Auto Industry 2.0

Build cars, sell cars. Hasn’t been that simple for the auto industry for a while. In fact over the past hundred years, it’s only gotten harder and more competitive. Still, America’s Big Three* soldiered on from the palm pad of Michigan.

* Ok we know Chrysler is now German, but we’re speaking nostalgically here.

Add to that, the news lately hasn’t been good. Ford is in dire shape. Dr. Z is doing nothing for Chrysler. And GM while promising a flood of hot products, still manages to take way too long to make them. On top of that, there’s oil to worry about, health care costs, and the impending arrival of cars from China. This could be a critical period of change for the industry. It’s likely how it operated in the twentieth century is not how it will look in this one.

We’re motivated to commit some space to this topic based on yesterday’s piece by columnist Peter M. DeLorenzo over at autoextremist.com. It takes a look at the current state of most of the major players in the auto industry. Yes, it’s written in a sort of rant tone, but the piece does manage to deliver a lot of insight on topics ranging from advertising campaigns (more Dr. Z bashing) to managerial blunders.

So what does the industry have to do to move forward? Here’s one idea which we’ve been wanting to post for a little while. It happened at this past years Salone del Mobile in Milan. French automaker, Citroen and Kartell, the Italian design furniture company, presented a special version of the C3 Pluriel model. The partnership aimed to present a new lifestyle and personalization approach to car ownership. Citroen provided the car and Kartell, being a company with extensive knowledge in plastics, deigned special body panels and interior components.

As a modular vehicle, the Citroen C3 Pluriel is an ideal vehicle for special customizations and exclusive editions. Kartell, a leading company in furniture design, has created two versions, one being the “negative” of the second one, using the “red Kartell” and black colors.

What’s so interesting about this project is that it marries a mass product maker with a trendy design savvy furniture company. (Feels like something straight out of Target’s playbook) And unlike other attempts by the auto industry to do special editions ( the Ford/Eddie Bauer Explorer) these are distinctive and pretty cool. Partnerships like this seem interesting and the potential ability for customers to mash-up a vehicle and surface design from a graphic design agency or fashion brand might bring new life to overlooked models. Not to mention the allure of the special edition ala the sneaker market.

Citroen | Katell minisite (in italian but photos are posted)