It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Automotive design. (Discuss)

Automobile design or car design is the design of automobiles and or cars. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into car making. ... Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile (or motor car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ...

The design of modern cars is typically handled by a large team of designers and engineers from many different disciplines. As part of the product development effort the team of designers will work closely with teams of design engineers responsible for all aspects of the vehicle. These engineering teams include: chassis, body and [[trim, powertrain, electrical and production. The design team under the leadership of the design director will typically comprise of an exterior designer, an interior designer (usually referred to as stylists) and a color and materials designer. A few other designers will be involved in detail design of both exterior and interior. For example, a designer might be tasked with designing the rear light clusters or the steering wheel. The color and materials designer will work closely with the exterior and interior designers in developing exterior color paints, interior colors, fabrics, leathers, carpet, wood trim and so on. A chassis (plural: chassis) consists of a framework which supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animals skeleton; for example in the construction of an automobile or of a firearm. ... A trim package is a set of cosmetic (mostly non-functional) embellishments to a vehicle. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In the USA, automotive design reached a turning point in 1924, when the American national automobile market began reaching saturation. To maintain unit sales, General Motors head Alfred P. Sloan Jr. devised annual model-year design changes, to convince car owners that they needed to buy a new replacement each year. Critics called his strategy planned obsolescence. Sloan preferred the term "dynamic obsolescence". This strategy had far-reaching effects on the auto business, the field of product design, and eventually the American economy. The smaller players could not maintain the pace and expense of yearly re-styling. Henry Ford did not like the model-year change, and because he clung to an engineer's notions of simplicity, economics of scale, and design integrity, GM surpassed Ford's sales in 1931 and became the dominant player in the industry thereafter. The frequent design changes also made it necessary to use a body-on-frame rather than the lighter, but less flexible monocoque design used by most European car makers. General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is an American automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... Cover of Time Magazine (December 27, 1926) Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. ... Planned obsolescence (also built-in obsolescence (UK)) is the conscious decision on the part of an agency to produce a consumer product that will become obsolete and/or non-functional in a defined time frame. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... Body-on-frame is an automobile construction technology. ... Monocoque (French for single shell) is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. ...

Another turning point came in 1935, when automotive engineers abruptly dropped aerodynamic research when they discovered that, among other problems, aerodynamics would tend to produce one single optimal exterior shape. This would be bad for unit sales, and for GM it would obviously work against their new strategy of market differentiation. Style and engineering went their separate ways, and all body shapes underwent plastic surgery every year, whether or not the underlying automobile had changed. Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas flows, first analysed by George Cayley in the 1800s. ...

Since 1935 automotive form has been driven more by consumer expectations than by engineering improvement. Form still follows function, but the primary function of the car was to get itself sold. The notable exception in the American market was the postwar appearance of the imported Volkswagen Beetle. VW represented a surprising experiment in product-driven design integrity: one body shape that remained constant from year to year, parts interchangeable from year to year, and that stability made it possible to make incremental technical improvements with a cumulative effect. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The Volkswagen Beetle or Bug is a small family car, the best known car of Volkswagen, of Germany, and almost certainly the world. ...

The most famous auto stylist is probably Harley Earl, who brought the tailfin and other aeronautical design references to auto design in the 1950s. Harley J. Earl (November 22, 1893–April 10, 1969) was an automotive stylist and engineer and industrial designer. ... The height of the tailfin era; the 1959 Cadillac. ...

See Category:automobile designers for a list of automobile designers and automotive design for Automotive design. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into car making. ...

See also

• Alternative propulsion
• Car safety
• Internal combustion engine and engine design
• Wind tunnel

google Alternative propulsion is a term used frequently for power train concepts differing to the standard internal combustion engine concept used in gasoline- or diesel-fueled vehicles. ... Car safety is the avoidance of car accidents or the minimization of harmful effects of accidents, in particular as pertaining to human life and health. ... A colorized automobile engine The internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the burning of a fuel occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. ... An engine is something that produces an effect from a given input. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• Auto&Design Magazine An archive of the leading print magazine for automotive design
• Car Design News News and resources for the international automotive design community
• Car Design Online Automotive design from concept to production
• Chrysler Design Institute Insight into Chrysler's design studio processes.
• Foresight Vehicle British automotive R&D programme and Knowledge Transfer Network
• MIRA Ltd, Automotive Product Engineering and Testing, Nuneaton, UK.
• DesignerTechniques Free resource where you can learn the techniques and skills of auto designers
• Vehicle safety and modification information - includes guidelines, vehicle standards information and information on the Australian Design Rules.