The advent of the affordable motor car transformed our universe – bringing freedom and speed of movement to all. This transformation took place in under a century and the car now represents a key component of our global economic and social system and thus a part of our personal identity.

As new challenges and new needs appear, it seems relevant and legitimate to ask ourselves about the cars of tomorrow. What vision do manufacturers and designers hold of this fundamental component of our futur.

In 2002, ICSID defined design as “a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi-faceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems in whole life cycles.” From the original disegno to Ikea – how has design changed the way we perceive the tools, products and objects we interact with?

Information Technology put users firmly at the centre of the production cycle. This allowed participative design experiments which contributed to answering the dichotomy between the expression of desire (“a luxury car”) and the expression of need (“a functional car”).

From profiling studies to experiments in co-creation, from identification of objectives to expression of needs – who is truly acting as the designer today?

Patrick le Quément

Seduction, sensuality, passion: for Patrick Le Quément a car is not only about beautiful mechanics – it’s also a cultural object. Therefore, a car is not a standardized product anymore, its a true object of desire.

In 1967, he created International Style, a Consultant Agency before joining Ford as a designer in 1968 moving on to Design Management at Volkswagen in 1985. Joining Renault in 1987, he was named Director of Quality and Industrial Design in 1995 – in the same year he joined the management committee of the Renault group.