Designer’s at Volkswagen are headed towards a new approach for their future designs. Starting with the new Volkswagen Phaeton to be launched in 2015, engineers are to follow the top-down design approach. The previous generation Phaeton was inspired by the Golf on the design grounds. Also a bottom-up approach was followed during the design process, which the company admits did not work very well. The Phaeton is the ‘premium-class’ saloon from the Volkswagen’s stable and the German car maker wants it to be the inspiration for newer VW models and not the other way round.
The earlier bottom-up design approach is more so like reverse engineering, in this case, studying the Golf’s design from the base, moving ahead towards more details and making it compatible with the new model, say Phaeton. This approach has made almost all Volkswagen cars look similar. The top-down begins its journey from the top-level modules and further leading to the detailed specifications of the base modules. This means, the 2015 Phaeton could possess a very new refreshed design and being the top in the class of luxury saloon could inspire the lower range of luxury cars.
We love Volkswagen cars but also are a little troubled by the fact that they all look almost similar. Design head at Volkswagen Klaus Bischoff admits the same and criticized the current VW line-up of cars for looking too similar. But starting with the flagship saloon Phaeton, every VW car will reflect its own individuality. With the new design approach, the company assures there will be differentiated looks among saloons, SUV’s, sedans and hatchbacks. Collectively, the Volkswagen line-up do look cool but expect a much cooler VW with no compromise on practicality or driving experience in the future.
Source – AutoExpress