What is it about automobile design that drives you?

Ah, drive - which is, of course, a pun intended. Cars have always been a sort of interest from childhood. For as long as I can remember, I was always obsessed with cars. Cars are one of the few inanimate objects which move. They move in a sort of physical and emotional sense. Of course, planes fly, ship sail, trains snake over landscapes, but I think, the emotion linked to cars is quite special. Unlike other industrially manufactured products, they’re often anthropomorphised. Automobiles, along with architecture of course, dictate how we navigate our urban landscape.

When I was growing up, design wasn't a thing, let alone car design. In my time, no one even taught car design in India, in any of the design colleges, they were coupled, but never as a singular discipline. The more I understood design as a profession, choosing to specialise in car design was a natural step for me. 

Coming to what you said about movement, there is so much rhythm involved in car design. It almost feels like jazz. For example, as cars go around an F1 track, it almost feels like they’re riffing in a way. Everyone has the same rules, and they all play them differently.

Yes, every driver in F1, or in any sort of racing, can make the car do things that someone else couldn't, so it's always very special to watch. Given that it is a highly regulated field and the set of equal constraints placed on participants, you still have so many fascinating shapes, technologies, so much creativity in car design. I think, in the 120 odd year history of cars, designers have managed to sort of go beyond that and create some special things.

You've worked in a variety of design companies - Italian, Japanese, German. How do those design sensibilities add to your process?

The first thing I learned was, design is a visual language. When you see a particular product, you can tell its provenance, its history. Every company taught me to approach design differently.

In Italy, I learned how important it was to work with my hands. I started working straightaway with physical modellers. They sculpted models of the product. I loved working in that process, it's very sensuous. And that's why their cars and products look tactile and handmade because they're touched by hands.

When I moved to Japan, I was working for a German company, it was all about precision. Both the Japanese and the Germans were very precise, and they would obsess over 1/3 of a millimetre in a door shaft line or opening line.

Over the course of my career, I find myself applying all that I’ve learnt. At Tata, I ensured that we worked with our hands, we used to work with clay modellers who used industrial clay to create full-size models. I found myself encouraging my team for the desire for the accuracy and perfection I imbibed from the Japanese and Germans. It’s this desire that speaks to the quality of a product. Sometimes that extra percent of exactness can really elevate it.

LMV (light motor vehicles) are moving towards ergonomic designs for the user along with alternative fuel resources. Where does the India market stand, considering we are a huge upwardly mobile population?

To answer this question, we must understand what at the factors that contribute to automobile purchases in India.

Let’s firstly define who the aspirational, upwardly mobile demographic is. As of now 60-65% of the Indian population is under the age of 30-35 years. They have access to knowledge and information and therefore their aspirations are driven by this awareness of what is available to them.

Secondly, connectivity is growing at a rapid pace. Road infrastructure is far better evolved than it was a few years ago. Today you can get into a car and drive somewhere without having to worry too much about the quality of roads.

The third thing is that about 21 people out 1000 own a car in India. And just to put that into context, in China, it's about between 600-650 people per 1000. In Western Europe, it's about 750. In America, it's around 850 odd people per 1000. Comparatively, India is a very small market.

India is also a value conscious market; therefore, to design products for India is not easy. You may have recently heard that a few two and four-wheeler manufacturers have left India. For a manufacturer to do well in India, they would have to find the right balance bet.

And you will have heard the latest business news in our field, a couple of manufacturers have left India, both two and four wheelers. So, India is a difficult market, but if you're able to understand the Indian customer, the upwardly mobile aspiration, ambition, if you can harness that in a in a package, which is good value, I think you have a recipe for success.

What was the most exciting project you've had the opportunity to work on during the span of your career?

I would have to say, one of the first projects I did as a professional designer was working for big two wheelers. It was one of the first things that I did with them. Unfortunately, that product didn't get released. The revival of Tata Motors through design, which was kickstarted by the Tiago, is something which is also very special to me.

