Designing for a well-known automotive company like Audi is a dream job for many car enthusiasts, as the brand's rich history, reputation for innovation, and performance can be conveyed through a visionary eye.
However, dreams don't always come true, as demonstrated by the reality of working for a large automotive conglomerate like Volkswagen. (VLKAF) (owner of Audi), since a person's radical or revolutionary ideas can be pushed aside thanks to corporate bureaucracy.
Currently, former Audi and Bentley designer Stefan Sielaff has a different job as Geely's global design chief. (LIFE) , where he was recently tasked with leading the design of the electric vehicle-focused Zeekr brand. in a recent interview with AutocarHe explained that working for a Chinese brand had certain advantages that its Western contemporaries lack.
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As the designer behind Zeekr's luxury cars, Sielaff is busy trying to build the brand's identity through new product development. As a company still in its infancy, Audi's former design chief says the identity of a brand like Zeekr begins as a state of cleanliness defined by the same people who design the cars they produce.
“At the beginning, you define the brand, the brand philosophy, the corporate identity, the birthmark, the visual identity. All of this originates in the design department and is very, very important,” Sielaff told Autocar. “Then the products and the brand statement connect to each other.”
Sielaff mentioned that at his former job at Audi, owned by the Volkswagen Group, it takes about four years for a car to go from development to the showroom. Fortunately, at Geely the process is much faster and can result in a car of equal quality.
“I think sometimes it's quite difficult for a traditional automaker to suddenly make certain processes faster, or cut processes, because that's how they've done it for 100 years. Quality proves them right, whatever.” What you get from Volkswagen o Audi is top quality, but overall Geely is able to do the same thing now in a shorter period of time.”
The adoption of new and cutting-edge technology plays an important role in how quickly Zeekr develops new cars from conception to the showroom. According to Sielaff, Zeekr's 007, a $29,000 entry-level sedan, was developed over the span of just two years through cooperation using technology that's more than just Zoom meetings.
“The Zeekr 007 was developed in two years, from the first sketch to the finished product. We have everything in the Gothenburg design studio to build analog models, but even more important is the software and virtual reality (VR) technology that we have,” Sielaff said. “Minute by minute, we can send data to engineers for simultaneous exchange and we do virtual reality presentations every week where our CEO can be in China. We can walk through models with virtual reality and see each other as avatars.”
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Furthermore, when it comes to the people he works with on a day-to-day basis, the former Audi designer said that decisions at Chinese automakers are made faster and with less bureaucracy by people who have a mentality. more open to new ideas.
“(Chinese automakers) are a little more open to the world and I find that quite satisfying. Plus, there's the fact that things are happening very quickly, with faster decisions,” Sielaff said. “There is no other type of authority or another group of people who have to discuss and decide, and this helps speed up the development process a lot instead of re-cooking things over and over again.”
The practice of poaching design talent from Western automakers is not an uncommon practice among Chinese automakers. Former BMW design chief Chris Bangle has been hired as lead designer, joining BMW alum Li Tianyuan at the company behind China's current best-selling electric vehicle, the SU7.
Zeekr made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on May 10. At market close, shares were trading at $28.17, up 34.57% on the day.
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