Martin Smith (designer)
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- For other people of the same name, see Martin Smith (disambiguation).
Martin Smith is an automobile designer, currently Executive Design Director for Ford of Europe.
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[edit] Background
Born in 1949 in Sheffield, England, Smith attended King Edward VII School.[1] A car fanatic since he was a boy, he wrote letters to Mini designer Alec Issigonis asking how to become a car designer and received kindly and encouraging replies.[2] He studied Engineering at the University of Liverpool before graduating with a Masters degree in Vehicle Design from the Royal College of Art in London.
[edit] Career
[edit] Audi
Having began his career at Porsche in 1973 which also included a short stint working on commercial vehicles for Ogle Design in Letchworth, Smith moved to Audi in 1977, then briefly to BMW only to return to Audi where he would remain for the majority of the 1980s and 1990s. At Audi he transformed the mundane Audi Coupe into the legendary Audi Quattro and subsequently became Head of Audi's Munich Design Studio. He helped introduce a slippery aerodynamic look and austere functional cockpits to the Audi range as evidenced by the 1982 Audi 100 and 1986 Audi 80.[3] Whilst in charge of the Audi Munich Design Studio, he worked with J Mays on the 1991 Audi Avus Quattro concept car which previewed a geometrical style as well as the extensive use of aluminium. His last position at Audi was the Head of Interior Design where he oversaw and developed the first generation Audi TT interior.[4]
[edit] General Motors
In 1997 he moved to General Motors' Opel/Vauxhall division as Design Director for compact cars, working on the Opel Speedster and the 1998 Astra. In 2002 he became Executive Design Director for Opel/Vauxhall where he realigned Opel/Vauxhall design from the inoffensive but bland of the 1990s to a more dynamic direction as illustrated by the 2004 Opel Astra, Insignia concept and Vauxhall VX Lightning. This new direction has influenced the whole Opel range including the 2004 Opel Tigra TwinTop, 2005 Opel Zafira, 2005 facelift of the Opel Vectra/Opel Signum, and the 2006 Opel Corsa.
[edit] Ford
In July 2004 he was appointed Executive Design Director for Ford of Europe, where he reports to the Ford global group Vice President for Design, former colleague J Mays. In autumn 2004 Smith was soon joined by fellow Opel refugee Stefan Lamm who works under him as Chief Designer for Exteriors at Ford in a reorganisation of Ford's European design staff.[5] Under Smith and Chris Bird's leadership, Ford of Europe has moved away from its New Edge design philosophy towards the ethos of 'Kinetic Design' which roughly translates to 'Energy in Motion', a language that consists of clean angles and complex surfacing to give Fords a sportier, more dynamic, exciting look.[6]. This language was first implemented by Smith and his team on the Ford SAV Concept, which made it to production in the guise of the Ford S-MAX, and has continued on in the Ford Iosis Concept, the 2007 Ford Mondeo, and the Ford Iosis X Concept. In May 2006, Smith was given the additional responsibilities of overseeing vehicle design in the Australian, Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets, with the task of giving the line-up a more consistent look.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Old Edwardians, Form 2(1) 1962/63 (photo), accessed 28/01/07
- ^ 'Audi's Modest Mr Smith', Quality Cars pp22-24, The Sunday Times, Spring 1988
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Who's Where: Martin Smith joins Ford Europe design team, Car Design News, 26 Feb 2004 [1], accessed 28 Jan 2007
- ^ Whos Where: Ford of Europe reshapes their design department, Car Design News, 29 Nov 2004 [2], accessed 28 Jan 2007
- ^ 'Energy in Motion', Ford Motor Company [3], accessed 28 Jan 2007
- ^ 'Red, White and Bold' by Wim Oude Weernink, Autoweek, 15 May 2006 [4], accessed 3 Feb 2007
