[Guna]

Is UK chosen for this design center just because Mr. Bose prefers to work from there? Or is it because they think that there is not enough design talent in India (which could be true). Otherwise they should have the design center right here because:

• Working closely with the engineering (which I believe will be still in India)
• Primary market is still India and I don't see a point for an Indian company to set up a shop elsewhere which only increases the cost
• Can't make a claim 'designed and developed in India' anymore
• Imagine doing the kind of exhaustive testing they are doing with XUV700 if the prototypes are built in UK

[400notout]

Great!

Now waiting for Dr. Pawan Goenka to join Tata and complete the barter

Jokes aside, do we know of any Mahindras for Mr. Bose to start work with?

[discoverwild]

Am I the only one who thinks that this entire thing might be a case of poaching? Nothing illegal about it. But the whole thing has a nice ring to it.

Quits Tata.
Plans to look for greener pastures abroad.
Mahindra sets up Design Studio in UK.
Pratap Bose joins Mahindra.

Too convenient. Not illegal.

[dark.knight]

Predictions of Mahindra future car designs :

1) Ceramic or plastic garnishes in window-line, tail-lamps and other highly noticeable areas in contrasting colors.

2) Tail lamps that protrude 2 feet beyond the body-line.

3) Sharp kinks and creases everywhere, keep some gauze and cotton ready for your eyes.

4) Tons of piano black plastics.

5) Unusable rear windshield.

RIP Pininfarina's Legacy. I actually liked Mahindra designs of late, best being the XUV 300, won't last now.

[vinair]

Looking at the history of Mahindra acquisitions and where those companies stand today in its portfolio, I have my reservations on this talent acquisition from TATA! Don't see a bright future for Mahindra or Pratap from a design point of view!

[nkotblock]

Pratap Bose joining an European marquee like Audi or VW would have been very interesting . Him ending up in M&M is a reflection on the acceptability of Indian design management talent in the established car design community. Guess he got fed up of waiting to be given the reins to JLR Design and decided to move on !

[udaikalra01]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

RIP Pininfarina's Legacy. I actually liked Mahindra designs of late, best being the XUV 300, won't last now.

XUV300 was designed by Ssangyong design team in collaboration with Mahindra design studio. Pininfarina had role in TUV300's interiors and Marazzo. But those too, were a collaboration between Mahindra design and Pininfarina.

Really don't know how Pininfarina's design legacy got affected by Pratap Bose joining Mahindra's design team even if you don't like his work. Both are completely unrelated.

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by puneeth2

When it comes to panel gaps, fit and finish. That depends the welding accuracy and tolerances. Those are handled by the engineering team and how much they want to refine it is purely based on how much they want to spend on it. It eventually depends on financial and engineering aspects on how much they want to spend on it.

This is not completely true. Ensuring even panel gaps, fit and finish are part of the design. Every manufacturing process, advanced or primitive has their own set of tolerances, limitations and variations. These variations has to be incorporated in the design. Else any amount of money spent for manufacturing will not give a satisfactory solution. This is an interesting topic and if interested, read up on GD&T and DFM (Design for Manufacturing). Will give you a lot of insignt in manufacturing and design.

Tata motors, design has evolved a lot in the recent years and in my opinion, it all started with the Aria and Storme. Few more models or the next generation products from Tata should be at par with our expectaions.

Now that Pratap Bose is heading to Mahindra, all the best to him. I hope his learnings of the past 15 years from Tata can now be expected at Mahindra and their upcoming models.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Predictions of Mahindra future car designs :

I would also add 'bulges/bulk'. Overall I think their designs are nice but the rear tends to be bit bulging/bulky (Ex: Nexon and Harrier)

[vredesbyrd]

Well, RIP infotainment button switches if that is the case. Also, if they get more people from Tata, Mahindra will permanently lose AWD/4x4 and AT as well, since these always have been mutually exclusive for Tata.

[tushky]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Well, RIP infotainment button switches if that is the case. Also, if they get more people from Tata, Mahindra will permanently lose AWD/4x4 and AT as well, since these always have been mutually exclusive for Tata.

Pratap Bose is not responsible for deleting the infotainment button. It is a higher management decision. His role is till the designing stage only. He had designed it in the first place, later higher management deleted it to reduce the manufacturing cost.

[SNOWY227]

I don't understand these discussions about Mr.Pratap Bose designing Mahindra cars with "Tata's" design language, or that Mahindra will lose it's Pininfarina edge(which was not there much to be honest). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have always felt that TATA's new designs like the post-facelift Nexon, the Harrier( both interior and exterior) are hugely derived from the Land Rover portfolio and some bits from the Jags. (For example, the Harrier's door layout is TOO similar to the one on the Discovery Sport, apart from other things). And Mahindra has always had its own design for the most part, however polarising it might have been. My point here is, let's not judge too soon, and I certainly hope that with Mr.Pratap Bose, Mahindra will churn out very clean and striking designs in the future.

[sodapop]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Predictions of Mahindra future car designs :

1) Ceramic or plastic garnishes in window-line, tail-lamps and other highly noticeable areas in contrasting colors.

2) Tail lamps that protrude 2 feet beyond the body-line.

3) Sharp kinks and creases everywhere, keep some gauze and cotton ready for your eyes.

4) Tons of piano black plastics.

5) Unusable rear windshield.

RIP Pininfarina's Legacy. I actually liked Mahindra designs of late, best being the XUV 300, won't last now.

Not to mention the extra niggles they will come with as well. Mahindra designs were always loud. Now they'll be loud, brash and plasticky!

[DeadCenter]

Originally Posted by Guna

Is UK chosen for this design center just because Mr. Bose prefers to work from there? Or is it because they think that there is not enough design talent in India (which could be true). Otherwise they should have the design center right here because:

• Working closely with the engineering (which I believe will be still in India)
• Primary market is still India and I don't see a point for an Indian company to set up a shop elsewhere which only increases the cost
• Can't make a claim 'designed and developed in India' anymore
• Imagine doing the kind of exhaustive testing they are doing with XUV700 if the prototypes are built in UK

There is design talent in India but this talent is very undervalued. Very few designers in India are paid what they are worth and the average person does not understand what a designer can bring to the table. I work with many designers who are really good but they keep second guessing themselves. While experience plays a large role, these issues stem more from self worth. One will notice that many design heads in India come across as egoistical or narcissistic or some other extreme as this is what it took them to break the mould and attain self worth.

There's a big difference you would see in the confidence between an Indian designer vs say an European designer and this confidence does yield results.

[ZenMaster]

Originally Posted by RishavRBhardwaj

What a victory for Mahindra! Have to say Pratap Bose managed to make a personal brand of himself at least in the Indian market. Seldom people cared about car designers, knowing the name is a far cry. But Pratap Bose has to be the exception.

The other exception is Dileep Chabbria (DC), but in a bad way