[arunforu1]

Well let me have an opportunity of sharing in brief, the process of new vehicle development, with respect to modern automotive industry scenario, of which I am a part as a professional.

Starting with a brief about myself, after my auto engg.7 years ago I started my career with a large Indian OEM into their R&D center as a body designer. Learnt the things pretty fast, then the opportunity came calling from Germany (my current base) from a very reputed design house. So far have designed for most of the reputed German OEM’s (no names here) & worked globally at different locations from china to Europe.

Ok coming back to topic….

Market survey & product identification: This is a very initial step done by specialized people to identify a vehicle category to launch a future product. It can be either identifying a complete new segment (like quadricycle segment in India has been recently explored), or identifying an existing category for potential sales making similar, preferably a better product depending upon cost, target segment etc.

Feasibility study: Then a team of experts carries out an extensive feasibility study, ranging from sales potential to cost input, target sales, technical issues, legal issues, and the list is very long, so let’s cut it short. If the identified category/target product seems to satisfy the feasibility potential then the project is given a go ahead.

THE DESIGN PROCESS:
Here onwards the design team takes over comprising of several teams of specialists mainly planning people, stylists, industrial designers, engineering design specialists(body-Interior & exterior designers), vehicle integration teams, analysts(ergonomics, crash & safety, dynamics etc.), engine team, electrical team, Prototype team, testing team, material team, tooling team, mfg team, process team etc. all working in close coordination along with planning people.

Fixing of hard points: depending upon intended vehicle category & existing legislation for that category in target market, some basic hard points are fixed like Max width, max length, max height, front & rear overhang, wheelbase, wheel-track, ramp-break-over angle, approach angle, departure angle, H-point(hip-point the most imp one), various criterion like visibility, reach, sting posture etc. All of them are fixed as per legal requirements.

Styling: from here the concept starts. First step is the design board. Design board is the broad term used for idea generation, all the ideas which crop up , are put into design board, not necessarily the vehicle sketches, it may be an inspiration from an animal, or a theme, or anything else . For example jaguar has used the animal jaguar as basic idea on design board, the sleekness of styling curves & agility of vehicle closely matches that of a jaguar. Another example is a concept developed by Daimler Chrysler based on box fish.

These ideas are picked up by industrial designers & they translate it into initial concept sketches of vehicle while maintaining basic hard points as guidelines. Then out of these numerous concept sketches some are short listed to visualize in 3-Dimensions, using computer graphics or a virtual 3-d environment, or even some physical models.

Then a final concept is selected, & real work begins. Mostly a clay model 1:1 is made by experts to like an exact replica of actual vehicle. Or alternatively now a day’s direct 3-dimesional computer model can be made, showing basic styling job. Even clay model is scanned by electronic means to be translated into basic 3-dimensional styling model. This is very raw model confirming only to basic hard points & styling cues. It’s more of an artistic depiction till this stage.

Class-A surfacing: Here starts the translating of art into engineering, the styling model is taken and corrected to generate mathematically correct Class-A surfaces (not going into details if some one likes to ask please feel free). Thus Class a Team generates just correct engineering surfaces to be used on actual vehicle but model is still a skin (no internal parts just a thin skin having no thickness depicting basic shape of vehicle). Simultaneously interior is also conceived exactly in same phases as exterior going parallel.

Engineering design: I forgot to mention that basic closures (doors, flaps, hood, deck lid) & openings (windows. Windshield opening) curves are already fixed in initial stages, but can be changed in later stage while still adhering to legal & ergonomic guidelines.

Here onwards many teams take over simultaneously, like analysts start having basic aerodynamic testing, body specialists starts on part & panels, vehicle integration team starts on various aggregates & so on. While giving a constant feedback to each other the design goes on changing in order to reach an optimal solution for every finer point & detail.

Master section book of body & other parts is made, detailing each & every part in basic, then actual parts are designed (all functional & aesthetic parts) & given to analysis people & other related teams for their feedback & suggestions.

After many iterations first optimal solution is reached & prototype is made (either tooled up or fabricated) for basic testing involving every aspect of mfg, design & durability, of course safety comfort & NVH are taken care of every specialist team takes care of their arena.

After first proto many changes may occur some might even force some styling to be changed on account of something or other. Basically the whole cycle is repeated until a feasible practical design, optimized in all aspects is reached.

While design process is going on Mfg & process team keeps on updating mfg plan & process & equipments used to mfg (may be assembly line changes, robots etc.)

Simultaneously certification & legal testing with approved govt. agency is also carried out (in India it is ARAI). Then the pilot lot is prepared & taken out for actual field testing for durability & practical testing. Followed by a pilot launch of few vehicles for testing purpose to selected customers or agencies to get actual customer feedback & changes are done to design as desired.

Then finally the new model is officially announced in market for sales. It is a long & tedious process, more importantly design is a continuous process which goes on after product launch to tackle initial problems as well as constant upgrade of current model throughout its intended lifecycle.
I hope this gives a little idea about how it goes from design board to customer. It is indeed a very brief idea; I have missed many details to keep it short. If anybody wants detail on any topic please feel free to ask, I shall be glad to share.