VW Design Boss: Our EVs Should Look Like Normal Cars
EVs are no longer just for early adopters and shouldn’t be designed like they are.
If there's one thing most can agree on about electric cars, it's that the best-looking ones don't necessarily make their EV status known via design. The days of eco-friendly baby blue trim, abnormally short hoods, and long windshields are out and, with just a few exceptions, the most agreeable EV designs on the road today could easily pass off as internal combustion cars. The man in charge of design at Volkswagen agrees.
Speaking to MotorTrend, VW design head Andreas Mindt admits that the current crop of electric Volkswagens—bar the quirky-by-nature ID Buzz van and overseas-only ID 3 hatchback—aren't really hitting. "[Now is] the right moment to do Volkswagen design ... And change it," Mindt told MT.
Mindt was brought on to his current role just this past February as part of VW Group CEO Oliver Blume's plan to right the Volkswagen business ship. The boss of VW passenger cars, Thomas Schaefer, recently told the company in an internal meeting that the "roof is on fire," calling for a freeze on spending and a general need for the company to get its act together.
A move that should make the brand's EVs more popular, Mindt argues, is to have them look more like normal cars.
"You don't need to convince people," Mindt said to the publication. "You don't need to do artificial things, be over-keen. Just calm down. Just make it good, make it fit, and it will work," pointing to the ID 2all concept he penned that just sort of looks like a new-new Golf and admittedly does look quite good.
Part of this, Mindt says, is the fact that EVs are no longer just for early adopters. "EVs are now 15% of the global market and more than 50% of the market in China. This is not an early adopter business anymore."
What does this mean for you and me? Well, when the inevitable, electric Mk9 Golf GTI and R come around, don't expect 'em to look too different from the internal combustion versions of today.
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