kvndoom

Maybe the next-gen will get rid of those smiley faces...

http://blogs.edmunds.com/straightlin...gn-studio.html

DailyDriver2k5

This is terrible news IMO, that means the next gen cars might be aerodynamic bricks. VW styling is so V-A-N-I-L-L-A! Yuck....

There best looking cars were designed in the late '80s and early '90s.

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

Dont forget about all the unecessary chrome....

Bad, bad, bad,,,

8 Maniac

iTrader: (1)

I'd say it depends. If he can take the direction of a company and continue it, then it might work out. If he decides to start by just making it all his own work, then it would be bad possibly.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

this has a TON of potential. (both good and bad)

J03K1LLARX8

iTrader: (1)

i hope this guy doesnt wreck mazda's look.

ZumnRx8

GOOD AND BAD
Good
1. VW's, GLI,1.8T, 2.0t, GTI, TDI are turbo'd (besides the miata and 6)? Maybe we'll finally get one?
Bad
From Jap - Germ designing, i dunno, however the germs have been putting out some agressive looking machines. (stock)

DailyDriver2k5

Your right about the agressive looks coming out of Germany, but not out of VW. Now if he came from Audi , Porsche or Mercedes i would breath a little easier.

I just came from my lunch break and some guy had a kitted out newer style Golf GTI , looked ok, but beneath the kit, rims and tint it look like a plain ol grocery getter hooked up, it just look cheap and generic.

ZumnRx8

pics or didnt happen lol j-k

neXib

So you don't think the Scirocco looks awesome? If only the Golf didn't look too much like it and it was FWD :P

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Just what we need, another VW Bug/ Audi TT squashed bug design. It'll be all Tron soon!

ZumnRx8

think about it
Supra=not gonna happen, toyota likes their MPG saving Yaris, and Corolla,
S2K and NSX= No more
RX7-RX8-RX9= Gonna be monsters
we might get a nice desing for the RX7

but then again, the GTR VSPEC GODZILLA is gonna run the streets and the ZR1

zoom44

First off this isn't replacing the Head of Corporate Design- that's currently Laurens van den Acker who replaced Moray Callum in 2006.

Derek Jenkins will be Replacing Franz von Holzhausen who left Mazda North America for Tesla a short while ago.

Now you might wonder why i throw all these names in this post- its not just name dropping.

Van den Acker is from the Netherlands and worked previously at Bugatti and Ford before joining Mazda.

Callum is from Scotland and worked at Ghia (worked on Jaguars there too) , Aston Martin, Chrysler and Ford.

Franz is from Connecticut(I thought he was younger then me- must be the hair -but ive just seen he was born a month later no wonder we got on well at 7stock) and designed the Solstice, the Sky, the Kabura and Furai all AFTER working the new Beetle into production under J Mays (actually even after Mays had left for Ford) at Volkswagen

Derek Jenkins worked not in Germany but out of VWs California Design Center. He's whole career so far is with VW but guess what one of his early projects was..... the new Beetle with Mays and Franz!!!

one of his concepts was the 2005 GX-3 "Ariel atom meets trike by VW"




which if you've seen my "secret is out thread" you can guess where it was built

http://www.aria-group.com/portfolio/category/1 scroll down a bit 'til you get to 2005


But the point is all of these guys have tremendous talent. They nearly all have gone to the same school tho starting out in different places. And they've worked with each other or replaced each other at some point. None of them are German

So don't get stuck on "he came from Germany/VW so everything will change now". van den Acker still controls the final design. Jenkins gets to design concepts and compete with the other regional designers for production designs.

zoom44

oh and as for J Mays if you want know if he had a hand in designing something- look at the wheel arches on your RX-8

ZumnRx8

i see....i thank him for the arches/fenders

Mazdaspeed RX8 ver2

i dont think this is a bad thing, everyone is assuming he's gonna continue the trend he had from VW, thats not true, as an Industrial Design Major, we all take different approaches to designing, especially when jumping from company to company, i have produced concepts for Audi, Mazda and Toyota for many projects and was amazed to find out how different each concept looked. anyways, designers look back to previous designs and each companies unique look to incorporate their design.