J.C. Mays, who reinvented a piece of automotive history, the Volkswagen Beetle, will lead Ford Motor's Co.'s design staff into the next century.
Mays, 42, created the Concept 1, the first design of Volkswagen's new Beetle. He will replace Jack Telnack, 60, as Ford's vice president of global design.
At Ford, General Motors and elsewhere, designers are charged today with more than making vehicles look distinctive. The automakers' marketing strategists want them to create designs that reinforce the larger brand identity or 'promise' of such characteristics as quality, sportiness or reliability.
Mays has specialized in using design imagery to build what marketers call brand equity - the intangible sense of value that consumers pay extra for.
He brings an unusual background to the task of strengthening Ford's brands.
An American, he learned his craft in the design studios of Europe. Although young, he is well known for culling the heritage of a brand for fresh ideas.
MERCURY'S IMAGE
Ford wants to strengthen its brand identity globally. It also wants its divisional and nameplate identities to be more distinctive. For example, in the United States the Mercury brand lacks a clear image.
Ford is following in the footsteps of Chrysler Corp., which has produced a family of distinctive vehicles using cab-forward design.
'What I bring to the table is a thorough understanding of branding and its application in automotive design,' Mays said in a prepared statement. 'The Ford corporate brand and the product brands under the Ford umbrella are some of the strongest in the world. Our challenge will be to visually amplify and punctuate those brands through design.'
At Ford, Mays will oversee a staff of 1,000 in seven design studios worldwide.
GOING GLOBAL
Mays' hiring represents the first vice presidency that Jac Nasser has filled since becoming president of Ford Automotive Operations in November 1996.
By looking beyond Ford - and even beyond General Motors and Chrysler Corp. - to fill a key post, Nasser is signaling his willingness to upend Detroit tradition to create a diverse corporate culture with a global perspective.
Telnack - who has headed Ford's global design staff since 1987 - said he put Mays' name on the list of his potential successors. Mays' case strengthened after a successful interview with Nasser, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.
Mays then progressed through a series of interviews with key Ford vice presidents and executives, including William Clay Ford, a Ford director and chairman of the Ford design committee for 42 years. Like Telnack, Mays reports to James Englehart, group vice president of product development.
Mays already has had a hand in future Ford products.
For 21/2 years, he has been a consultant to Ford as vice president of design development at SHR Perceptual Management in Scottsdale, Ariz. Working with Ford's design and sales and marketing staffs, he has helped the company position several future products, which Ford declined to identify.
'He has all this global experience and he just fits in our global culture at Ford Motor Co,' Telnack said.
DESIGN LEADERSHIP
Mays' task now is to help Ford regain its position as the U.S. industry's design leader. Telnack's 1986 Ford Taurus ignited the aerodynamic design movement of the succeeding decade. But in recent years, the company has ceded design leadership to Chrysler Corp., say those in the field.
Telnack has sown the seeds of a resurgence with Ford's 'new edge' design philosophy. But it will be Mays who decides if new edge design becomes the dominant Ford look in the decade ahead.
The European Ford Ka and Puma are examples of the new edge, which relies on soft, aero shapes meeting in hard, linear intersections.
Besides the 1994 Volkswagen Concept 1, Mays also designed the Audi AVUS shown at the 1991 Tokyo auto show and the 1983 Audi 80.
'Chrysler was able to capitalize on the cab-forward look and it gives them a strong identity,' said Del Coates, professor of industrial design at San Jose State University. 'New edge has the makings of a brand identity. But they have to figure out how to apply that theme to other Ford cars.'
CREEPING SAMENESS
Chuck Jordan, retired General Motors vice president of design, said Chrysler, by mining its cab-forward philosophy, has succeeded in creating one recognizable family of vehicles although all wear different looks.
'They are the shining example of what Ford is trying to do,' Jordan said. 'Ford is trying to get a new language and theme for its products. Edge design has the potential to add new feeling to the Ford brand character.'
Michael Santoro, who penned the exterior of the 1995 Chrysler Cirrus and Dodge Stratus, said the key will be Mays' ability to harness the talent of Ford designers and overcome the homogenization that is seeping into the design culture.
'At Chrysler, it was momentum as much as anything else,' said Santoro, who now works out of his own design shop in Carlsbad, Calif. 'If you take a risk and succeed, you are willing to take more risk.'
