Car Design Forum Tokyo 2019 predicts the future (and it looks good)

Car Design Forum, held in Tokyo the day before the city’s motor show, is a biannual gathering of global and Japanese designers to present on and discuss the issues they are tackling in the studio. This year, the day was doubly auspicious because it was the day of the coronation of the Japanese Emperor, Naruhito (and thus a public holiday). Following a short introduction by Shiro Nakamura and our own Abel Sampson, the first sessions began, with presenters facing a packed room of international designers.

In the first session, Simon Humphries from Toyota turned the subject of the session around: “rather than asking how CASE will affect people, we should be asking how people will affect CASE.” Using the e-Palette system as the basis, he described Toyota’s design direction as making people feel that the service is designed specifically for them. He is working on a future where the e-Pallete forms the core of an optimised mobility system (more on this from tomorrow’s motor show reveals).

Honda’s Makoto Iwaki used the Honda e to explain the Honda approach to CASE, in which ‘S’ stands for service (which includes but is not restricted to ’shared’). In this system, Honda will provide energy as a service, describing how in Frankfurt and London the company is rolling out the use of street lighting-positioned chargers to enhance the infrastucture. But the core of his presentation pivoted around keeping the customer’s desires central. An example he gave is of an LED lightbulb, which resembled a traditional lightbulb structurally and when lit gave off more of a traditional, warm lamp colour despite its LED heart.

Essentially, he argues, the technology needs to be inherent in the design but not dominate the customer experience. The customer wants the efficiency and reliability of an LED lamp, but the comforting warmth of a traditional light spectrum in their living room. Honda’s customer told the company that they want a small city car, and so Honda created the Honda e.

Satoru Tai from Nissan reminded the audience that, with the concept cars he has created since the 2016 BladeGlider, he has always been working on CASE concepts – from Teatro for Dayz through IDx Nismo and Freeflow to IMx and (to be shown at the Tokyo motor show tomorrow) the IMk concept. All of those concepts are not a solution, nor the answer, but rather a conversation, which other companies have recognised and reacted to. He stated that while we no longer live in an era where we can predict the future, to come up with a hypothesis and to stimulate something new is now more important than ever.

The second session of the morning was a presentation by the Chang An, GAC and SAIC design leaders about future trends in Chinese car design. The fascinating presentations gave an interesting insight into how these established Chinese carmakers are preparing for the future.

From SAIC’s Shao Jingfeng describing the connected, 5G cars Roewe and SAIC are creating to Chen Zheng of Chang An’s reminder that the car buying population in China is relatively new, and one that is now aging, valuable insights were shared and discussed with the mostly Japanese delegates and moderators. GAC’s David Hilton emphasised three elements for success: a clear identity, strong brand pillars and meaningful stories. “Storytelling is the big picture of the brand,” he said. The Entranze concept was based around a family road trip, while the concept to be revealed at the upcoming Guangzhou auto show on 22^nd November will break a world record and have compelling interior innovation too.

For more on the Tokyo motor show 2019 reveals, follow our live coverage tomorrow.