Latest / Car Concepts with Ralph Gilles / Episode 1- From Sketch to Street

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Episode 1- From Sketch to Street · Car Concepts with Ralph Gilles

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Car Concepts with Ralph Gilles.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about concept cars.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I am very, very happy today because we have some really cool guests on our show.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have Vince Galante,
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: head of, currently head of Jeep Studios, and Mark Trocel, who's head of Ram.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Two designers I've known for a lifetime.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Literally.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: And Mark and I went to school, so we'll talk about that a little bit.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: And Vinny was actually a student of mine when I was a teacher at CCS for a short while.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: But they've both had amazing careers in the industry,
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: have done production cars that you drive today.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to go back a little bit and unpack the concept of concepts.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're the ones that get away sometimes.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're the vehicles that can pivot a brand's direction.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: And there's people behind it that some you'll meet,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: some you'll never hear about,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: but they all have stories and they all live with us for our lives as designers.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to have some fun unpacking that.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hi, Mark.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Vinny.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: This is a pleasure to be with you today and just hang out and talk cars.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: And what we do for a living is fun.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's also tedious.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: It takes like four years to do a car.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: But concept cars are a different story, right?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Those tend to be like one-year projects usually.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're usually pretty...
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hair raising,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: you start sketching and next thing you know, you're shipping it off to be made.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I find that like the funnest part of what we do sometimes
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: because you can get your ideas there faster, get some feedback.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's unpack that a little bit, the journey of making concept cars.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: You guys have been here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've known you since school days.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: We went to school together at CCS.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And actually, you're also a CCS grad.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: We've known each other over 20 years now.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing privilege to, first of all, work with you guys, work alongside you.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: The stuff we've done, we can't always talk about.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: We've had some good times.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: But really, concept cars do punctuate our careers.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I can remember when we were students,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: we'd go to the show in Detroit,
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: and they'd be the ones that make us stop in our tracks.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: And of course,
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: you go back in history,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: and car companies just love doing them because they,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: you know, They kind of set the compass of where we want to head as a company.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just start there.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Mark, let's start with you since you're the senior here.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: What do concept cars mean to you?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And do you have a favorite that triggered either the love affair with design or
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: that earmarked your career at the company?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's funny right off the bat because I think you and I have that similar story
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: of when we were at CCS,
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Chrysler,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: as it was known at the time,
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: was just doing these incredible Of course,
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Viper was the one that I think just set the place on the map and was one of
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: the reasons I wanted to work here as well.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so that one really sticks out to me as just the icon.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then as a young designer,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: it's always the goal of like, I want to design a concept car, be involved with it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And just because of the energy that comes from them, the energy that we felt as students.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you want to be a part of creating that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a recruiting device in a way.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a calling card to the talented people out there.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard even engineers talk about that particular car,
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: the Viper, as being like, whoa, what's up?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: What's going on over there at Chrysler?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: How about you, Vinny?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: What was the one?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: You guys talk about inspiring students.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I don't think I ever told you this story before.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this will be a good one for you.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the 2000 Viper.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Which, you know, I love that vehicle.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And my story is not so much about that object itself.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember seeing that on the auto show stand and I loved it, of course, and inspired me.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: When I was in school, I started at U of M before I went to CCS.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I was kind of back and forth.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to do product design, gaming, entertainment design?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I loved cars.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to be a car designer?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And in my downtime in between classes, I used to go to the Borders bookstore in Ann Arbor.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I was in there one day after class just poking around at car magazines and stuff.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a Viper magazine quarterly.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it was the story of the 2000 Viper GTS concept car.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I think both you guys had sketches in there.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: You had an interview in there.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember flipping through those pages.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the one like, you know what, this is what I want to do.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I saw it was like there's these rows of sketches along the bottom of that magazine.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was some of your interior work was in there.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, no, that's what I want to do.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think shortly after that, that would have been like.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Probably 2000, summer, spring of 2000.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Shortly after that, I was like, called my mom, like, I got to go to CCS.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I got to switch.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I got out of U of M. I switched over to CCS.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think that car kind of has a special, I still have the magazine.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: That car has kind of a special place for me because of that experience in the bookstore.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that was kind of an eye-opening moment.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, let's fast forward to this current moment.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right about, first of all, Chrysler.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: We were on a roll.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Even when I joined the company,
