Drive what you draw

If you’re reading The Intercooler it’s a pretty sure bet you’re into cars and driving. You no doubt have a dream garage in the back of your mind should your numbers come up. The wealthy often have enviable collections of carbon fibre exotica, but if you’re truly, filthy rich you might also be mad enough to want to build your own car.

I don’t know how many Zenvos, Marussias or Lyken Hypersports we’ll see on the road but the old adage ‘to make a small fortune, start with a large one’ applies more often than not to new car companies. Fortunately, things are different if you work in product development or design for a major car company. Here you can dream, plan and sketch out a car of the future, and one day actually be behind its wheel. Better, you get to do so with someone else’s cash, and better even than that, you get paid for the privilege.

As designers we put untold effort and hours into designing a new car. Having expended all that time and energy, surely you’d like to own one? Accordingly, I’ve long been a campaigner amongst my fellow designers to ‘drive what you draw’.