Bringing us to our question about Tata for you. You've played a key role in designing future classic vehicles, like the outdoors hatchback, and the next one and the survive the safari sports utility vehicles. So, what made you leave Tata after, like, as you said, having pushed it didn't do a new dimension?

Every new experience teaches you something. While the last 14 odd years at Tata were very special. I consider it to be the first phase of my career as a car designer, and I was very lucky to be able to work on all these nameplates that you mentioned, and some more. However, I felt that having designed two generations of each of these cars, it was time to challenge myself in a different direction, but I still wanted to stay with an Indian manufacturer. At that point Mahindra was also looking to expand its whole design operation. The canvas I have at Mahindra is large, beyond cars and SUVs, they have two wheelers, tractors, buses, and trucks. My typical day is a meeting with the tractor design team, then SUV design team, followed by the electric vehicle team. The diversity really excites me.

At Mahindra, we are currently designing electric cars from scratch. Not modified versions of any internal combustion (IC) engine cars. These are really born electric, and I think that's the future.

However, I carry a lot of Tata with me. My greatest achievement, more than the products, is the team I left behind. Across three global design studios, I had a fantastic team of 180 people. I know I have left the company in good hands.

Yes, it was recently. Electric Vehicle (EV) day, right? Do we do you think anyone have the infrastructure in place for that shift?

This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. If you don't have the cars, you don't have the infrastructure. But, I think, both within the government and industry, there's a realisation that this needs to be put in place, and someone needs to take that first step. Conversations about the infrastructure for charging has already begun.

The product is ready, which we need to then ramp up production to really make EVs viable as an alternative to petrol and diesel cars. Lots of customers are now asking for EVs over a regular car.

Yes, customers are quite environmentally conscious now. However, many people have concerns about the amount of time it takes to recharge, the kind of mileage one can expect from an EV.

You're absolutely right. But the technology is constantly improving. Longer lasting and quicker charging batteries are being developed. A few cars now can charge up to 60-70% capacity within 20-25 minutes.

In fact, many car companies have said that they'll stop making internal combustion engines from as soon as 2030, many have stopped investing in IC engines completely, they're not working on even developing engines anymore. Whatever they have, they'll run it to a certain point, and then they'll swap straight to electric. And I think that's the kind of big bet we, as a society, will take.

In terms of design, it’s incredibly exciting. Designers don't have to account for a massive engine in the first 1/3 of a car. The batteries of an EV are in the floor, leaving room for a lot more internal space. Cars may not be so big anymore.

Autonomous technologies are also being developed. I think in the next 15 years, car design will change completely. As an industry, we are already trying to work towards what we call a zero-crash scenario. I mean this globally as an industry, not in India yet. But, if and when that happens, cars will avoid collisions and avoid crashes. Cars can look entirely different. They may not have windows because it's driving itself.

I keep in touch with my alma mater, the Royal College of Art and other design colleges, to know what are doing students. All of them are thinking in that direction. I don't think in the last five or six years, I've seen a single student project, which has an internal combustion engine in the car at all, they're all electric, many of them, most of them are autonomous. Students are talking about the experience of being in one of these cars, more than power and torque and fuel efficiency. They're talking about totally different things, such as what sound the car will make, how will people work and take rest in cars. This isn’t fantasy anymore.

That’s wonderful to hear. Which car do you currently drive and what is your dream car anywhere?

A dream car is so hard to pick. There are so many cars I like for so many reasons. But I would say my current favourite, if money was no object, is the Ferrari Roma. It's a very beautiful car. It's everything we spoke about, the Italian sensuousness. And it's stunning. It's an emotionally beautiful car. I've driven you know, obviously being from Tata Motors I've driven Jaguar and Land Rover cars for the last, you know, 15 years. Now I've swapped to a to a Volvo XC 90.

Thank you for taking the time to do this with us. Lastly, do you have any words for aspiring, automobile designers?

Of course, I never thought I'd win the Scholarship, to be honest. It was really this off chance. I didn't think I'd get into the Royal College. So, I would say, chase your dreams. Often we constrain ourselves into not thinking big and not thinking ambitiously. If you've got a dream, chase it, follow it.