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think we were averaging like four to five concept cars a year, it seemed, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: We had the cab forward series.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: We had the retro inspired.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: We had just about everything.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember back then, those cars would go on tour.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Go to Pebble Beach, and they go to all these shows.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And they would just have a lasting effect.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we have all of them.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: We still own them all and share them with the public.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: and I want to bring business into it,
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: but do you think there's a business case for concept cars if you had to put
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: on your business hat on?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know,
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: and it's probably a tough one to really put data or quantify,
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: but I think it's that emotional piece of being able to,
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: you know, inspire new talent, for one.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's helped set the brand identity.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know,
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: as we always do,
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: experiment with,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: forms and things like that that I think ultimately helps a brand because
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because it lets us try things that maybe we're not making it in production,
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: but we're gauging public reactions.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Open experimentation.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: so I
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: think that's probably the business case side of it is that we do learn so much
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: from doing them.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: What would a world look like without Concepts?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think, too,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: they're like a safe space,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: not just for us as designers,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: but for the engineers and the brand teams and product teams.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: We get into the production programs, and it's tough.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're grinding,
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: getting to delivery dates,
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: meeting into our budgets,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: feasibility,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: and so I think it's inspiring for everybody to just have that safe space and
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: that clear end date to work to, to To just be free and try things.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: So let's be vulnerable for a moment.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want this to be just a Chrysler commercial or a Stellantis commercial.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Which concept cars from competitors or something out there that you've seen
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: that isn't from your minds that also inspires you?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's a deep one.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: You do pay attention, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And nowadays with the social media,
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: they ping and you kind of get a 360 experience almost instantly.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I guess for me, a lot of times, there's so many good ones.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I remember going to the Geneva Auto Show a couple times and seeing some of
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: the French concept cars there from many different companies and just how wild
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: and how avant-garde the designs were.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I always thought it was so inspiring.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that looks so cool.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I wouldn't even think to draw that.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's just such a different culture and a different aesthetic,
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: but it really, I think it's really inspiring for me.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I always love seeing, because we have our own identities and our philosophies.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: And to me,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: concept cars are a great way into the minds of other brands
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: and their design philosophy to see how are they looking at things differently
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: than we are as well.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And there's things to be learned from that as well.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it's always a great peek of where are they headed versus what's on
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: the road currently that we can learn from.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: And some in our audience may not realize this,
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: but we have, there's a secret society of designers, right?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So usually back in the day,
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: there was a lot more car shows and we would come here in Detroit and
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: after there'd be designers night,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: and we did seen the models or the launches of the concepts
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: and everyone would be congratulating each other.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I love your concept.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love what you did there.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then the awards,
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: sometimes we vote on each other's We would walk around and criticize,
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: which is tough because each of them have a mission.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're all trying to achieve something.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: But to me, it's like, you know, go.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Go car designers of the world because it kind of keeps, you know, raising that bar.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So in terms of like the ones you've touched,
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: we have some interesting ones behind us, some recent ones.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: We have the Crew Chief Moab, a four-place design.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: It was a Gladiator, but now it's something else.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: The ME412,
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: one of my personal favorites,
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: and still one of the best-looking concept cars to this day.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: It has just stood the test of time.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Nylander's design is just rock solid.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: The EJ, of course, is a vehicle we're just launching now, the new Recon.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And probably the Mac Daddy of all madness that we've ever done is the Tomahawk motorcycle.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I do remember when...
