C
ABOVE:
Chrysler’s
head of
motorsport
design,
Mark Trostle,
dreams up a
sketch of the
Dodge Viper.
CAN
MOTOWN
MAKE
SEXY
CARS?
BY SHARON CARTY
PORTRAITS BY MARVIN SHAOUNI
LAY DEAN SPENDS his days imagining the future.
You might soon be driving what he dreams.
As executive director of General Motors’ advanced global
design department, he is currently envisioning the roads of
2040, and what he sees is very different from today.
We are on the verge, he says, of a renaissance, an era
in which car design will change the look of our roads, the
way we commute to work, how much stress we endure
throughout the day, even our impact on the planet.
“Today, it is all possible,” says Dean, who sees Walt
Disney’s vision of futurism as a model. “It is an exciting
time to be a designer.”
This month marks 85 years since GM became the first
automaker to create a department devoted entirely to body
design. That department now finds itself at a crossroads: as
GM, the world’s biggest automaker, and other major American
manufacturers seek to regain the country’s confidence and
engage younger buyers — and even expand their business
to more distant, untapped markets — innovating at a pace
beyond what most car companies are used to will be key.