chinese brands, it feels a bit ‘scatter- gun’. Over the next five years there’s definitely going to be a consolidation of manufacturers.

For the last few years Ford has been ‘in China, for China’ and I think we’ve had some success with that approach. One of the great things about working for Ford is that it has a long history with successful nameplates. Mustang, Bronco and the combustion-engined Explorer have all done well here.

With a new interior and front-and rear-fit, the Explorer is more premium than the one sold in the US (and very different to the all-electric European Explorer not sold here). The chassis and doors of our Explorer are the same as the US model, but we’ve modified it for the Chinese market.

We also have a China-market Explorer Timberline version, which is more rugged and ‘off-road- capable’ and has more ‘visual content’ than the US SUV. I’ve been pleased with the seven-seat SUV Edge L too, which was a combined effort between the China and Melbourne studios and is only sold in China.

Another car we’ve worked on is the Equator Sport, which is sold in China and other international markets, like South East Asia, Mexico and a few countries in South America as the Territory. At the moment the export market for this vehicle is bigger than in China. It’s found a real niche. So as a studio, we’ve changed focus a bit, looking at what we can do, not only to support the business in China, but also around the world. That’s been fantastic for me and my team as we’re participating more in global programmes and get an opportunity to show off what we can do.

I never considered myself a truck guy, but trucks are really fun to work on. For example, the Ranger has to span so many aspects: it’s a work vehicle, but also one for play and in many countries for families too. It’s to do with the element of industrial design and practicality, thinking about the way people use the vehicle, rather than getting caught up in its aesthetic presentation.

A truck is more often about robustness and ‘use case’, so that’s been very interesting for me. Ford’s mantra is to make transport accessible for all and in many different situations, with a reputation for longevity and strength, while to some extent, there is still a level of customer scepticism about many newer brands. But we still like to think we can appeal to those people who just want a beautiful object.

As a place to work, our Shanghai studio is very exciting. We are growing across all disciplines, including our human-centred design team, exterior, interior, modelling and CMF. We’re situated in a great spot, inside the inner ring road on a technology park near other interesting companies.

It has a ‘campus feeling’ with good places to eat, so it’s a vibrant environment. We’re also close enough to the product development teams to be very interactive and collaborative, but without them sitting right on top of us. We have a nice blend of Chinese and international designers as part of Ford’s global studio network. There’s plenty of opportunity and scope.

I’d say the same about the Melbourne Studio. It’s a great place to live and work, even though the team is smaller than it was a couple of years ago, it’s now very focused on Ranger and Everest, very capable and with a full studio facility.

In terms of what attributes we’re after from designers joining our team, it’s really ‘a bit of everything’. The skillset most demand in China right now is a person that has had a few years’ experience and who knows how to put a car together, but can still be creative.