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: First of all,
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: the assignment,
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: we're not sure where it came from because we were younger designers back then,
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: but there was so much buzz about wanting to do something different.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time,
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: the leadership was obsessed with the Viper,
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: you know, the V10 engine, the whole outrage.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like, how can we one-up ourselves?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that was an era, I think, when we were kings of the motor show.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: We came out with five,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: six concept cars a year,
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: and we were doing well as a company, so we could afford to have a little bit of fun.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: But this one was the one,
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: if there was the internet back then,
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: it would have broken it, you know, but The internet didn't exist.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: But were you around during that time?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what's your emotional connection to that thing.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because people still talk about this thing.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: And this is one that I think still resonates so well as 2003,
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: this was introduced at Detroit Auto Show and Wolfgang Bernard.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: From a design standpoint,
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: it's really cool, but the outrageousness of it.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I think really cool concept cars have that lasting impression
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: that this thing is vintage, but it's still so cool, a V10 motorcycle.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: I look at that and people don't realize what it takes to get that to happen.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember, at the time, the CEO of the company loved it.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Dr. Secha was like, yeah, we got to make that thing.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, who sold it to him?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because there is no real business case.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: We weren't a motorcycle company at all.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: The Viper engine was being celebrated.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Viper was very hot back then.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I look at that as like, OK, that one, it just flattened everything.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I bring Viper owners here in our collection once in a while, private tours.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they all want to sit on it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: They all just want to do that thing and lay like Tron.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, for everyone out there, it does run.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It starts,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: and it not only starts the thing,
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: you have to really brace yourself when you rev it up because it wants to launch you.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember Wolfgang Bernhard destroying Mazda's press launch
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: because we were right before them in the cycle,
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: and then he wouldn't stop revving it,
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: and they just couldn't even have a press launch because the thing was so loud at
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: the Detroit Motor Show.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, as we were talking about the Tomahawk,
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: for those that don't know what it is,
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: in 2003 we introduced it at the Detroit Motor Show,
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: and Viper was such a – that engine was such a – So known at the time that,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: this was thought to be a great concept, even though we don't make motorcycles.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: In fact,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think there was debate whether it was truly a motorcycle or not
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: because it has had four wheels on it that,
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: you know, it's obviously something in between.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: But a really fun project that, you know, Design Office had a great time being a part of.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I think,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: this vehicle still resonates well,
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: you know, when people talk and people come to Connor as well.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk a little bit about the ME, right?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know a designer, at least internally, that doesn't love the ME 412.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: When did that car come out?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: It came out?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: 2004.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: 2004.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was a year after Tomahawk.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you would have been a student graduating from school.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember seeing it back in those days?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember seeing it on the magazine covers everywhere.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned Brian Nylander.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's our chief designer in the Jeep studio who designed that vehicle.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Him and I were actually talking about it just two weeks ago maybe.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked about this kind of safe space to create concept cars.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he told me of everything he's worked on,
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: When he put the sketch up for that in that competition and it got picked,
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: it was basically him and I think Tom Tremont,
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: the head of advanced design, direct line.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was just a regular designer at the time.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Who did the interior?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: I forget who did.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: That might have been Mark Walters too.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: But Brian told me that he really,
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: to this day,
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: feels like that was the purest expression of his passion for car design.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we all see it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think that's why we all...
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: It rocked the world in their company.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: I remember they built a second one.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a test vehicle that ran and did Laguna Seca, did labs.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look it up on the internet,
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: there's some beautiful photography because it was foggy when they tested it.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the vehicle's in here.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's a matte black version.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think that might,
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: yeah, the matte black version of that car, that's the other, the pretty one.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's the evil test car.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So there's two ME412s.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel the same way.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I walk in here sometimes, and it's dimly lit, and the car just looks good.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Proportions live forever.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it's interesting to that point,
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: you know, concept vehicles obviously always leave a lasting impression.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about Tomahawk and that.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I will say that,
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: you read,
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: you know, blogs,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: on the Internet and they talk about, you know, vehicles that should have been made.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you talk to people.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: The ME412 is one that always gets talked about.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, man, I wish they would have made that or they should still make it, you know.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's so weird.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: What a testament to the design.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the word was out there,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: because we had the test car,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: that was actually,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think it influenced a lot of cars, the Paganis of the world that came afterwards.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because it really wasn't anything quite that extreme.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: It did 060,
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I believe,
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: in 2 seconds or something like that,
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: 2.5 seconds, which was a lot for a rear-drive quad-turbo V12.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty amazing.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have one that stimulates you?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys remember the – I remember every year looking forward to
