Automotive Design Inspiration

The design of many different types of modern car is something to behold. Some look really futuristic, whilst others have strangely curved shapes and styles which are unique and retro. Where do these designers get their inspiration from?Automotive engineer jobs provide engineers with the chance to design a piece of machinery that is completely unique and different to anything else. The teams can work for years on their designs before they ever come to life. Many engineers look to other pieces of technology or icons to shape their design.One such example is the Saab, which was modelled on the fighter jet. Saab actually used to build fighter jets so this was always going to be established into their car models too. You can see this likeness in one of their TV adverts which was called “born with jets” and saw a Saab 9-5 race a fighter jet. Saab goes a step further by naming its cars things like “aero” and “vector” to further convey this fighter jet feel.Not all cars have such a “cool” origin though. For example, the Mercedes boxfish was originally designed from the concept of a fish! It is, in fact, entirely inspired by fish. The team of automotive engineers found a certain small sea dwelling fish to be totally streamlined so the engineers copied its shape and concept!One other example of a car which used something odd for its design inspiration and muse was the Mazda 6 which used sumo wrestling as a concept. According to the team who were given the Mazda automotive engineering jobs for this car, the vehicle’s sides are inspired by sumo wrestling and other slick areas of the car are dedicated to the samurai sword.One final car which was used a special object for its design concept is the Ford Cortina MK3 which was modelled on a Coke bottle! The rounded bodywork of the car is inspired by the curvaceous style of the bottle. The team working on the car wanted to incorporate the iconic image of the coke bottle into their car, and it’s not the first time they have used a coke bottle as a muse!As with art, designers and automotive engineers can take inspiration from many things in everyday life, from women to fruit and even emotion it’s self. Inspiration it’s self is something that is unique to human beings, a trait not found in the animal kingdom and one of the key components of human kinds development.