Martin Uhlarik - The man who sees tomorrow

Martin Uhlarik, Global Head, Design, Tata Motors Limited, on how technical change in the auto industry is shaping the future of auto design.

Sep 29, 2021 RACHNA TYAGI No Comments Like

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MUMBAI :

Martin Uhlarik, Global Head, Design, Tata Motors Limited, has spent 27 years in the Auto industry and has worked with some of the world’s finest automotive OEMs such as Skoda, Nissan and MG amongst others, designing a wide range of production cars as well as concept cars for them. His body of work includes Skoda’s first-generation Octavia, Fabia and Superb, and Nissan’s pathbreaking SUV, the Qashqai, which according to him, was “the beginning of the SUV Crossover trend.” For the last five years he has been working with Tata Motors Limited and is in charge of the company’s three design studios across the UK, Italy and India which consists of 140 people. Having been a part of the IMPACT design philosophy, Uhlarik, has conceptualized as well as spearheaded several products and programs for Tata Motors. In fact, Uhlarik, says that working at Tata Motors, has been the most satisfying part of his career because of the amount of work he has produced and the projects that he and his team have put out in a short span, which includes helming the design of concept and production cars including Tata 45X Concept, Tata Sierra Concept, Tata Altroz EV, as well as Tata Punch.

The last few months have been busy ones for Uhlarik and his team despite the pandemic. He says that they have been “absolutely flat out busy” at work. “Lots of technical changes happening in the industry and lots of exciting projects on the horizon and we’ve been launching a number of vehicles so, there is a lot of talk about what is happening in the future,” says Uhlarik. However, these cars that come out in the future are able to come out at the expected time, only after designers such as Uhlarik and their teams have put in millions of man hours conceptualizing and designing them to finally see them in all their glory. 

He talks about how much in advance they have to start preparing while envisaging a brand-new vehicle. “Vehicles are in many ways an Avatar for the user. It communicates who you are, what your personality is, what your needs are, what your values are and so, it is an interesting combination because at the same time it is also a very stable product that you might own for a number of years. Besides, there is also a fashion aspect to it. It is a reflection of you or the times, whether it is the colour of the vehicle or the type of vehicle, and so, it is a balancing act,” says Uhlarik. “A vehicle has a shelf life of seven years and it usually takes us three years to design it.  So, if I started sketching the vehicle right now, (It is not a singular exercise), it would be on the road in 10 years, in 2031, so that’s the sort of crystal ball challenge for designers to design vehicles. You have to design a Vehicle that still looks fresh and is still relevant. It is part of the game,” explains Uhlarik. 

About the designs at Tata Motors, Uhlarik says, “Our designs and our design vocabulary have really resonated well with the customers. If you ask people why they’re purchasing our vehicles, one of the top reasons is the design aspect of the vehicle,” he says. And perhaps this is why you won’t really see too much changing at Tata Motors, any time soon. “I think when you have a successful recipe, you shouldn’t play with it too much but definitely competition is bringing in new products. The new market is very sophisticated and at the same time a lot of competitors are entering the market, so we really have to be on our toes. It’s a local market but it’s a global market,” says Uhlarik.

And how does the design team at Tata Motors plan to keep up with the competition? “We are going to accelerate IMPACT Design,” says Uhlarik talking about how “the third generation of IMPACT Design will be much more acute, where we’ll really dial design up even farther, and that’s not just aesthetics, [but also] how people perceive the product [and] how people interact with the product.” 

With changes such as connectivity and electrification happening at a very fast pace, Uhlarik is aware that designers also have to take into account the new age customer and his needs while designing. “Customers are much more sophisticated than 27 years ago, when I started, that’s for sure. People’s expectations in terms of what they expect from a product in terms of quality, looks, interactivity, User Interface (UI), all of that is at a very high level now. People are very-well versed in what is good and so as designers, people who’re custodians of the brand, we really have to be on the ball with this,” says Uhlarik.

He further talks about how SUVs started out as niche and how he now considers them a mainstream product. "If you look at not only our portfolio but most portfolios and products that are offered in the market, they're the fastest growing segments... Crossovers and SUVs are now the Zeitgeist," he says. With Tata Motors having launched the Nexon and the Tigor EV, Uhlarik says that they have “a number of vehicles in the pipeline and a very considerable portfolio, all of which is going to be much more sophisticated.” However, will the new EVs look like their ICE counterparts or will they look and feel very different? Uhlarik says that as people are making that leap from ICE vehicles to EVs there is a lot of reviewing and questioning that is constantly happening in the industry where questions are being asked whether EVs have to be all about that familiar feeling while making that transition or if visual cues, aerodynamic efficiency, and an overall modern feel will define EVs. “As we roll out our products and our portfolio with electrification, you’ll see different aspects of that. Some of the vehicles will be more mainstream but it depends on the products, the price and the target customer and maybe some of them will be much more acute… communicating much more what an EV could be,” says Uhlarik.  “Design is form follows function and as we go into electrification, I think, what you’ll see in the future is that our vehicles will reflect that it is an electric powertrain and opportunities in terms of how we design vehicles from a package point of view and also from a visual point of view. So, within a short, mid, and long-term period of time, you’ll see a number of proposals and products coming out from us that will take this dialogue forward. For sure our vehicles will communicate that they are electric, I guarantee that and I also guarantee that they will be beautiful,” he says. 

Going forward, Uhlarik explains how Interface and UI will be a key deciding factor when it comes to the interiors. While people listened to the sound of the bonnet and the door shutting earlier to determine the quality of the car, “now, people make a judgement on how they interface with the infotainment and with the brand and that is why UI design is becoming one of the strongest pillars and deciding factors of how a customer relates to the vehicle and also to the brand,” says Uhlarik. “It is one of the areas where we’re growing our design teams across our three studios and it is a huge undertaking and a very important one in the way we interface with the customer,” says Uhlarik.

However, Uhlarik does sound a note of caution and makes safety the top priority. Speaking about how important safety is when it comes to infotainment, he says that it is of paramount importance and that it simply cannot be distracting. “It is a balancing act. You want to make user interface as seamless and as natural as possible,” he says. “In fact, at the Auto Expo, last year, for the Sierra Concept, we actually took the screens out of the concept vehicle… it was to open up a dialogue on the screens and the whole User Interface,” says Uhlarik. “A lot of our customers spend a lot of time in the vehicle and I think it is important to consider how much time you spend looking at another screen, at your phone, your center console, your computer. Is it a positive experience, is it a healthy experience? All those factors to a designer are important, especially now in the pandemic, when wellbeing matters so much more in terms of stress and mental health. That’s a dialogue we are having as we are developing our products. We’ve got some ideas about how to make that experience positive but for sure, the fundamental question is how important is the UI, is it distracting… it is a very fundamental question in the design of our vehicles,” he says. 

 

 

 

 


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