Looking Out - The Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Hoo boy, it's been a beat!

But: Joe and Drew are back with a dissection of everything that's wrong with the Bugatti Tourbillon's windshield wiper, and the massively missed opportunity that is Apple's second-generation CarPlay.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

This episode gets personal! 

Join Joe and Drew as they explore the sensory and emotional components of car design through the lens of their beloveds: the Mercedes W140 S-Class and the Porsche 911. 

In this episode, they delve into their stories with these cars and how they came to be so meaningful to them.

They also discuss the importance of strong convictions around what character means to a brand, and how cars are paragons of multi-sensory orchestration.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

For two decades, China has been the goose that laid the golden egg for Western automakers.

Now, it might just be the market that screws the pooch.

Joe heads to Shanghai after a few years away to see just how far the Chinese manufacturers have come. 

We explore how automotive culture is developing, and paint a picture of the challenges ahead for both Chinese and Western automotive manufacturers in this critical market.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

The Tokyo Motor Show, now known as the Japan Mobility Show, has always been one of the most surprising on the circuit.

Historically the launchpad for some of the wilder concepts the industry has seen, Tokyo has also represented something of a forbidden garden, full of of pocket-sized delights that preview new Kei car models that are soon to hit the streets.

Once upon a time, we’d look at those cars and think “Cute…” and move on. Yet in a world in which automobility desperately needs new answers to the challenges of increasing urbanisation and increasingly limited resources, Japan’s tiny car and sub-car concepts look more and more relevant.

In this show, Joe and Drew survey the Japan Mobility show, covering the hits (Toyota’s IMV 0, Mazda’s Iconic SP, Honda’s CI-MEV and Motocompacto) and the misses (Handa’s new Prelude and every Nissan at the show).

They also look at the opportunity that micromobility represents for Japanese automakers, and why it might just slip through their fingers.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

There’s been a flood of news these past weeks about the slowdown in EV sales.

Challenging market conditions and the high cost of funding the transition to EVs is giving manufacturers cause for pause. Tesla is halting work on further factories, and GM and Honda scrapping a partnership to produce affordable EVs, for example/

Meanwhile, Mercedes EQ models are sat unloved and unsold on dealer lots, and the Chinese are struggling with overcapacity.

So what the heck is going on? 

Is this just the expected chasm between the early adopters and the early majority of consumers in the EV adoption curve?

Or are there more fundamental issues with the product, sales, and service being offered by OEMs that will make that chasm so much harder to cross?

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

This episode is *really* visual. To see our line-by-line review of the Toyota Century SUV in real time, watch along at https://youtu.be/BtDJNCnuVlY?si=WAzJXEJ55_KeWa8c

Criticism and the automotive industry make for uncomfortable bed fellows.

We put so much heart and soul in to creating a car that when someone points out its flaws, it can be like being told that someone doesn't like our child.

Except the cars we design are not our children.

They're manufactured products that have an enormous impact on the world around us.

They influence the way we think and behave.

They shape our understanding of public space and how we share it.

And they consume vast quantities of natural resources in their manufacture and use.

So, as car designers and design strategists, alongside the engineers, product planners, and leadership we work with, we reckon we have a responsibility to question intently the impact that our work has, and to think deeply about what we have to do better.

That the Toyota Century SUV is the object of our critique in this episode is almost neither here nor there. There are any number of new cars that fail to meet the needs of the moment in which we find ourselves.

But as way to understand how design and product planning decisions can have such a remarkable impact on the perception of a brand, the big SUV, and the way it toys with the ethos and mythos of Century, is hard to miss.

We’re not here to denigrate or mindlessly criticise.

We are here to get people to look up from their day-to-day, look out for the shifts and signals that are going to impact their work, and connect the dots that lead to a more sustainable, more equitable future.

With this episode, we’re making our first, messy, and very public attempt to create a template for having critical conversations about the future of the automotive industry, and the role of design within it. We're not going to get it right first time, but we'll keep trying.

So whether you yelp in agreement with us, or shake your fist with rage that we dared question the status quo, take this as an invitation to speak up and share your views, not just with us, but with the Looking Out community.

Over the coming months, we’ll be developing a series of Looking Out interviews. Our aim is to present a diverse set of perspectives on where we should be headed. And if you’re reading this newsletter, or listening to or watching the podcast, chances are you’re someone we’d love to hear from, or you know someone we should speak to.

So drop us a line at theautomobilitygroup gmail.com and let’s start a conversation.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube!

Take a peak at the design secrets behind the new Tesla Model 3, also known as Highland, and how they give Tesla an incredible pricing advantage against legacy OEMs.

Joe and Drew also discuss a small French company called Lormauto, which is reinventing the origianl Renault Twingo as a EV designed for life.

And they take a looks at the interiors of the new Mercedes EQS SUV and E-Class, and the new Mini, to see what they say about the future of German car makers.

