The Global Automotive Design Industry Continues to Develop, And Professional Design and Development Is More Important

Under Different Cultures and Regions, Different Car Design Concepts Are Formed to Promote the Prosperity of the Industry

From a global perspective, the shape and style of automobiles develop and evolve in the continuous fusion of culture and technology. Due to the differences in regions and cultures, the automobile shapes of various countries have their own unique styles, which largely determines the development characteristics of the automobile industry and the development of technical service providers closely related to it.

The developed automobile industry in Europe has spawned a group of specialized technical service providers. Specialized automobile design and engineering technology companies have occupied an important position in the process of automobile design and development with their high efficiency and subdivision characteristics. Italy is the sacred place of automobile styling and has gathered many outstanding independent automobile design companies.

In recent years, although independent automobile design companies in Italy have shown a trend of integrating development with automobile manufacturers, professional technical services still play a very important role in the automobile development process, in which technical service providers that dominate engineering businesses.

The American automobile industry has the characteristics of large-scale and industrialized production. Therefore, the three major automobile manufacturers in the United States, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, have established exclusive design institutions within the enterprise. In the late 1990s, to open the global market, major American automakers relied on their strong financial resources to merge many world-renowned auto brands, and established multiple design studios in Europe and Asia to target various markets. For example, General Motors and SAIC have established a joint venture Pan-Asia Automotive Technology Center. Pan-Asia is not only responsible for Shanghai GM’s engineering development, but also provides related automotive engineering services for other auto companies.

The Germans invented the internal combustion engine and automobiles，which have always been known for their quality and workmanship. German car models are rigorous and practical, and have some high-level professional service organizations, such as EDAG. These technical service providers generally have a certain corresponding relationship with car manufacturers, and mainly serve one or several large manufacturers. Besides Italy and Germany, the automobile industries in Britain and France are also relatively developed. Among them, the British automotive has always been based on classic styles. French automotive has distinctive personalities without the vulgar, and they all like wedge-shaped bodies with unrestrained lines. They are very good at breakthroughs and innovations.

The automobile industry in Japan and South Korea is relatively developed, in which automobile manufacturers provide more design and engineering support for their automobile development through service providers that possess efficient and independent automobile professional technology. Among them, SIVAX, a Japanese automobile design and development institution, is mainly good at the production of show cars and various model cars, and the institutions in South Korean have strong advantages in engineering analysis and white body trial production.

Globalization Closes the Relationship Between All Aspects of the Automobile Industry, Making Professional Design More Important

Driven by the wave of globalization, the integration, acquisition, merger, and reorganization of the automobile industry in various countries have increased, causing the development of the automobile industry to become more international. In particular, the emerging markets of automobile production and consumption such as Brazil and China have brought new opportunities for the development of the automobile industry. In the context of internationalization, these technical service providers, which have broken through the restrictions of national borders and manufacturers, have played a more important role in the design and development of automobiles with more professional and comprehensive design and engineering analysis capabilities.

Therefore, the automobile design industry is generated by the needs of various countries for automobile styling and development, which has promoted the development of the automobile industry. At present, the development of the foreign automobile design and development industry is relatively mature, and it also shows some new characteristics. First, although there is a trend of integrated development of independent car design companies to car manufacturers in Italy, professional technical services are still very important for car manufacturers’ model development with the rise of the global emerging car market, especially specialized engineering technical service providers relying on their high-efficiency usher in more opportunities; Second, technical service providers and auto manufacturers present a certain corresponding relationship, mainly providing professional services for one or several auto manufacturers in the region. With the increasing degree of globalization, the range of customers of the technology service providers has gradually expanded to the global emerging markets.

The Automobile Design Industry Started Late, But Its Late-Comer Advantage Is Obvious

The automobile design and development institutions in China appeared late, and thanks to the rapid expansion of the domestic automobile market and changes in consumption concepts in recent years, they have achieved rapid development. Since 2000, with the increasing importance of independent intellectual property rights of China's automobile industry, specialized automobile design services have gradually started. At present, the domestic auto industry is increasingly inclined to adopt an internationally mature development model that the commissioned joint development under the condition of self-dominance, which provides a broad space for the growth of third-party automotive design organizations.

Benefiting from the rapid development of domestic self-owned brand cars, local technical service providers have gradually grown to take on more and more automotive design and development work. With their unique flexibility and innovation, local automotive design institutions have achieved rapid growth. However, limited by the relatively short development time of the automobile industry, the experience accumulated of the domestic automobile design industry is relatively insufficient, the scale of enterprises is relatively small, and unified technical standards and industry norms have not yet been formed.

In summary, the domestic automobile design industry is still in its growth stage. Thanks to the vigorous development of the domestic automobile industry, China has become an important market for various domestic and foreign automobile design and development institutions to compete for. Besides, the local automobile design industry will also usher in more development opportunities as the increasing demand for self-owned automobile brands.