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Designers used to be kept behind veiled doors. Now they are often the faces of companies.
Auto designers usually have to think in terms of the standard categories: SUV, sports car, etc.
Making a new car is so expensive that the risk factor is what takes the unique ideas and keeps reanalyzing them until they become very similar.
Some people really like to have an open car that lets them see everything. Of course, others want the squinty, protected feeling of something like the Chrysler 300.
The U.S. has not been big in new coaches - the U.S. is really behind Europe. It's the great passenger car and airplane that dominate American travel, and trains and buses have been much more secondary.
Ultimately, auto designers need to overcome market challenges with innovative design solutions. The automotive industry is at a turning point with environmental and economic conditions on one side and breakthrough technology on the other, so it will be fascinating to see how these design leaders envision the future.
I think there could be more experimentation if car companies didn't have to make such huge volumes. If you're making 300,000 vehicles, you have to play it safe. Ultimately, the companies want to make customized cars, and they are all working on ways to do that. Experiments with structural systems are usually about that.