⏰ Time stamps
00:00 Pre-roll
00:40 Intro
01:49 The Tesla Model 3 "Highland"
02:49 The challenges of simple-looking design
05:07 Joe's real-world impressions of the new Model 3 - and design as mathematics
08:50 The new new hallmarks of premium
09:34 The Highland redesign gives Tesla even more pricing flexibility
11:16 Drew's impressions of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV interior
15:17 Joe's impressions of the new Mercedes E-Class interior
16:38 The New Mini: the saving grace of Europe
18:41 Lormauto and circular design
19:42 EV retrofits as a fringe idea
22:09 Lormauto and the reimagined Renault Twingo
24:17 Renault's own initiatives in the circular design space
25:44 Circular design: a radical change for an old industry
27:40 Giving loved cars a new lease of life
29:38 Changing the incentives to enourage sustainability
31:12 Can circular design make the EV transition more affordable?
33:29 Shifting from units sold to vehicle miles travelled
35:09 Shifting from product to service to system design
36:53 Wrapping up

🔗 Links
Lormauto
Renault Refactory

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Joe Simpson
Drew Smith 

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

In this special episode, Joe and Drew take a look - both macro and micro - at the recent IAA, also known as the Munich motor show.
 
 The motor show itself:
This is the second coming of the biennial motor show in Munich. We talked about how it's evolved and what it means for brands who are compelled to show at the Messe, or exhibition grounds, and in the centre of the city.
 
 The Mercedes CLA and the state of Mercedes design:
Although sporting enough Mercedes badges to make a Louis Vuitton trunk blush, Joe's quite complimentary of the CLA concept. And the EQXX blows his mind with its intelligence and execution.
 
 The new BMW 5 Series:
 Sadly, the same can't be said for the new, €98,000 5er. A dog's dinner outside and evidence inside of just how hard BMW has had to work to make this new, electrified platform pay, all at the cost of customer experience.
 
 The BMW Neue Klasse:
It's not all bad news at BMW as the Neue Klasse shows a brand returning to form. From its delightful glasshouse to serene interior, it shows a promising future for the 3 Series.

The €45,000 Renault Scénic:
What was once a compact, family MPV has turned in to another crossover for the upwardly mobile. While beautifully designed (and better finished than the BMW 5 Series) it's up against the Tesla Model Y. Old world values versus new world tech: FIGHT!
 
 The geopolitical backdrop:
The Chinese brought it home to the Germans, and the Germans don't like it. The EU is investigating China's subsidies but it better be careful: don't bit the hand that feeds you, as the saying goes.

The death of European automotive design has been exaggerated:
But it is struggling. Automakers desperately need to find a renewed sense of focus, a greater sense of connection to a rapidly evolving younger market and, perhaps, consider a pivot to America in order to thrive.

Any other business:
Joe discusses the emerging AV clustercuss in San Francisco and how Volkswagen's desultory efforts to build an American charging network have driven their competitors to adopt Tesla's charging standard.
 
 Drew, on the other hand, is delighted by a company that's electrifying original Renault Twingos and announces our new Instagram account.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

In this episode:

GM's post-CarPlay Culture
So GM's gone out on a limb and said they're ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for their next generation of cars. To help them on their way, they've hired Mike Abbot, formerly head of Apple's (notoriously) flakey iCloud services.

But we reckon that hiring a big name from another sector won't be enough to fulfil GM's connected car ambitions. The company will need to fundamentally rethink their culture, and we offer a few ideas for how they might get started.

The Paris Scooter Ban
Despite a voter turnout of only 7%, 89% of those voters decided to ban eScooters from the streets of Paris.

In one of the cities we've previously noted as on of the most progressive when it comes to adopting micromobility solutions, one which has invested heroically in reducing the dominance of the car, it was a sad day.

Joe references some research that shows why Parisians might have felt so strongly about the arrival of the scooters (hint: it has to do with parking), and we talk about the long arc of change in our city environments, and how we might work with it, rather than against it.

Generative AI and Auto Industry Biases
As the world debates whether AI is going to kill us or save us, some automotive designers have taken to generative AI tools like DALL.E and MidJourney with unsurpassed glee.

But as Drew reveals, the tools are currently perpetuating the worst of the automotive industry's biases when it comes to gender diversity, representation, and inclusion.

It's a rapidly evolving space and a split is already emerging between designers who love the tools, and those who are against the creative theft that underlies the models on which they're based.

We talk about the need for car companies to consciously and intentionally engage with these topics to make sure they're not caught up in another Volkswagen/Xinjinang situation.

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com

In this very special episode, Joe and Drew revisit Drew's interview with the father of micromobility, Horace Dediu.

This isn't the first time this interview's gone to air. You may have heard it first time around on Drew's other podcast, The Next Billion Seconds, or on Horace's own Micromobility podcast. 

It is, however, the first time we've sat down to discuss the many implications of what Horace shares for automotive design and strategy.

If you want to cut to our analysis, fast forward to these points:

• what does it mean for the industry to make a worse car, and where might we start? (starting at 24m 57s)
• how does looking down versus looking out change how we think about designing for automobility? (starting at 50m)
• and just how screwed are the economics of automobiles in a heavily urbanised future? (starting at 1h 14m 57s)

But of course, we'd love you to listen to the whole thing!

Show Links:

• Citroen Ami One - a worse but better car
• The Entrant’s Guide to Automotive Industry - Horace's perspective on how the auto industry works and the update.
• Confessions of a Capital Junkie - Sergio Marchione's pivotal white paper on the automotive industry

Looking Out:
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Joe Simpson & Drew Smith
Joe on LinkedIn
Drew on LinkedIn
Drew on Twitter
StudioPhro.com

Show produced by: Chris Frith

That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.

If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!

And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com