The Designers Pt9 – Chris Svensson, Ford

For a designer it’s a wonderful, wonderful time. Technology is bringing an opportunity we’ve possibly not had in 20 years. It reminds me of the ’50s and that optimism about car design. I feel that optimism now. There’s a huge opportunity in interiors right now with the drive for digital interfaces and automation. The sky’s the limit.

We went through years where it was all about the package, engines, fuel economy, blah, blah. It was like if we’ve got the best package in town, people will buy our product. It’s important but isn’t necessarily the thing that pulls people into showrooms. Once you get them into the showroom you need a good package, but it’s not ‘the drive’ that gets them there. I think in the last two years there has been a realisation that design is a critical factor in the purchase of a product. We have very good relationships with engineering and other departments at Ford. They trust us and we trust them. You don’t want a design organisation that is separate and comes up with great things nobody wants to deliver.

The world has almost become one because of the internet and access to information. I’ve worked in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America and I think customers are becoming more homogenous. So One Ford is great because you have a foundation of a product you can deliver across the globe, but we still localise those tastes. We’re not necessarily saying we’ll produce one car and that’s it. They are tailored. It could be ride and handling, material finish or even details like headlamps and taillights.

What makes a Ford? I think it’s a modern product at a price achievable by the majority. We are not elitist. Talking about ‘trying to be premium’, I think it’s about giving the customer more for their money, better materials, higher quality. It’s about offering something that surprises and delights. The ‘oh, this is what I get for my $20,000? I’d expect that on a $50,000 car’. That’s what I think we mean by pushing for some level of premium-ness.

“For a designer it’s a wonderful, wonderful time. Technology is bringing an opportunity we’ve possibly not had in 20 years”

Do I worry about the Korean brands? I don’t look over my shoulder. I look after myself. I think there are brands where you think they allow more money to be spent on their products than possibly we would, which gives them benefits in the level of content they have on their cars, and I know the brands we are talking about are doing really well, but it’s my challenge to do even better. And I think we are. Over the next few years we are going to prove to people we are the company that everyone will aspire to beat.

I motivate my team through giving them the opportunity to show what they are capable of and balancing that fresh naive creativity versus the hardened old school feasibility of someone who’s been in the industry and who knows how to execute. I’m a designer so I’ll still scrape clay and tape lines. For the youngest designer who’s just walked in the door, I’ve got time and patience to show him how to tape cars.

Yes, I have to manage an organisation, but I still sketch. I have to throw them in the bin because it’s a little unfair for the boss to be sketching. I might not do beautiful renderings but I do little doodles on paper and hand them to my chiefs and say ‘kind of like this’, but then let them go away and do what they need to.

I was a young kid that was very good at art. It ran through the blood of my family. My father was a good artist and my grandfather a sign writer, so I was probably an artist first and a car guy second. I love being able to talk to my production development boss or my marketing lead and have a conversation about a ’65 Shelby or a vintage Porsche because those guys ‘get it’ and are passionate about it. As a car nut myself, it’s great to know that this runs through every vein of the company.

Chris Svensson

Name Chris Svensson
Role Director of design, The Americas, Ford
Age, nationality 49, English
Location Michigan, USA
Education Coventry University and Royal College of Art

Chris’s cars of 2014

Concept

1. Audi Prologue
2. Toyota FT-1
3. Maserati Alfieri

Production

1. Citroën C4 Cactus
2. Mercedes-AMG GT
3. Jeep Renegade