The Designers Pt10 – Steve Mattin, Lada

It’s been a big year for us. Bo Andersson took over as president and CEO of AvtoVAZ in January 2014, and since then he’s implemented some pretty dramatic changes. He really sees the importance of design, so one of the changes was to get me to report directly to him. Many areas of the company have now been completely reorganised. It’s now much leaner, less bureaucratic and more product-focused.

Last year was also a very important because we showed three concepts at Moscow in August. Unlike other major manufacturers, we don’t travel to places like Geneva and Detroit. Russia and the surrounding regions are the key markets for us. So the Moscow motorshow – which only comes around every two years – is vital. We decided to use it to preview the new 2015 production car range.

The Xray crossover is the first of a number of niche cars that we’re working on. It’s based on a ‘B-Zero’ platform, which is Renault architecture, but has a completely new body and interior. We also showed a preview of our new B-segment sedan, the Vesta. This car really defines new Lada. When we showed the first Xray concept in 2012 we are already working on Vesta, so that’s what inspired much of its design language. The concept we showed is very, very close to the model that’s going into production in September. It’s not a radical body shape, but for us it’s like homework – you’ve got to fulfill today’s market requirements first, then you can branch out into different segments.

The third concept is a teaser for the racing version of the Vesta. We’ve been running quite successfully in the WTCC for several years now with a slightly smaller sedan designed and produced by Lada Sport, which is a standalone company. This time we did the design ourselves and delivered a set of data to them to produce the racecar from. We wanted something that would make a statement and really promote the brand, so it was important to do the complete package rather than outsource it.

At Moscow we started communicating about the future for the first time. More than just these three new products, it’s about reinventing the whole brand, and thinking about how this new DNA we’ve created can to be applied to all the facelifts that are in progress. It’s not an implementation of, let’s say, two or three years to update the range. Everything’s happening simultaneously, which is very unusual. We’re a very small team but the decision-making process is comparatively lean which means we can execute things more quickly than other companies.

One of the things that surprised me last year was the lack of discussion about ecology compared to 2012 and 2013. The focus seemed to have turned back to performance cars and horsepower. Some brands really went their own way stylistically, which was interesting. It’s very easy to spot a Lexus now, for example. Like it or not, their quirky design language has given them a distinct identity in the marketplace. I’m waiting for some of the other carmakers that have traditionally been very conservative to start changing too, like Audi.

Another trend that emerged in 2013/14 was the use of high-tech lighting. It became almost standard practice to build a specific brand look through LEDs. The ‘jewellery art’ of design has become very important now, detailing is being looked at more intensively.

As a Brit, I’m very aware of the typical jokes about Lada. Sooner or later though, they’re going to start turning around. We’re still designing very cheap cars here, but the standards we’re working to are the same you’d expect from a European company. Okay, maybe we can’t put as many LEDs into our lamps or as much chrome or soft-touch fabric in our cars. But from a pure design perspective I believe we can be as competitive as any other brand in the marketplace. Design doesn’t always have to cost money – the shapes, the pure sculpture… you can do all that for minimal cost a lot of the time. For me, that’s a big part of the joy of working at this company; the change you can make is so significant. We’re trying to move the company 20 years ahead almost overnight.

Steve Mattin

Name Steve Mattin
Role Design Director, Lada
Age, nationality 50, English
Location Moscow, Russia
Education Coventry University, UK

Steve’s cars of 2014

Production
1 Lamborghini Huracan
2 Renault Espace
3 Citroen C4 Cactus

Concept
1 Maserati Alfieri
2 Audi Prologue
3 Land Rover Discovery Vision