You will have noticed that the Chinese car manufacturers are currently coming up with some nice slick designs (to compensate for the usual weird designs). After the same struggle to find their own identity that Korean manufacturers had to endure a few decades ago, China seems to have worked out how to build cars that often look as beautiful as those of their European, Japanese and American rivals.
And one reason for this is that the Chinese automakers are not only luring executives and engineers from Western car companies, but also designers. Some of these designers may be unknown to those working outside the automotive industry, but as journalist Greg Kable points out, we are all familiar with their work, even if we are not familiar with their name or face.
One such designer is Nader Faghihzadeh, who joined Changan’s Avatr EV brand in 2019, and whose sporty 011 electric crossover was unveiled last month. It features 750-volt charging technology, Huawei Inside LiDAR-equipped autonomous technology, can accelerate to 100 km/h in 3.98 seconds (the marketing department clearly couldn’t bring it up to 4) and promises up to 423 miles (680 km/h). km) on China’s optimistic CLTC cycle.
Related: Avatr 11 Launches In China With 578 Horsepower And Up To 422 Miles Range
The name Nader Faghihzadeh will not be familiar to everyone. But his designs will be. More than 17 years with @BMW, he worked on many concepts and production cars. In 2017 he moved to #changan. Became design boss at Changan’s Avatr EV brand in 2019. The 011 is Avatr’s first production model. pic.twitter.com/qiZPQ6sl6f
— Greg Cable (@GregKable) September 1, 2022
But equally interesting is the crossover design, especially the rear, which manages to fuse the styling cues of SUVs and sedans to create a car that looks different from any other crossover on the road. And looking different from any other crossover is a big win when almost every car is on the road is a crossing.
Before moving to China, Faghihzadeh worked at BMW for 17 years, and I must admit I had never heard of him. As is often the case with car companies, the head of design is often credited with a brand’s styling successes (and failures), when the reality is that there is always a large team of talented designers toiling quietly in the background.
A look at Faghihzadeh’s Linkedin profile reveals that he has had a hand in just about every major BMW product, from the i3S, i8 Roadster and iNext concept to the X3 and X4, the 6 Series Coupé, Gran Coupé and Convertible, and form indicated either the interior or exterior look of multi-generational 7 Series.
And Faghihzadeh isn’t the only designer to have jumped from west to east. We have no doubt that China is developing its own homegrown design talent, but that it is bringing in established stylists and then setting them free to show what they can really do without the need to pay lip service to historic brand design elements is a way to accelerate the adoption and desirability of Chinese industry in western markets.