September is starting, and a lot of new cars have been revealed all through the year. When I was young, I was able to recognize the car by their exterior design, not by their lamps. Now it becomes very complex, because a lot of cars have the same shape—in addition to a lot of new unfamiliar brands. Not so easy to tell between a Changan CS75 Plus and a Chery Exceed Yaoguang. Same for a previous Audi Q5 and a new Audi Q5…
…Except for the lighting! Lighting is becoming, more and more, a key brand differentiator, with its innovative shapes, signatures, and UX interaction (such as welcome and farewell displays).
Lighting designers play a crucial role, and they need to be aware of the latest technology on the market to bring it to reality as fast as possible. That is why development speed is becoming more and more important for our industry, and same for partnerships between automaker designers, R&D, purchasing, and tier-1 and -2 suppliers.
A lot of automakers have been changing their design staff—just look at Audi, JLR, Polestar, Volvo, and Ford, to name only a few. Here is hoping they will be careful not to overly change the lighting staff; to meet the rapid-fire challenges of providing constant new lighting content requires the sturdy, close working relationships possible only with long-term personnel stability.
Sincerely yours,
