\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nC<\/span>ar designers are the Hollywood superstars of the automotive world. Impeccably dressed and impossibly good-looking, they\u2019re the soothsayers of the industry.<\/p>\nI had a day with two of them last week \u2013 first with the mercurial Renault Group design boss Laurens van den Acker, who, as well as being all of the above, gave me a secret glimpse into the future. I was sworn to secrecy, but all I can say is: you ain\u2019t seen nothing yet!<\/p>\n
Later that afternoon, I met Rafig Ferrag, head of creative design for Chinese brand Xpeng. <\/p>\n
Like many in the car industry, Ferrag had worked for several other car makers before landing at Xpeng, arriving via his homeland France, where he worked for Peugeot and Citro\u00ebn, and then moving on to Honda.<\/p>\n
Ferrag was in London hosting a talk at the London Art Fair, \u201cexploring the brand\u2019s design journey at the intersection of art, technology, and future mobility.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Ferrag, as with most car designers, it\u2019s as much about art as it is about cars. He told me: \u201cThe genesis of the design started because of drawing \u2013 a passion for drawing, a passion for art.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever can touch beauty in general \u2013 photography, paintings, sculpture, architecture, product design \u2013 things that make people dream, that look beautiful to your eyes, or that can communicate pleasure to people.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ferrag is bringing all of that to Xpeng\u2019s cars. The Xpeng G6 is already on sale in the UK, a car that doesn\u2019t exactly break new ground design-wise (though it did feature a full-width front light bar before the Tesla Model Y!) but is pleasing to the eye. The Xpeng P7+ is far prettier, while the G9 does a good job of making an SUV look attractive. <\/p>\n
Our conversation turned to the far future and the limits of car design until we get fully autonomous vehicles. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith an EV, you get a skateboard platform, and then we can put pretty much anything on top of it,\u201d Ferrag said. \u201cHowever, the regulations are still there \u2013 safety regulations \u2013 and these are shaping the cars today. In my opinion, as long as we don’t reach level five autonomous driving, the shapes are going to stay where they are for quite a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once fully autonomous cars arrive, all bets are off. \u201cThis will be the next level of creativity for designers to think of something completely different,\u201d he said, \u201cthen the possibilities are much, much bigger.\u201d <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just cars on the ground that Ferrag and his team have been designing. \u201cHave you looked at our flying cars?\u201d he asked. I had \u2013 though I admit, with a bit of a scoff.<\/p>\n
Xpeng is already there with its offshoot brand Xpeng AeroHT, which Ferrag is also working on. \u201cI mean, if you experience this in real life, this is already the future to me,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing from France with all those conservative thoughts and mindsets, and then going to a company like Xpeng, you design a car that flies \u2013 and then a few months later we are building prototypes that actually fly. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, I completely believe this is coming. We are working on robots that behave almost like humans today. If you see it, you\u2019d be astonished by the progress. So it\u2019s close \u2013 actually, very, very close.\u201d <\/p>\n
Does that mean flying cars will replace the cars we know today? \u201cReplaced? Probably not,\u201d Ferrag said. \u201cBut definitely, we are living in a 3D world, and right now we are just using a 2D platform to transport ourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 3D platform is the air, and it is still open for exploration. In my opinion, there are many things we can do with transportation, and when you add up the layers of transport, the 2D layer will naturally become less important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferrag and I have agreed to meet at the Beijing Auto Show in April, where he will show me Xpeng\u2019s flying cars and robots in person \u2013 and perhaps our next chat will be up in the air, not on the ground.<\/p>\n
Rest assured, I\u2019ll give you all the details on that meeting after it\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the DriveSmart newsletter<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>(The Independent)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe article above is an excerpt from The Independent<\/em>\u2019s DriveSmart newsletter.<\/p>\nEach edition offers clear, expert guidance on the fast-moving world of electric vehicles and modern motoring, from trusted reviews and practical tips to the biggest industry news of the week.<\/p>\n
To get the latest motoring insights from EV editor Steve Fowler delivered straight to your inbox, simply enter your email address in the box at the top of this page.<\/p>\n
You can also head to our newsletter preference centre to sign up for the email.<\/p>\n
Once there, all you need to do is press the \u2018+\u2019 button and enter your email address to sign up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Car designers are the Hollywood superstars of the automotive world. Impeccably dressed and impossibly good-looking, they\u2019re the soothsayers of the industry. I had a day with two of them last week \u2013 first with the mercurial Renault Group design boss Laurens van den Acker, who, as well as being all of the above, gave me a secret glimpse into the future. I was sworn to secrecy, but all I can say is: you ain\u2019t seen nothing yet! Later that afternoon, I met Rafig Ferrag, head of creative design for Chinese brand Xpeng. Like many in the car industry, Ferrag had worked for several other car makers before landing at Xpeng, arriving via his homeland France, where he worked for Peugeot and Citro\u00ebn, and then moving on to Honda. Ferrag was in London hosting a talk at the London Art Fair, \u201cexploring the brand\u2019s design journey at the intersection of art, technology, and future mobility.\u201d For Ferrag, as with most car designers, it\u2019s as much about art as it is about cars. He told me: \u201cThe genesis of the design started because of draw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}