Psychologist, engineer, technologist, entrepreneur, Chief Design Officer

Mr van den Acker, you’ve been designing cars for more than three decades. What do you focus on these days?

The most important thing is not to lose that initial enthusiasm. The fact that it all starts with a blank sheet of paper and ends with a finished car rolling off the production line still holds a certain magic for me to this day. If you work too doggedly, you lose your curiosity, your sense of fun and the courage to experiment. I achieved my first goal – seeing a car I’d designed myself on the road – at the age of 28 whilst at Audi. Today, I’m responsible for forty to fifty models at any one time; I regard everything beyond that first dream as a bonus.

Has your understanding of good design changed?

My training ground was Audi. There I learnt the difference between good and appropriate design for a specific brand. Good design makes life more beautiful and more meaningful. Today, that means: aesthetically appealing products, high quality, respect for the environment and responsibility towards people in development and production.

Is your many years’ experience more of a liberation or a constraint?

These days, it’s no longer enough just to be a designer. Anyone who designs a car must also be a psychologist, an engineer, a technologist and an entrepreneur. The car is once again a technological vision of the future – a smartphone on wheels, so to speak. In the past, the car industry looked to the tech sector for guidance; today, companies like Google and Apple are reaching out to us. Nevertheless, at heart we are still creating our own toys.

Is design becoming more important as a distinguishing feature?

Design remains the number one reason for purchase and accounts for around 50 per cent of the buying decision. But there is one caveat: if a competitor is 30 per cent cheaper, design cannot compensate for that. If the price difference is 1,000 or 5,000 euros, it can.

Which stages of your career have had the greatest influence on your approach to design?

Firstly, Audi: there I learnt to consistently put design at the service of a brand. Secondly, Mazda in Japan: as head of design, I worked in an intense, almost Formula 1-like atmosphere with two hundred and fifty Japanese and Korean colleagues. Thirdly, the move to Renault in 2009: this was about a genuine transformation. Out of this necessity emerged the Renault DeZir in 2010 as the first concept car to embody the new design language, followed by the Clio IV.

When do you consider design to be successful?

To paraphrase Raymond Loewy: “The most beautiful line is the line of a rising chart.” The two are inextricably linked: creativity and business. Personally, I find myself straddling these two poles – a result of growing up between a rebellious, creative brother and a sister who became a judge.

What role do emotions play in this?

At Renault, as a French brand, they play a central role. We want to build cars that people can fall in love with. Models such as the Renault 5 or the Twingo are designed to create that emotional connection which many purely rationally designed electric cars lack.

Is drawing on the past the easy route to brand identity?

It can be very effective, but it’s not the only way. We call our approach “Future Icons, Legendary Icons”. Retro reinterprets the past, whilst nostalgia merely looks in the rear-view mirror. With the R5 or the Alpine A110, we don’t copy them exactly, but capture the essence of the memory – proportions, silhouette, characteristic details.

You are responsible for the design of Renault, Dacia and Alpine. What is the biggest design challenge for Renault?

Being perceived as a credible brand in the premium market segment. Historically, our strengths have lain in the A and B segments. With larger vehicles such as the Renault 25 or the Espace, this wasn’t always a given. German premium brands have historically had the opposite starting point in this respect.

What role do colours play in this?

An essential one. With us, a distinctive launch colour comes as standard, whilst white incurs an extra charge. For the R5, yellow accounts for up to 25 per cent of the model mix, and apple green reached 15 per cent at times. We want to bring colour and the French way of life to the roads.

What does Dacia stand for?

Dacia is based on a golden triangle of value for money, robustness and cool design. It’s all about simplicity and honesty. As cars are becoming more expensive overall, design is now a primary reason for purchase at Dacia too.

… and Alpine?

Alpine embodies a sporty, premium ethos rooted in a rich motorsport history. The brand inspires affection without coming across as elitist. In the age of electric vehicles, the challenge is to preserve this agility and driving pleasure despite the weight of the batteries – for example, in the A390 through Active Torque Vectoring.

What role does continuity within a brand’s design play in this context?

Continuity must not become repetition. After one or two product generations, people expect something new. Furthermore, the global landscape is changing due to Chinese manufacturers who are building brands at an enormous pace without decades of history.

How do you view the market in China?

I see the danger that the car will degenerate into a mere commodity – a product without its own personality or soul. At the same time, we are learning from the pace of development there: we developed the new Twingo together with an engineering partner in China in just twenty-one months; in Europe, that would have taken over three years. The world needs affordable electric cars for the masses.

The role of artificial intelligence is currently the subject of intense and wide-ranging debate. What role does it actually play in your design process?

For me, AI is, above all, just another tool in the creative process. What matters is not how an idea comes about, but whether it is a good one. A strong idea can come from a sketch, from Photoshop, from a conversation or with the help of AI. In the end, it’s the quality of the idea that counts – not the tool used to create it.

And what advice would you give today to a young person who wants to become an automotive designer?

In the past, the field was divided into exterior, interior, and colours and materials. Today, a vehicle brings together disciplines ranging from sound design to user experience design. The real art lies in finding the balance between design aspirations and engineering realities.

Final question: What does good style mean to you?

Style is the result of all one’s personal experiences and influences. A car shows what you want to be. Your own home reveals who you really are.

Read more on this in the latest issue of ramp #71 ‘Jabba Jabba Doo!’ and the in-depth interview with Fabrice Cambolive, CEO of the brand and Chief Growth Officer of the Renault Group.