The Origins of Wedge Car Design

54 2022 Tesla CyberTruck 2016 Lo-Res Wedge Design, in Automotive Design, Continues… We noted in our preamble that the 2019 Tesla Cybertruck (see left) has rekindled interest in wedge car design. Franz von Holzhausen, Chief Designer for Tesla, Inc., is also a graduate of ArtCenter College of Design having obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Transportation design in 1992. America born Franz von Holzhausen started his career at Volkswagen where he worked on the new Beetle. He moved to General Motors in 2000 where he was involved with the Pontiac Solstice. In 2005 he became Chief of Design at Mazda, before moving to Tesla in 2008. The Tesla Cyber Truck is a bold use of folded paper design cues resurrected from the wedge car movement of the 1960’s. Wedge design, is still futuristic in the view of both current designers, the lay public and certainly represents the exciting product images of the Tesla corporation. The minimalistic design is both eye catching and is an assist in the ease of manufacture. In 2016, United Nude (women’s footwear company) founder Rem D. Koolhaas conceptualized and then commissioned the building of the Lo-Res Car (see left). The project simplified the form of the Lamborghini Countach to its most basic elements The car surfaced in time to perhaps influence a new generation of designers at Telsa, and evolve the provocative Cyber Truck.

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