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Get Four
|  | FEBRUARY 11, 2004
Renault's "Adventure in Design" Chief designer Patrick Le Quement talks about Euro auto-styling trends and why it's a sin to "exploit old design to death" When the management of an ailing Renault offered Patrick Le Quement the job of top designer in 1988, he said yes -- if they were willing to accept one radical condition: that he sit on the executive board and report only to Renault's chairman. The French carmaker agreed, and Le Quement became the world's first auto designer to join the top brass, a move that freed him from the usual confines of a design department buried several layers down in a dense hierarchy of engineers. What a difference such a leap in authority can make. Le Quement's forceful designs helped reverse Renault's fortunes and boost European market share. The designer wants to give a very French personality to Renault's cars: His approach is modern, Parisian, and quite audacious. Le Quement studied industrial design at the Royal College of Art long before car design was taught in academia. His designs for Renault include the Twingo supermini, Vel Satis sedan, and Megane family of compacts. More recently, Le Quement's Megane II Hatch became a standout, the second generation of a compact introduced in 2002. A vertical rear window chops the hatchback in an unexpected perpendicular -- a sharp break rarely seen in auto design. Le Quement says he was searching for a flamboyant, art-deco design reminiscent of French cars before World War II. But he also wanted a shape never seen before. "It's an agile and robust looking car. Like a youth wearing a baseball cap backwards." Designers applaud the daring angles, and the car has helped powered sales growth (see BW, 2/16/04, "Designer Cars" and "Photo Essay: The People Behind The Cars" ). BusinessWeek's Gail Edmondson recently spoke with Le Quement about his approach to design. Edited excerpts follow: Q: Is it fair to say there are two key schools of auto design in Europe: The German minimalist school and the Mediterranean school, which tends toward more expressive styling? A: Rather than North and South, I would see a delineation between traditionalists and modernists. In Western Europe, there are those pushing modernity. BMW and Renault like walking in fresh snow that hasn't been trodden on by thousands of others. We like adventure in design. Q: The Megane's shape provokes sharp reactions, both positive and negative. Isn't it risky to go with such a provocative design? Was it hard to convince the board, since nearly half Renault's sales come from the Megane family? A: There were some anxious moments. The survey results scared us. But it turned out to be a huge success. We didn't want a me-too design. Design has to be decisive. With the Megane II, we managed to change the customer profile by reducing the average age of a buyer by 10 years. Chairman Louis Schweitzer is totally committed to design. Q: Who are the most interesting designers in Europe at the moment? A: You mean who's shaking the coconut tree? BMW has done some experimental design. Despite a lot of criticism, especially in Europe, I believe [BMW chief designer] Chris Bangle is doing the right thing -- and it's showing in the sales figures. We Europeans have to be careful not to look at the world through our own glasses. BMW is doing extraordinarily well in Asia. Some other car companies are staid and conservative in their design. Q: Audi has been one of the most widely admired European auto companies for its design. What do you think of the new grille on the Audi A8? Was it risky to choose an Italian designer such as Walter de'Silva for a German auto maker, melding these traditionalist and modern forces? A: Clearly in the mid-1990s Audi made very strong design statements. The Audi TT model was the epitome of Nordic German Bauhaus design. I'm not too keen on the great big gaping mouth grille on the A8 sedan. Walter de'Silva is a very, very good designer. He's one of the most professional and creative design directors. I'm confident he will come up with the right products for Audi. Q: What's Renault's next big design challenge? A: We have to replace the Twingo. It's difficult to replace such a successful model -- it has almost become a mythical car. But our real challenge is not to rest on our laurels and exploit old design to death. We want to continue to be creative.  Edited by Douglas Harbrecht Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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