Mercedes, Designed In China
Our Ed Niedermeyer wrote that China may have a design deficit. Daimler thinks otherwise. Daimler’s Mercedes cars are already produced in China under a joint venture agreement with Beijing Auto. Now, the car with the star will be designed in China as well. Or at least some of it. Daimler is planning to open their Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center in China’s capital Beijing, Gasgoo writes.
The center is expected to be headed by Olivier Boulay, who is currently the head of Daimler’s Japanese design studio in Yokohama.
“Boulay is good at extracting different cultural features and put these crucial cultural elements in future design applications,” said Hua Lixin, Board Chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia,
Olivier Boulay was once responsible for Maybach concepts, Mercedes-Benz F600 fuel cell concept, F400 concept Benz SLK production car, Mitsubishi Outlander, among others.
The Beijing design center, when completed, will become the fifth design center of Daimler, which has already established design centers in the U.S, Italy, Japan and Germany.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Does the design brief include corrosive gasses eminating from the door panels (like the craptastic Chinese plasterboard sold in the south post-hurricane within the past few years), leaded paint (no children allowed within 50 meters of the cars, please) and collapsing center-of-car (to keep the population growth down)?
menno, you are missing the point. This is MB that we are talking about. Whatever good or bad that comes out of this, it's MB.
The majority of the design staff that created these Chinese Buicks were actually Americans.
I like Boulay: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/capsule-review-2005-2008-mitsubishi-colt/