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: the concept car kickoff and we'd fill the room in the studio.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's where a lot of the ideas like that were born.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's another thing because we – like I was saying before,
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: you know, Production cars take a long time.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: They're hard to do.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: They're laborious.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Concert cars are a little different.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things at the company is we'd open up Sketchfest, you know, and to everybody.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we still do it to this day.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: We open it up.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's a very, I would say, narrow brief, almost briefless, really, and to see what happens.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that feeling, you know, like sketching and Like open call.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I still remember the calls I would get like, why are you still at work?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Are you coming home?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: because it was just we had,
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: all the things that we were doing in our production day job,
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: you know, and but this nugget of winning a concept car was in the back.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I remember the, you know, quiet in the building trying to sketch.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I think one of those sketches is how I got into Jeep in the first place.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the green, the green.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: I came around and I walked past and was like, I think you should be in the Jeep studio.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately,
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: I never won a concept car like sketching,
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: but I remember just like every week trying to get to that review and coming in.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think they were 30-inch by 40-inch prints, and we'd come in and everybody'd pin them up.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like Christmas morning, right?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: You had no idea what anybody else was working on.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: of like school.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you're bringing in your work and see what did everyone else come up with.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Are you jealous of the kids today that get to do that?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: Just feel your hand.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: We're managers now, so we don't get to sketch
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: quite as much.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a concept that you would feel made it?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's nuggets that we mine from that have made it to production.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: Can you think of an example?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Concept cars that have influenced your designs.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: I hate to go back to always talk about Viper,
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: but that car,
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: you look at the concept that that was
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: and then the production version of it.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And all the front ends on Dodges for a while.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the influence that it had, and it actually got better, right?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: When it became a production vehicle, it got better, and so I think that's a pretty significant.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Vehicle Prowler's another one that, from a concept to a production car, it's pretty cool.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think about the Easter Jeep Safari concepts,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: and it's not so much that any one of those in totality made it to production,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: but there's so many parts and pieces That are learnings from when we were out
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: in Utah.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Talk more about that, actually.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: You run Jeep today, and I know there's a process, right?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Easter Jeep Safari is a big part of our culture at Jeep.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit about that.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Easter Jeep Safari happens the week before Easter every year.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a cool event because we didn't start it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I think we had our 60th anniversary of it last year,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: but I shouldn't say we, it had a 60th anniversary.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've been about 18 years involved or something like that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just under 20.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: enthusiasts from all over the country,
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: all over the world,
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: bring their Jeeps that they've customized and they've put together.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just wanted to be part of the action.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we started, you know, kind of in the bellows of the building, building these concept cars.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: You remember Mark Allen?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Recycling old test cars.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, recycling old test cars and, like,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Enticing the guys in the shops that just, again, for them, it was a passion project.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: So they'd help us with the mechanicals or the bodywork or the paint or whatever.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we started bringing these kind of caricatures of Jeeps out there.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the response was just crazy, right?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: People loved them.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's become this yearly thing that we do.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: But in the process,
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: we wheel the vehicles,
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: we go rock crawling, we get stopped on the trails by, you know,
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: They tell us what they think.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Some are positive,
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: some are negative,
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: but we always learn something and each year start to bring things back.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: We get asked a lot, what do you get out of that?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: What actually makes it to production?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the most frequent example is colors.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we started doing,
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think we painted one of the Jeeps to match a garbage can that was in the studio
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: and thought that that was crazy.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like what nobody's going to want this flat gray.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like one of our most popular colors.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, then we started doing like bright orange and pink.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we just tried it and people loved it and started naming them,
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know, started naming their Jeeps after the colors.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's one example.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: But we've also done things like we're off-roading in Moab and we tore the side of
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: the bumper off.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So now the Rubicon, you can get removable end caps on your bumper.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of a hazing, too, for Jeep designers, right?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: A designer has to go there or at least eventually finds their way to Moab.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Even our European Jeep team has been there, and it changes your life.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a good one.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: the color piece is really important because,
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: you know, Ralph, you and I did a Spring Fest.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: We used to participate in Spring Fest a lot,
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: and, you know, concepts don't have to be as outrageous as these things.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Actually unpack Spring Fest a little bit because it's a really important thing.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: It almost has the same gravity as Moab's.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, where it's enthusiasts coming together.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Springfest was put on by John Fortuno.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was kind of this iconic car show for our 300 Charger Challengers in Southern California.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Just awesome.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: And we would go to it because of the energy we would get from customers there.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: On our own.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: I used to go on my own dime at the beginning, just walking
