Photo by the author.
The first-ever Pebble Beach Design Forum took place on Friday, August 16, in a tent pavilion behind the Inn at Spanish Bay on 17-Mile Drive near Carmel. This was Pebble Week at its best. I enjoyed both sessions of the forum tremendously, and I’m sure this won’t be the last we’ll see of it. True, there weren’t a lot of people at this inaugural event, but I’ll bet it’ll be jammed next year. And probably not free, as it was this time.
As I walked toward the pavilion, I happened to see Wayne Cherry sitting in a hallway. Wayne, as you probably know, is a former GM design vice president and a very good guy. We went in together—a nice perk to sit and chat with Wayne. We’ve known each other for years, and I always enjoy his company.
Photo by the author.
First on the docket was an hour-long presentation by Andrea Zagato, third-generation heir to the Italian coachbuilder. Andrea’s grandfather, Ugo, founded the firm in 1919 by expanding his Milanese bodyshop. Andrea is now the company’s CEO, and he began by telling us that he wasn’t at all sure at first that he wanted to go into the family business. As a youth, he was much more interested in animals than cars, and his first inclination was to become a veterinarian. At that time his father and uncle headed Carrozzeria Zagato, and the company, like many other Italian coachbuilders, had its ups and downs. By the time Andrea made up his mind, he had a wife and children, so it wasn’t something he went into lightly. One of the things that amazed me about this man was his proficiency in English. He discussed some very subtle concepts and explained his thought processes perhaps better than most Americans and Englishmen would—this in what’s probably his fourth or fifth language.
By the time he’d made his decision, Carrozzeria Zagato wasn’t in good financial health, and it was clear to Andrea that the golden years of series coachbuilding were no more. Other designer/constructors, like Karmann and Pininfarina, were in similar straits, and Andrea could see it wouldn’t be easy to keep Zagato going.
What had changed the industry, he said, was the advent of unitized bodies, in which the skins are an integral part of the structure and very expensive to change. Then, too, car manufacturers had begun to put small runs of special-bodied cars on standard assembly lines, so the heyday of independent series builders no longer existed.
Andrea determined that to survive, Zagato needed a new way to do business. In the end, he decided that his company would become an atelier, the French word for “workshop” and one that’s usually applied to the studio of a fine artist or an art school. And that’s essentially what Carrozzeria Zagato has become—a design house for high-end custom sports cars and grand tourers.
From the Zagato display at Concorso Italiano, the Lamborghini 595, the Ferrari 575 GTZ, and the Aston Martin DB7 Zagato. Photos by the author.
Andrea’s yardstick for the success of an atelier design is whether the car appreciates rather than depreciates over time. And that’s very much what has happened with Zagato designs over the past few years. Zagato customs, mostly coupes, some with the trademark double-bubble roof, have appeared on Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley and a number of other marques. All Zagato atelier cars that have been resold by their owners have brought more than their original prices.
Not a pencil-to-paper designer by his own admission, Andrea Zagato interacts with clients, automakers and designers, so he’s part design manager, part overseer, part salesman and, at this point, very much the successful savior of an old and respected name in Italian design and coachbuilding.
After a brief intermission, the second part of the Pebble Beach Design Forum began, this time with a moderator and five top-level designers. The title of this segment was The Future of Automobile Design.
The moderator, well-known author and automotive design critic Robert Cumberford, proved an excellent choice to guide this group of varied yet similar design leaders.
To introduce them briefly, I’ll start with the Callum brothers, Ian and Moray. Ian serves as design director for Jaguar. He did the F-Type and CX75 concept, and before that, Ian designed the Aston Martin DB9. His brother, Moray, is Ford’s vice president of design, with responsibility for all Ford products globally—a description that makes the job sound a lot easier than it is.
Also on stage was Ed Welburn, design vice president in charge of all General Motors products the world over, another too-simple description; Shiro Nakamura, senior design vice president and chief creative officer for Nissan/Infiniti; and Zagato.
To start the panel discussion, Robert Cumberford suggested that each member tell the audience the design he was proudest of—his personal favorite. For several seconds, no one responded…nervous silence from the stage…and then Cumberford nodded to Ed Welburn at one end and suggested he start the ball rolling.
Welburn hemmed and hawed a bit and then began to talk about teamwork and how no design was just the effort of one person. Cumberford good-naturedly interrupted Welburn and said, “Come on, Ed, get with it,” whereupon Welburn took a deep breath and said, “The Aerotech,” meaning the first Oldsmobile Aerotech high-speed experimental car of 1987.
Photo courtesy GM.
Welburn explained that this was his first job as the head of a studio, not just a board man. He liked being assigned to do an extremely aerodynamic race car capable of 300 MPH. Piloted by four-time Indy winner A.J. Foyt, the Aerotech set a closed-course speed record of 257 MPH. The car, with a turbocharged 2.0-liter Quad 4 engine, performed flawlessly, and Ed later got to drive it, he said, although not quite so rapidly as Foyt.
Jaguar CX75 and Aston Martin Vanquish. Photos courtesy Jaguar and Aston Martin, respectively.
Ian Callum’s two personal favorite designs are the Jaguar CX75 exotic concept that debuted at the Paris Auto Show in 2010 and the 2001-2005 Aston Martin Vanquish. His CX75 won all sorts of design awards, and the car’s performance was just as spectacular as its appearance. The Vanquish, in my opinion, is still pure beauty on wheels, and it’s become the model for all Astons since then.
Photo courtesy Aston Martin.
Moray Callum’s favorite was the Lagonda Vignale sedan, produced by Aston Martin and making its first appearance at the 1993 Geneva show. Moray mentioned that Robert Cumberford never much liked the design (Cumberford said he did like parts of it) and agreed that the car was controversial.
Photos courtesy Nissan.
Shiro Nakamura named three designs he’s particularly proud of: the Infiniti Essence concept, the Nissan GT-R and the Juke. Shiro stated that his intent with all these cars was to infuse them with Japanese cultural elements. He said that in the case of the GT-R, he could have taken ideas from any number of competing sports cars—German, British and American, but he wanted instead to make the car purely Japanese in appearance and personality. Likewise the Juke, which Americans either love or hate. And his other favorite, the Essence hybrid supercar, was introduced by Infiniti at Geneva in 2009 and had that very aggressive, bold look that’s become so popular.
Photo courtesy Zagato.
Andrea Zagato’s favorite design is the Alfa Romeo TZ3, which was made in two versions: Corsa and Stradale. I’m not sure which Andrea had in mind—probably both. The Corsa came first, in 2010, and uses a 4.2-liter V-8 along with aluminum and carbon fiber for a very light curb weight of 1,875 pounds. The 2011 Stradale is the road version and is based on the fourth-generation Dodge Viper.
From left: Moray Callum, Andrea Zagato, Shiro Nakamura, Robert Cumberford, Ed Welburn, and Ian Callum.
After these very personal comments, the discussion turned to more generalized auto-design topics, like working within the corporation, dealing with engineers, other designers and corporate money men. In all, not much was said about the actual future of car design, but the panel agreed that much would depend on new types of propulsion systems (electric, hydrogen, hybrid) and the possible requirements of autonomous cars. Another point of agreement was that clay models wouldn’t go away anytime soon.
I think everyone came away from the forum with warm, good feelings—certainly I did—and that the entire event was thoughtful and well presented.