The Designers Pt13 – Laurens van den Acker, Renault Group

There are two parallel activities for us right now. We have a wave of exciting production cars coming out in 2015 and 2016 and, having finished our lifecycle of concept cars, I’ve decided the next ones will support the business and regions, with more engineering experiments like the Eolab.

Then in 2016 I want to start a new lifecycle. That’s the new generation. I think we should always have a series of production cars inspired by a lifecycle of concepts. In 2016 mark your agendas, because we will try to surprise you again. The concept lifecycle story has been such a great story to tell and has really lined up all the people inside the company. It feels true to our values so I don’t see any reason not to continue with it.

I’ve now had the benefit of seeing the first commercial successes of my Renault design strategy especially with Clio and Captur but also with the Dacia Sandero Stepway. The two brands are now clearly separated and I hope with Twingo and Espace we can continue. The first press reception has been very positive. So I cross my fingers.

To be frank the new Espace really is a ‘glass half full or half empty?’ type of car. There might be people who say it’s neither an MPV nor SUV or crossover. So it might not appeal to anyone. Or there might be people that say it is a crossover and a minivan so it might just appeal to me. We might find out the hard way. It was a case of innovate or die.

We noted the MPV sector was in decline everywhere but felt we didn’t have any other choice. We didn’t want to lose the uniqueness or iconic nature of the Espace as the flagship for the Renault brand and I think if any company could get away with doing this it might be Renault. I think whenever you put a new silhouette in the market place you are innovating. I’m talking now in terms of proportions. Here you have a vehicle that is very long, with a long cabin but also with SUV cues like the big wheels and high ground clearance plus a very aerodynamic profile.

“It was a case of innovate or die. We noted the MPV sector was in decline everywhere but felt we didn’t have any other choice”

The nine-inch digital screen takes different approach too. We decided to go vertical because that’s the way you read an A4 piece of paper and it means all your navigation is in the direction you travel. And the second thing is we decided to use a touchscreen across the car. It does influence the architecture enormously because you need to have all the screen in a reachable area. We also opted to go for a certain amount of physical controls. Like volume and air-conditioning because frankly there’s nothing quicker than turning those manually.

I now have a team of six in my organisation responsible for HMI called iLab and it does everything that is to do with details, buttons and perceived quality. I also have an exterior team xLab responsible for everything that’s wheels and headlights etc. All these things become specialities. The days when an exterior designer could just sketch up a quick headlight are over.

With new technology you need to have very close relationships with your suppliers and be extremely close to your engineering. It’s a full time job. We put all the alias modellers, designers and engineers together and I think this is one of the reasons why you see we are starting to get nicer wheels and nicer lighting signatures. The only car we haven’t touched yet is the new Dacia Duster which is one of the most fun projects I want to do as it’s the best selling car in the whole line-up within the Renault Group, which is a little known fact and makes it a hugely important project for us.

In terms of the wider industry, I think Mercedes is doing some really nice stuff, especially their little GT. I think it’s amazing. [Design director] Gorden Wagener is touching all the right buttons at the moment, he’s on a real swing. I think our neighbours Citroën look to be going in a really interesting direction which from a design point of view, is super interesting to see. How they will follow through after the Cactus, we will see. I think PSA Peugeot is very solid and I heard Audi is going to reinvent their design language so I’m super-excited to see what they are up to.

In wider trends I think one of the obvious things is the cross-over-isation that’s taking place in all brands. It’s the one type of car that seems to appeal everywhere and you’ll see it affect all sizes. I think we will continue to see a push for zero emissions in terms of electricity. I’m convinced in the next five years you’ll see the infrastructure put into place and finally, from a personal perspective I’m curious how far we can push Dacia. We need to look at how we keep this thing alive and will we stay the only competitor?

Laurens van den Acker

Name Laurens van den Acker
Role VP design, Renault Group
Age, nationality 49, Dutch
Location Paris, France
Education Delft University of Technology, Holland

Laurens’ cars of 2014

Concept

1. Peugeot Exalt
2. Toyota FT-1
3. Maserati Alfieri

Production

1. Mercedes-AMG GT
2. Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf
3. Ford F-150