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: around and just listening.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's because it had energy from folks there.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we did a similar thing that you guys do in Jeep.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: We had some fun with colors for Dodge and SRT.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: And kind of hinting at the future, see what kind of polarizing colors we could do.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: And we put together a gold Challenger.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I remember that.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: What was the name of that color?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: We ended up calling it Gold Rush.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: We had a few different names.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: We were playing around with Gold Rush.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: But that vehicle, we put together.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: We painted a shaker, body color, did a few things on it that weren't in production just to test.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: And the reaction was incredible.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it blew up.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how that came about.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think you were involved in this, but I remember the speed forms.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the same event I was.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: That was one of the only time we've done that.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Speedforms are these little blobs that are meant to look like cars that you paint
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: for color matching or color testing.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: And we would go every year to this event, which we love.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: And we would do roundtables.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: And we would love to talk to the customers.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: But they always want to talk about future products, stuff that we couldn't talk about.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I remember actually coming to you and like, let's get something from them.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: So in working with LaShirl, who runs our color department, we painted all of these speedforms.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think like 20 of them.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, and then we had customers vote, and that's how a lot of the colors.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them made it, right?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Hellraising came out of that.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and there's still a
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: gift that keeps on.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to do it again, actually.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was really cool.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing you talk about is a What I find today with the tools people have,
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: the 3D printability,
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: let's say, you're starting to see cars on the road that kind of look like concepts.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, people are taking the matter into their own hands.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we see cars as canvases in a way,
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: whether they're production cars that people take to another level
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: or we do it ourselves.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: So speaking of people doing it themselves, we're just now in the age of AI.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard not to talk about design today without AI.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: What's your thinking?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: How do you kind of,
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: what's your relationship,
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: I should say, with AI, creativity, concepts, exploration, all that jazz, you know?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, tough one, right?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a heavy one, right?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's also a touchy subject, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, it's funny, in the design studio, we've named AI Carl.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: We've nicknamed him Carl.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we always ask, did Carl do that?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because AI, sometimes, as you guys know, it skews things a little bit.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's not exactly pretty.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can tell.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's a great tool.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: To inspire, I think it's a dangerous tool too because it's pulling from things that it knows.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so how do you come up with some of these,
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: this crazy, you know, asking someone else to think of it.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: But I will tell you, I like it as someone who doesn't get to sketch so, you know, fluid anymore.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: I love doing it because,
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: I have an idea of,
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: doing a pro touring,
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: whatever,
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: and I'll put the car in a stealth I've been looking at,
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: like making a wide body do this.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's amazing.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because it gives me a really cool image very quickly.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's not really a concept.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's more something that I personally want to build.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it as a storytelling tool.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just because I think when we're working on Jeeps,
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: a big part of it is the different lifestyles and the different personalities that
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: a single Jeep can take on.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it could be more of a custom look or more of a rock crawler,
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: more of a heritage piece or something like that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the storytelling piece of it for me has been...
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Really pretty powerful.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know,
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: something that's interesting is like the young designers are very careful
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: with getting into that tool because,
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: you know, where I at first see it as a tool is like exciting.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I kind of as I thought about it more,
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: these designers coming out of school like we did still have this urge
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: and this desire to kind of To show their creativity and kind of prove themselves.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they want you to know that, no, it came from my brain and my hand and I did this.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a very good segue because we talk about you work with young people, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Innocent young designers straight out of school.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: And innocent's a keyword, right?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: And concept cars are supposed to be innocent.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: They're supposed to be kind of a reality check to some point.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: But how do you govern what is so crazy that maybe that's too far
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: and how You let it go and almost taunt the engineers,
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: like, I dare you to try to figure this out.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: I could ask that question myself because sometimes I look at it and I want it to be
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: as crazy as possible because why not, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Let's challenge ourselves.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Let's ask the questions.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I find it a big challenge just internally myself,
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: like leading the team of like – and sometimes I want them to – well,
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: all the time, I want them to push me and I want to be uncomfortable.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I guess knowing the limit's a hard question.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I try to internally register, is the limit me and my taste and my generation?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or is the limit like, this is not feasible?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of trying to balance those things.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes gauging the reaction of others that are in the studio
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: and what they might think of their first initial reaction.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's a hard one.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: It is tough because you balance how much you know,
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: but then that how much you know can help guide that naivety that they do have,
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because we can see like, okay,
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: it's fresh,
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: but how do we make it Knowing how connected we are to the brands and the customers
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: and through that experience of how do you take that naivety and don't lose
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: the energy,
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: but now really turning into something,
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: and I hate to use the word commercial,
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: but something that is very appropriate for what we're doing.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a fine line.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: interesting too.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: We've toyed with video games, right?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another place to launch cars that may never exist at all, right?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: And may never even be physical.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's just purely virtual.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's a new space that...
