A few weeks ago, I visited AVATR’s Global Design Center in Munich to discuss exterior design, lamp concepts, and UX-lamp design with Nicolas Guille, Head of Exterior Design at AVATR. It was a privilege to spend time with such a talented French designer. Nicolas studied at the prestigious Strate School of Design and joined AVATR in 2019, just one year after the company’s founding in 2018, following a distinguished career at BMW. Since then, he has played a key role in shaping the brand’s design expression from its earliest stages.
This visit felt particularly special. When AVATR entered the market in 2021, its first model, the AVATR 11 (pronounced “one-one”), immediately caught the attention of the automotive design community. Slim, confident, and featuring an ISD (Interactive Signalling Display), it introduced a fresh perspective on vehicle lighting. At the time, a former design colleague raised many questions around legal approvals, lamp suppliers, and how it was all made possible. It reflected the complexity within traditional OEM design studios and lighting teams. It was therefore great to speak directly with the people behind the design and address questions that had been with me for a long time.
Nicolas began by introducing AVATR’s design philosophy: emotional aesthetics, advanced technology, and a deeply human-centric experience. At AVATR, the ambition is not simply to create visually striking vehicles, but to design products that establish a genuine emotional connection with people. This idea of “Emotive Luxury” is embedded throughout the entire AVATR experience. In the atmosphere a vehicle creates, in its proportions and precision, and in the way it feels when you engage with it.
Lighting occupies a central position within this philosophy. More than a functional requirement, it becomes a medium for expression, communication, and personality. A carefully orchestrated dialogue between technology and emotion. This holistic approach gives every AVATR its distinctive character: futuristic, refined, and unmistakably human.
What is particularly interesting is that AVATR’s lighting identity was defined from the very beginning of the brand’s creation under the leadership and vision of Chief Design Officer Nader Faghihzadeh. The fundamental idea of lighting as an emotional and communicative element was established as a core part of the brand’s design DNA. Building on this foundation, Nicolas Guille and the design team translated that vision into production reality, further developing and executing the lighting language across AVATR’s first vehicles. On the AVATR 11 and AVATR 12, the DRLs serve as the vehicle’s “eyes” rather than the low beams, while the signature light elements above them form expressive “eyebrows,” creating a distinctive and characterful front face.
The team continued to push boundaries, positioning the road-lighting modules as low as possible while maintaining lighting performance and meeting all legal installation requirements.
Just three years after the company’s founding, AVATR unveiled the AVATR 11. Many initially assumed it was a concept car. In reality, it was a fully functional production vehicle, bringing a remarkably futuristic vision to the road. A statement that remains just as compelling today.
The lighting signature remained remarkably faithful throughout the journey from early sketches to production, retaining its distinctive pixellated appearance. Even the halo lamp on the hood survived the transition, carrying a key element of the original concept into the final vehicle.
With the second release, the AVATR 12 (“one two”), the C-shaped DRL evolved into a longer and more assertive form, wrapping around the two lighting modules. This evolution not only strengthened the visual identity but also improved lighting performance compared with the single-module configuration of the AVATR 11.
The third model, the AVATR 07, retained a closely related lighting signature. For the fourth model, the AVATR 06, Nicolas sought to introduce a fresh interpretation while preserving the brand’s visual DNA. The signature eyebrow was inverted to create a more dynamic expression, while the C-shaped DRL evolved into a bold inverted L-shape.
To maintain top-notch lighting performance, the twin-module layout remained unchanged.
The next chapter of this design evolution may already be visible in the AVATR VISION XPECTRA, revealed last year. Its even sharper inverted L-shaped DRLs and more pronounced eyebrows offer a glimpse of where AVATR’s lighting language could be heading next.
Overall, the AVATR 11 and 12 were defining vehicles for the young brand. Designers first had to create the brand itself, then develop a product family around it, a complex and demanding task. With the 06 and 07, AVATR expanded its product portfolio while preserving the emotional and visual consistency of its brand DNA.
In a saturated market, innovation remains essential for creating distinction.
Then came the AVATR VISION XPECTRA, offering a glimpse into the brand’s future: richer detailing, further miniaturization, and “gentle-tech” that subtly conceals advanced intelligence systems, all designed to express AVATR’s philosophy of “Emotive Luxury”.
Shifting back to front-lamp design, our discussion turned to the “Halo” display, a defining element of the AVATR brand and a shared reference point for its user community. Through careful lifecycle management, AVATR aims to introduce the right technology at the right moment, and the Halo display reflects this approach. The AVATR 11 launched with a 10mm pixel size, while the AVATR 12 evolved the system to 4mm pixels, with increased luminance and sharper contrast.
| AVATR 11 | AVATR 12 |
| Pixel Pitch 10mm | Pixel Pitch 4mm |
| 1897 LEDs | 10,500 LEDs |
| 1000 cd/m2 | 2,000 cd/m2 |
| 4-level greyscale | 32-level greyscale |
I had the opportunity to experience the HALO display interface on AVATR vehicles in Munich, starting with the AVATR 11. Through the central stack display (CSD), you can select different greeting scenarios.
On the AVATR 12, the CSD interface is more detailed, offering a wider range of greeting modes.
You can select different types of messages.
The logo, a multidimensional polyhedron, plays a distinct role within the brand identity. On the AVATR 11, the design team developed a prismatic 3D interpretation of the emblem. With the AVATR 12, this evolved into a clean 2D illuminated version.
On the AVATR VISION XPECTRA, the logo was repositioned from the bumper to the hood to further enhance the sense of luxury in the design.
Design also plays a role in expressing the car’s intelligence, using a turquoise AD-S light to create a distinctive visual signature. The intention is to challenge conventional placement and creating clear differentiation, while still maintaining an emotional dimension. This is achieved by positioning the turquoise light in unexpected, carefully considered locations.
The final part of our discussion focused on rear lamp design. They are slim and sleek, integrated into the body volume and proportions of models such as the AVATR 11 and 12.
This long discussion was genuinely fascinating. Understanding what philosophy sits behind the lamp design, how the team developed an entirely new brand in such a short time frame, right in the midst of the COVID period, and how closely they collaborate with the R&D team in Chongqing, added real depth to the story.
Now I know more about AVATR, and so do you. I am grateful to Nicolas Guille and Younes Badi for facilitating this great exchange. It was the kind of experience that lingers, because it was not only about specs, but about the thinking and feeling behind them.
