VW design on books, cars and special sauce

Positioned at the back of Volkswagen's incredibly convenient and well-decked media hub a stone's throw from the main messe, the VW ID. Cross would seemingly be the natural stage for an interview to take place. But not on Andy Mindt's watch, who immediately took the opportunity to pass over a copy of Creating Memories, a new book curated by Volkswagen Design as a statement about the brand's philosophy toward cars, culture and brand heritage. 

We are soon joined by design strategist Bao Lorena Truong, who in Mindt's words handled about 80% of the project, and was not necessarily expecting to be interviewed on the spot. But recalling the passion that went into this hardback coffee table book, Truong is quickly in stride and — along with the other team members involved — clearly had fun putting it together. 

"We started around the end of last year when there was a wider Group project about the strategy for our brands' designs. We soon decided to put this down on paper and make it public to showcase how we work and what we stand for," Truong told Car Design News. 

"We wanted to create an authentic connection with our people, who also reflect the diversity of our customers. For me personally, I'm always taking care of the design strategy and the presentation of our work, connecting the dots and creating a holistic story about the work of the designers in the best way."

Listening intently during the conversation, Mindt is clearly one of the more passionate design bosses on the circuit and in some ways the final product almost feels secondary. The mantra "it's not the destination, it's the journey" feels apt. Part of the fun was finding people to include in the book, such as a feature on DJ 'Purple Disco Machine' who created a dance track for the Fire + Ice edition ID.3. Mindt, of course, whips out his phone to play that track in the background as we talk, humming along while flicking through pages of the book. 

At 162 pages the book is not unwieldy but does have a decent weight to it. The chapters meander through various elements of the team's design strategy and the opening and closing pages are dedicated to headshots of core team members, Mindt included but not singled out. The art direction is excellent with a pleasing mix of double page spreads, galleries, case studies and more abstract studies around the power of natural light. "This is always my goal," notes Truong, "to really transfer the spark that I feel here, working in the team, to the outside world."

Sketches of the ID. Cross can be found mid-way through, roughly annotated and compared against side profiles of the Mark 4 Golf and ID. Buzz. "Emphasise the wheelarches," one note reads. "Flush & upright front.. Clean bodyside... Stable VW style." Other chapters cover everything from CMF, lighting and UX, to clay modelling, motorsport and branding. Did Mindt enjoy being involved in publishing? You bet. "I absolutely loved it," he affirms. "The colours, the pictures, the mood, everything matches our brand values."

The ID. Cross waited patiently for its turn in the spotlight, and it was head of the interior design studio Vagarsh Saakyan who was on hand to give us a walkaround. 

Wincing and shuddering of the shoulders ensued — not a result of CDN's interviewing style — but of the harsh door slamming around us; this was a very rough and ready show car with hinges and mechanisms not built for normal use. Many visitors clearly didn't get the memo, punctuating our chat with some fairly brutal clangs. "What we're showing here is basically a promise to what's coming into production," notes Saakyan.

The ID. Cross itself is quite the sanctuary. Compact and perhaps even 'dinky' compared to most modern cars, this electric hatchback has been furnished like a home interior and in show spec sports a muted beige and grey-marl cabin that is immediately relaxing. No wonder the press shots include it in some kind of terrarium greenhouse. "It feels like a living space. We know that the trend in interior design is to go somewhat like an extension of your home, and here it really does feel quite loungey," he continues.

Although there was not time on the day to kick back and relax, the rear does in fact transform into a snoozing area by folding the seats completely flat to form a yoga mat of sorts. VW's press release dubs it as being "like a small VW Bus" in this regard. Neat. 

There are plenty of physical buttons mounted on the instrument panel and steering wheel — hurrah! — and a single toggle mounted just ahead of the armrest on the centre console iDrive style. A gentle lilac hue of ambient lighting filters out between the upper and lower sections of the IP. It's all very tranquil, aided by the full length panoramic glass sunroof. 

By contrast, the exterior is squat and muscular but remains relatively approachable. The rear light signature feels instantly familiar from other recent concepts shown under Mindt's tenure as design boss, and there is clearly a strategy to use lighting as a form of family DNA. It works well with the proportions of the car, the ever-popular horizontal tail lights wrapping into the rear quarter panel and exacerbating its width. 

Gloss black A, B and C pillars give the effect of a floating roof — characterised as the 'flying roof' by VW — while matte contrast cladding around the lower extremities make the car look longer and lower to the ground than it is. We are pleased to see proper door handles, too, a trend apparent with a few other models around the IAA show floor this year. 

Up front there is a curious illuminated oblong that hides a radar sensor cleanly behind the bumper, although in this case it is literally labelled: "MID-RANGE RADAR." A bit like crafting the perfect camouflaged hideout but adding a signpost next to it saying "I'm here."

The wheels are technical, with finely raked sections flanked by smooth copper-coloured spokes branded with "ID. Cross" in discrete font on each individual wheel. They fill those ample arches well and, combined with a suitably wide track for a concept car, do well to add a bit of stance, although this will no doubt be watered down for production. 

"It's a car for happy people. It's not aggressive, a street eater with a spoiler on the spoiler on the spoiler. We don't want that because our customers are not like this. They want to appear happy and self confident," says Mindt. "It's not like Mickey Mouse jolly, it's purely positive." Hence the design language, Pure Positive, which underpins this new concept. 

"These kind of uplifting, optimistic design elements are everywhere [in our cars]," he continues. Flicking through the book, he points to the 'vintage mode' on the touchscreen of the ID. 2all concept, which creates a virtual record player. "The only problem is you'll probably need to explain what that is to your kids," he jokes. "We have a diverse audience, not just one part of society but young and old and rich and poor. We are aware of this and we want to design for all of them."

Is it a challenge having to come up with designs that please everyone but, at the same time, do not turn out boring or safe? "It is a challenge, but it's fun," says Mindt. "Think of it like a pop song. If it is stable and likeable, it might turn out boring. So you need something extra, which we call the special sauce, to add to the design."

Not only is there a huge mix of different customers on the table, there is also a wider range of brands under the Volkswagen umbrella all, in theory, vying for similar buyers. But Mindt believes there are clear distinctions between those brands, despite sharing platforms in most cases, and flags Cupra as an example. "Cupra is very extreme, whereas we are the opposite," he notes. Take a glance at the Tindaya, also launched at Munich, which draws inspiration from a literal volcano, and it seems a fair point. 

All in all, things seem to be shaping up well for VW with Mindt at the helm and it will be exciting to see how the various ID. concepts (the Cross, 2all, Every1; plus the Aura, Era, Evo in China) are refined for production.