An early radical French Voisin C27
Europe is the continent where the first Automobile was invented, eventually replacing the Horse Drawn Coaches. Till
World War I most of the manufacturers were concerned with mechanical reliability rather than its external appearance. Later, luxury and
aesthetics became a demand and also an effective marketing tool. Designs from each nation with its own strong cultural identity, reflected in their exterior and interior designs. The
World War II slowed the progress, but after early-1950s, Italian designers set the trend and remained the driving force until the early part of the 1980s.
[edit] France
In
France notable designs came from
Bugatti and
Avions Voisin. Of the mass selling cars
Citroën, launched their vehicles with innovative designs and engineering and mostly aided by the Styling of
Flaminio Bertoni as evident from
Citroën DS. After World War II with the disappearance of the French coach building industry, with the exception of Citroën, others stuck to following British and other popular trends till they gained financial stability. From the 1980s, manufactures like
Renault cultivated their own strong design identities with designers like
Patrick Le Quement demanding more freedom from engineering departments.
Peugeot, which was dependent on Pininfarina since early post-war period, later established its own brand identity from 1980s onwards. Its other company Citroën still retains it distinctive French innovations in its designs. Today French designs are known for their innovativeness and forward looking.
[edit] Great Britain
Great Britain was Europe’s leading manufacturer of automobiles until the late-1960s. During that era there were more British-based automakers than in the rest of Europe combined. The British automobile industry catered to all segments ranging from compact, budget, sports, utility, and luxury-type cars. Car design in Britain was markedly different from other European designs largely because British designers were not influenced by other European art or design movements, as well as the British clay modelers used a different sweep set.
Ford Sierra 1981 with its "jelly-mould" or "aero look" (low CD) styling was advanced for its time; setting a new trend for others to follow.
British cars until World War II were sold in most of the
British colonies. Innovations in vehicle packaging and chassis engineering combined with global familiarity with British designs meant vehicles were acceptable to public tastes at that time. British skilled resources like panel beaters, die machinists, and clay modelers were also available also partly due their involvement with motorsport industry.
Still during the 1960s British manufacturers sought professional help from the Italians,
Giovanni Michelotti,
Ercole Spada and
Pininfarina.Notable British contributions to automobile designs were
Morris Mini by
Alec Issigonis, Several
Jaguar Cars by
Sir William Lyons,
Aston Martin DB Series, and several cars from
Triumph and
MG.
Ford Europe based in Great Britain is notable for
Ford Sierra, a creation of
Uwe Bahnsen,
Robert Lutz, and
Patrick le Quément.Other well known British designers were
William Towns for
Aston Martin designs and
David Bache, for his
Land Rover and
Range Rover vehicles.
[edit] Germany
Germany is often considered the birthplace of industrial design with
Bauhaus School of Design. However, the
Nazi regime closed down the design school.
Ferdinand Porsche and his family played a significant role in German design.
Mercedes Benz passenger cars were also in luxury segment and played more importance to aesthetics.. After the 1980s German design evolved into a distinctive Teutonic style often to compliment their high engineered cars suited to Autobahns. But the early German design clues of present day owes some part to Italian designers like
Giovanni Michelotti,
Ercole Spada,
Bruno Sacco and
Giorgetto Giugiaro. During Mid and late 20th century one of the most influential coach builder/designer in Germany was Karmann.
German designs started gaining popularity after the 1980s, notable after the formation of
Audi.
Volkswagen, which was dependent on
Marcello Gandini and
Giorgetto Giugiaro and
Karmann, later formed the contemporary design language along with Audi. BMW’s foray into sports sedan marked a new trend in automobile design as it called for a sporty-looking everyday sedan with
Giovanni Michelotti , later enhanced by [Ercole Spada]] right into the 1980s, and
Klaus Luthe till mid-90's.The
American born designer
Chris Bangle hired by BMW in late 90's to re-define the brand helped create a new trend in Automotive Surface treatment that has been controversial, but refined and copied by most other global manufacturers
[citation needed].
The
Porsche family contribution were instrumental in the evolution of
Porsche cars, while the Italian designer
Bruno Sacco helped create various Mercedes Models from the 1960s till the 1990s.
In Italy, where art is often considered a serious profession since Renaissance period, companies like Fiat and Alfa Romeo played a major role in car design. Many coach builders were dependent on these two major manufacturers. Italian manufacturers had a large presence in Motorsports leading to several sport car manufacturers like
Ferrari,
Lancia,
Lamborghini,
Maserati, etc. During late-1950s the elegant Italian designs gained global popularity coinciding with the modern fashion and architecture at that time around the world. Various design and technical schools in
Turin turned out designers in large scale. By the late-1960s almost all Italian coach builders transformed into design studios catering to automakers around the world. The trend continued in the 1990s when the
Japanese and
Korean manufacturers sourced designs from these styling studios.One example is
Pininfarina.
The most famous Italian designers whose designs services were sought globally are
Giovanni Michelotti,
Ercole Spada,
Bruno Sacco,
Marcello Gandini and
Giorgetto Giugiaro.All the following designers helped create the design foundations for most of the European brands in the post-world war II period, whose influence is still seen in present times.
[edit] Sweden (Scandinavian)
Ursaab, an early Saab concept illustrating an advanced headlamp treatment
Sweden has Volvo and Saab and the Scandinavian landscape required that cars had to be sturdy and withstand Nordic climate conditions. The Scandinavian design elements are known for their minimalism and simplicity. One of the early original Scandinavian designs was the
Saab 92001 by Sikstena Sasona and Gunnar Ljungström.
[edit] Czechoslovakia
Prior to World War and until early 1990s,
Czechoslovakia had strong presence in the automotive industry with manufacturers like
Skoda,
Jawa,
Tatra,
CZ, and
Zetor. Czech automobiles were generally known for their originality in mechanical simplicity and designs were remarkably
Bohemian as evident from Tatra cars and Jawa motorcycles. During the
Communist regime, design started falling back and ultimately the domestic automakers ended up as subsidiaries of EU-based companies.
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