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about a lot.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've actually designed cars for SRT.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: What was that thing called?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was the Tomahawk, actually.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: The name was inspired by that car, but it only lives in the virtual world, right?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Which to some people, that's a lot.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's a thing, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: So what do you think of that space?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess, where do you see concept cars going in the next 10 years?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do we stay virtual?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think the physical is important?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: What's your opinion?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's funny because I think a lot of our Competition has done a lot
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: of virtual concepts as well.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we even joked around like as vapor, you know, vaporware and things like that.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: But I think it's still important.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's still a space for it because it does allow you to test.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: And express the creativity of the brand or what you're trying to create.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: But you bring up the Tomahawk video game.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that is a really interesting space that can continue to grow.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because that concept then is reaching people that maybe would not be aware
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: of what your brand is all about.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: And actually,
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: as recently as a few months ago,
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: I saw someone post about the Tomahawk on Instagram playing their performance.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're Gran Turismo.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, look at that.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's still out there representing SRT.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: What's your opinion of that?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're a gamer, right?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up with video games.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: My son is playing video games all the time.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a really interesting...
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the industry is huge.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the biggest industries in the world, right, is gaming.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so it means a lot to people.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it gives, again, I think we were talking about a safe space to create and to innovate.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it's even safer, right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can really explore.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think actually getting a new generation of people engaged
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: in fresh ways is important because I think the way that we all grew up with cars and
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: the way that we've all been inspired by cars is a bit different than Kind of
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: the younger generation.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think any way to get the love of cars transferred to the next group is...
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm starting to feel like technology was kind of in the way.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: We could dream things up that we couldn't build.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a problem.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I see today, again, tools are getting better.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Digital lights are getting free form.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can do anything, basically.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like some production cars are starting to feel like concept cars.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we now have to...
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Go even harder, and maybe back to, I hate to date myself, but the Jetsons thing.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, really scary stuff.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like how wild can it be?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: And again, fusion propelled.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: You talk about the rocket age.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: I look back at concepts from the 50s, and they were smoking something.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because they were inspired by the rocket age.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Today, maybe the digital age is inspiring us.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: What's your opinion of the next, again?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the next 10 years of
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: what we do for a living.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: If I look back at just car design and from my eyes is I remember
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: when things switched from Photoshop to Alias and what that did to influence
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: the surface of the vehicles.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think like a really good one at the time was the flame surfacing from BMW.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when I look at that now,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: it's like, oh,
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: that and I don't know if this is the case,
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: but my hunch is that those surfaces were something that looked really cool and
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: that You didn't typically build in clay manually.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So now as I look like 10 years ahead,
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: what I'm really interested in is we're limited a lot now by molding plastics
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: or stamping metal or doing things like I see a lot of 3D printing and more
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: of those kind of advanced manufacturing processes coming.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious to see how that might inspire somebody to shape something differently.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: You have no dipole, no dipole line.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now what do you do?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: You have no stamping press.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's limitless almost, right?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Perfecting see-through paint where you can light through paint
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: and sensors can now look through fascias and metal even versus having to be on
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: the outside.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm interested to see how not just the style or a shape that gets us excited,
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: but how the manufacturing and the process of creating that shape influences
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: the shape itself.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think that'd be...
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Your comment, your question, actually, it made me think of something.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: We were talking about Detroit Auto Show was always the staple
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: for just amazing concept cars years and years ago.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: But if you look at what's happened,
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: CES, the Consumer Electronics
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Show, has actually become The concept vehicle place.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of it,
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: touches on what you just spoke about,
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: is the technologies and different infrastructures actually affecting transportation.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's a
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: great point.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when we did the 200 concept, I don't know, it was 2008.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the exterior was OK, but it was about the interior.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: We were introducing the idea that the iPhone had just come out,
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: and we were looking at smooth, freeform touch screens.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: And ever since then,
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's really been the other part of concept cars that people are focused
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: on.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: More than ever, right?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, I would hate interiors to look like an Airbus, just a bunch of screens.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we're kind of in that pivot point where, OK, we figured that out now.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: How can we get back to beautiful, get back to breathtaking cars?
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because we all fight every day for cars not to become commodities, right?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess leaving a word of wisdom, what have you learned looking back at your career?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're closing on 35 years.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're 25 years, right?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Something like that?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: 21.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: 21 years.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys are veterans.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be honest, right?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: You've been around a minute, right?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: So talking to the aspiring designers out there, what's some advice or point of views on design?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that question.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I always...
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I truly, truly believe this for one thing.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: And whether you're an aspiring designer or anything that anyone is going to do is never give up.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, never follow your passion, follow your heart on things.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, for young designers, I think it's...
