9th Styling & Design Conclave 2015 and 07th Automotive Design Challenge 2014
SIAM Styling & Design Conclave Looks at Future of Automobiles
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) organized the ninth edition Styling & Design Conclave at Hotel Hyatt in Pune. The Styling & Design Conclave of SIAM reiterated the fact that the Govt. of India, SIAM and the design institutes of India needed to follow a consortium approach for developing India as a destination for automobile styling and designing.
The theme for the conclave was ‘Innovation through design’ which was kept very broad allowing for a vast range of subjects to be covered. The day-long event was divided into 4 sessions followed by an award ceremony to conclude the day.
This year, SIAM started a new initiative of commemorating the contributions of senior leaders, who played a significant role in advancing the causes of Automotive Styling and Design in India. The award was presented by Mr. Sumit Sawhney, CEO and MD, Renault India to Mr. Bidyabijay Bhaumik, the former Chief Designer at Mahindra & Mahindra for his contributions to the domain.
Mr Anil Saini, Chairman, SIAM Styling & Design Group and Head of Design, General Motors started the day with his welcome address and talked about the activities of the Group. It was followed by the keynote address by the noted two wheeler designer Mr. Glynn Kerr who focused on the journey of design of two-wheelers in the world and in India specifically. He said that despite the huge progress made by the industry in the recent years, there still remains a scope for improvement and classical design still has a market.
Mrs. Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, Automotive Research Association of India(ARAI) in her address as Guest of Honour said that in India transportation needs is what drives all the design innovations. She said that the innovations need not only be from the automotive domain but can also be inspired from different domains.
Mr Jayant Sankrityayana Head – Commercial Vehicle Design, Tata Motors chaired the first session. Mr Manoj Kothari, Chief Design Thinker & Innovation Strategist, Onio Design was the first speaker of the session and focused on Megatrends. He said, “Megatrends have evolved from being just about the colour, design, style and finish to now a part of corporate strategy”. Mr. Andreas Maashoff, Director Industrial Design, Johnson Controls briefed the participants about the functioning of Johnson Controls and the innovative measures it takes to design its products.
The second session was chaired by Mr Sathiaseelan. G, Head, Styling, Ashok Leyland. Mr. Toru Kimura, Chief Liaison Officer, Kawasaki, Japan was the first speaker of the session who talked about the company and its racing DNA. He said that the focus of the company has remained to make more powerful engines without making the engines huge. The presentation was followed by that ofMr. Asok Abraham George, Design Director, Volvo Design and Innovation Center, Shanghai who also focused on how important it was for the industry to stay ahead of its time while maintaining a harmony with the environment.
The third session was chaired by Mr Lalit Narkhede, Design Group Manager, General Motors. Mr. Mark Jarvis, Design Manager, Visteon was the first speaker of the session. He explained the concept of Envision, Innovate and Develop which is adopted by his company. Citing several examples around automated driving, he said that innovation remains the key to success. He said that it was necessary for all the people in the domain to remain curious.The final presentation of the day was by Mr K V Veerapandian, Head of Manufacturing Technical Support India &SAARC, Autodeskexplained how Autodesk has helped manufacturers design automobiles more innovatively and efficiently.
In the final session of the day, the winners of the SIAM Automotive Design Challenge were announced. Rajshekhar Dass of Mumbai bagged the top honours and was followed by Mathew Vinod and Mark Timothy respectively. All the winners are from DSK ISD Rubika. The Automotive Design Challenge has emerged as a national automotive design competition involving the premier design institutes of India was initiated with the objective of providing the young students and designers a platform to showcase their talent and hence offer Indian Automotive Manufactures a talent pool of designers. It is envisioned as a step towards encouraging young students to take-up automotive design as a career option. The attempt is to raise the profile of Automotive Industry as a desirable and accessible career choice in India.