The Automotive Press Association (APA) Design Panel is the first of several milestones in the annual Michelin Challenge Design (MCD) calendar of events.
In keeping with the 2015 MCD Theme of Drive Your Passion: Engaging Senses, Soul and Emotion, this year's panel discussion focused the importance of passion in vehicle design in the high-tech, highly-constrained future.
Hosted on 7 May 2014 at the Detroit Athletic Club, over 80 people attended the APA members-only event sponsored by Michelin Challenge Design.
The 11th annual event opened with a welcome from APA president and Detroit Bureau Chief for Bloomberg News, Jeff Green, and a short introduction to MCD and the 2015 theme from Thom Roach, Michelin's Vice President of OE Marketing, North and South America.
Roach also presented a check donation for $7,600 to the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) in support of their upcoming EyesOn Design car show and the DIO's research conferences.
Following introductions, moderator Michael Robinet, Managing Director of IHS Automotive Consulting, set up the discussion theme on behalf of the panelists:
Thomas Peters - General Motors
Jason Castriota - Jason Castriota Design
Francois Farion - Nissan Design America
Ben Ebel - Michelin Challenge Design
Peters, Castriota, Farion and Ebel each weighed in on the design opportunities and challenges of designing passionate vehicles and cited examples of passion in design. The panel discussed definitions of passion, the ways in which passion comes through in exterior and interior automotive design and the role of passion and brands in optimizing automotive profits. The hour-long panel was wrapped with a Q&A session.
The event concluded with a lunch, providing journalists of the APA opportunities for one-on-one time with the panelists and other design experts in attendance.
Consistently ranked among the most popular events on the APA calendar by its media members, the APA Design Panel is designed to help journalists become more knowledgeable about design and industry topics so they can more faithfully comment on the industry and vehicles and be aware of future trends.
To date, over 850 entries have been received for the 2015 Michelin Challenge Design, Drive Your Passion: Engaging Senses, Soul and Emotion. The deadline for entries is June 1, 2014.
To register for the 2015 challenge or view the full length video of the APA Design Panel, visit www.michelinchallengedesign.com.
