I am often asked how will be the car of tomorrow

I am often asked how will be the car of tomorrow. But I always say: "did there not that one, there are !" ", lance, fun, Laurens van den Acker. The new design Director of Renault, who succeeded in April-Patrick Le Quement, is convinced: the main challenge facing the automotive design, it is the growing divergence of the needs of every motorist. "In the 1950s, the cars were almost all black, says.". Then, there was the period where the market was divided between the small cars cheap, on one side, and the large expensive sedans, on the other. This also is over, with the proliferation of small citadines top of range and the arrival of Dacia on the large car segment. Today a huge variety and differences will continue to increase.

As manufacturers must now develop both small electric cars to fit into the urban traffic, offer low cost to meet the reduction on middle-class, not to mention the large sedans equipped with equipment art to satisfy those that the automobile is still dreaming... "There will be more diversity, more new concepts, confirms Gilles Vidal, Director of the style of the Peugeot brand, taking for example the 3008, a mixture of 4 x 4 and monospace family.". It is a concept that it couldn't before, more in line with the new uses.

Many avenues to explore

In Renault, was chosen to summarize the diversity of these needs in six stages of life, which will each have their "concept car". First in the series, DeZir evokes the experience of falling in love, with its flamboyant red colour and its sensible Elytron doors evoke the ying and the yang. One way, Laurens van den Acker, "restoring an emotional report auto" loses in Western Europe due to all the constraints that now represent the car (traffic congestion, fuel costs...). The ridged DeZir black grille and its large diamond should be on the future Clio IV, whose marketing is scheduled for autumn 2011. DeZir will be followed by a series of five other concept cars symbolising the discovery of the world, then the family, work, leisure and, finally, wisdom.

Technological change has also opened the field of action of designers. Since the use of the electric car will be different, why not take advantage to totally rethink the design With its concept BB1 Peugeot is thus managed to achieve a 2.50 m with 4-vehicle: batteries are placed in the foundations and the electric motors in the wheels. Even within the family of electric cars, tracks of research are multiple. In presenting its concept EX1, the mark of the lion sought to show that the electric car could "fight speed records", according to Gilles Vidal. Equipped with a steering wheel with two handles, this fireball of 90 cm in height has three batteries and two electric motors on the axles. "We want to talk about the world of aviation and the experimental," he said.

The electric car brings even the manufacturers to think about sound design. Silent, these vehicles must be equipped with an artificial sound to avoid accidents. Will the next Zoe do the sound of a heat engine, a zen music "For the moment, we have established a mapping with nearly 40 sounds to test the preferences of consumers, but we don't yet have definitive response", said Laurens van den Acker.