5th Mitsubishi Motors International Design Competition:

Theme A: 'Personalized car for the Sophisticated'

Vehicles for adults who have established their own sense of value: These vehicles should be both attractive and exciting to drive.

Moreover, their unique qualities should help foster a personal bond with their owners; a bond which only grows stronger with time. The core target market is couples in their 50's. 
(Please note: designers should envision vehicles that can be developed five years from now)

In addition, designs must reflect the following required elements: 
• Japanese Modern designs.
  i.e. (designs should reflect your interpretation of the term "Japanese    Modern"). 
• Environmentally conscious designs.
• Universal designs (designs suitable for a wide range of individuals).

The narrator found the Theme 'A' of the Mitsubishi car design competition quite interesting as well as challenging so as to take efforts and do work as that of international standards and hence decided to take up this car design competition as a student project.

According to the narrator, by placing the design in comparison to international design community, there are lots of things to be learned and gained.

The project 'Personalized car for the Sophisticates' is an effort to design a personalized car for the Japanese user.

User study:
While designing the car for the users of different country it is very important to study and understand the factors like economical growth, recession, history of that country, transportation, architecture, cultural, social aspects etc. thoroughly along with the user group. It is very much important for sound design.

This is one way to know, understand Japanese culture, their lifestyle etc.

Cars preferred:
• Toyota and Honda are the most preferred manufacturers in Japan. 
• They prefer functional cars, low displacement car (small cars), car with large    space.(Sedan/medium size) 
• They own one or two cars. In styling they like round, not sharp design They prefer white    color because it can be seen in the night, so safe.

According to the theme and considering the user survey following things were intended to design a car:
• Interior 
• Exterior and 
• Packaging/ Layout/ Technical.

Case Study Downloads:
• Personalized Car - Designing a Vehicle for Japanese User - pdf