Present at the opening were Mr. Ulrich Walker, Chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia Ltd., Mr. Steffen Kohl, Head of Advanced Design Global Mercedes-Benz, and Professor Olivier Boulay, Vice President of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of China.
“The opening of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center in Beijing, underlines Daimler’s commitment to China, by recognizing the increasing importance of this market and the influence it is having on design trends and mobility solutions worldwide – as such, this studio will play an essential part of our clearly defined strategy to ensure sustainable business growth. With China predicted to be our largest market globally by 2015, through annual sales of 300,000 vehicles, design influences from this region will become more important in the cars of tomorrow.”said Ulrich Walker
“For us at Mercedes-Benz, we see design as a trademark – design has been shaping our image since our beginnings, defining our core values of fascination, responsibility and perfection. It is not a matter of chasing fads but working on long-living, outstanding, sensual and sporty design. Mercedes-Benz Design will always enhance our brand, ensuring our ideas meet the highest standards in aesthetics, technology, performance, comfort and safety, in line with our ‘The best or nothing’ brand philosophy.”added Steffen Kohl, Global Head of Advanced Design Mercedes- Benz.
With Beijing being a dynamic and vibrant metropolotan city, it is progressively shaping future design trends, making the establishment of our Advanced Design Center here timely. As designers, we need to ‘live in the future’, thinking at least two or three vehicle generations ahead. For us, that means considering every aspect of future mobility, including things such as town planning and improvements in infrastructure. This new studio will provide a creative environment for us all to indulge our imaginations, free of commercial constraints.
All designers at the five studios, centrally managed by Germany, play an important role in envisioning future mobility solutions – not only next generation series production models, but models that will grace our roads in three or more decades – ensuring each Mercedes-Benz looks fresh, aesthetic and stylish, without losing the traditional gene pool and brand identity.
The new Beijing-based Advanced Design Center is no exception and will serve as a seismograph, recording and analyzing stylistic trends and incorporating them into the creative process. In particular, the design team will strongly draw on inspiration from their surroundings in China, taking into account cultural and environmental influences, such as road congestion and lack of parking, to truly think about all aspects of future mobility. With over 10 staff from different countries, including France, China, Malaysia, Japan and the Philippines, the multi-cultural environment allows for a complete international approach, enhancing creativity in the development of mobility solutions for the world – both for the interior and exterior design of future generation vehicles.
Fabio Chiarini