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Embody and embrace the emotion that they have for design and certainly for
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: the automobile and put that energy into what you're creating.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: But never, ever be afraid to listen and learn from people.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the most important thing is to always try and grow
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: and that'll make you a great designer.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: And grow, key word.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to fanboy on you a little bit.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I know, Mark, a big part of your career, you've been into muscle cars.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: You personally love performance and all that.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when we gave you the assignment to do RAM.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you've been doing RAM for how long now?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: Six years.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: Five, six years.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Ramp's come from your team, and it's an amazing ability to pivot from muscle cars to trucks.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so it takes a bit of a reprogramming in a way,
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: but also because of that, the trucks have a little athleticism.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: The new Rumblebee's got a lot of your Utspa in there in terms of you can feel that DNA.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: And same for you.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think you've been kind of, you were in Dodge at one time, right?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: Doing the Durango.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Working on that and then went to Jeep.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, you made a pit stop in UX.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: User experience in between.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: So talk a little bit about,
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: I guess we'll start with Vinny,
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: but that transition,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: dealing with different conceptual ideas in those,
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: you know, career paths that you've jumped.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think building off what Mark was talking about,
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: about Being open and learning, that for me has been kind of being curious.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when you moved me to the UX team, I was scared to death.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in those uncomfortable moments,
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: being able to learn and adapt is the places I grew the most.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And really kind of helped me understand like,
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: okay, if I can't, the pencil's not gonna help me in UX.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I knew was drawing.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: What else do I got to offer?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: How can I help the team?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: How can I grow the team?
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: How can I support them and do those things?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, UX,
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: that was a shift from designing physical things to digital things was a big shift
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: and I think really insightful to the overall experience and I think even gave me
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: a bit more of a realistic appreciation for what the customer values.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny,
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: when you talk to the media or even the public,
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: sometimes you may be known for one car that you did, right?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: But they don't realize you worked on hundreds in your career.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've touched 320 cars in 35 years in terms of 10 cars a year,
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: at least, that we work on.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, you keep having to reprogram, right?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Keep swiping the databanks clean as much as possible,
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: keeping your experience, but learning and progressing.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: So talk about that.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're kind of at the end here, but talk about a little bit this reinvention of yourselves.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: My trick is to pluck you guys and move you to completely different,
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: uncomfortable environments,
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: send you to Europe, whatever I can do to till the soil of your mind.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: So talk about how you keep yourself as relevant and current as possible.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think that actually, I mean,
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: it's a good success formula because I think,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: you take what you've learned in the past and then have to,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: how do you apply some of that thinking or a fresh approach to something
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: that you're not familiar with?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: Which then ultimately creates something that's unique and different.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then personally,
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: that challenge,
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: is always a great one because you're thinking about things more
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: than maybe you normally do on how to be new and how to be fresh with things.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: How about Eve in here?
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think you could go back to a story in UX.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I had a lot of experience and worked on a lot of different things,
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: but I still,
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: like when we're having our meetings and our reviews in the studio,
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: try not to make it Vince's review.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like where Vince is the only one talking.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want everybody talking and I want to learn from,
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we hire young people for their fresh perspective and their new ideas.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm, I think,
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Reversing trying to learn from them as well and actually apply that,
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: not just say it,
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: but actually apply it into the things that we're doing and help them be part of
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: the discussions and be open-minded.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I think I stay fresh by never standing still, if that makes sense.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: And going back to concepts, I mean, that's what the concepts do in a way, right?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great way for a leader like yourself to get those ideas as fast as possible
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: and inspire the world.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess concepts don't predict the future, but they kind of invite it.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: They cause conversation.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: They cause even the brands internally to maybe pivot, right?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: And for us, it's identity.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: I remember Tom Gale back in the day would kind of trickle out a new Chrysler,
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: a new Dodge form factor with concepts, teasing the soil.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: If it didn't work, it's like, OK, we've got to go a different direction.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, thanks a lot for being with us today.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Any parting thoughts?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think concept vehicles are one that I don't think will ever go away.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: We do a lot of things internally,
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: and it really creates such good energy for design teams to be a part of,
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: whether they're shown or not.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's inspiring stuff.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, I'm with you.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they never go away because they really are such a great exploratory tool for us.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: Even if they're autonomous and drive themselves and fly, we're still going to...
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, a lot of fun guys and total pleasure to be hanging out with you.