The U.S. auto industry is based in Detroit, and auto manufacturing is done in the Midwest and elsewhere. But California, with its endless freeways, is the center of car culture. Mike O'Sullivan reports, it is also a center for advanced auto design, where vehicles of the future are taking shape.
Californians love their cars, as they have since the automobile was introduced more than a century ago.
Today the region is home to more than a dozen design shops where new concepts are explored. The Mazda Miata, Honda CRX, and Toyota Celica were all conceived here.
Some designers are trained at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Its graduates work for more than a dozen companies with advanced design shops in the region.
Auto designer Stewart Reed chairs the Art Center's transportation department.
"It's an extremely vibrant marketplace of both products and ideas," said Mr. Reed. "It's a center of arts and architecture and entertainment and high technology, so it's a great place to have a design school."
Art Center graduate Franz Von Holzhausen heads Mazda's North American design center in the city of Irvine. The company sums up its marketing approach in the motto "zoom zoom."
"'Zoom zoom' is really a personal feeling, and for me, my feeling of 'zoom zoom' is the emotion of motion, and it's really that kind of exuberance you get when you're a little kid of just getting out there and having fun," he said.
He says adults can get the same thrill on the highway. Many Californians want to pull away from the pack with customized vehicles.
Race car driver Steve Saleen markets high performance Ford Mustangs, customized here at his factory.
The shop sells 100 cars a month.
The Ford Mustang remains a popular seller, but down the road at Ford, a team of designers is working on models that may go into production in 10 to 15 years. Ford's John Clinard says designers can see trends in advance in California.
"There's a saying that as you migrate across time zones from east to west in the U.S., each time zone represents about five years of forward thinking," he said. "o we're as far west as you can go. This is it. This is where the forward thinking is centered."
Technology is changing, but whether future cars are powered by gasoline, hydrogen, or other kinds of fuel, consumers will want cars that look good and are fun to drive, says Leslie Kendall of the Peterson Automotive Museum.
"People are in love with their cars," she noted. "People love the mobility that cars afford them, and they're not willing to give that up any time soon."
And wherever the cars are manufactured, many will be designed in California, which Kendall calls the center of car culture.
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美国汽车工业的大本营是密西根州的底特律市，它的汽车制造厂遍及美国中西部和全国各地。不过，有连绵不断高速公路的加利福尼亚州却是汽车文化的中心。加州还是先进的汽车设计中心，未来的新车型在这里诞生。
汽车问世已经一个多世纪，而加州人开车的历史也有一个多世纪。加州人非常爱车。
加州有十多个设计工作室，设计人员在那里开发新的概念车。马自达米亚塔(Miata)、本田CRX、和丰田赛利卡等几款跑车都出自这些设计工作室。
先进的设计工作室
有些设计人员是在加州帕萨迪纳的艺术中心设计学院毕业的。那个学院的毕业生就业于十几家公司，这些公司在加州地区都有先进的设计工作室。
汽车设计师斯图尔特.里德是这个艺术中心的交通系主任。他说：“这里是产品和理念的市场，非常具有活力。它是艺术、建筑和娱乐中心，是高科技中心，因此，在这里开设设计学校非常合适。”
艺术中心毕业生弗朗兹.霍兹豪森是马自达公司在欧文市的北美设计中心的负责人。他说，在高速公路上开车那种感觉因人而异，不管是刚刚开车的青少年还是成年人都能产生那种兴奋的感觉，而许多加州人都希望开一辆专门为自己设计的与众不同的车。
赛车手史蒂夫.萨利恩销售高性能福特野马车，而且是在他的工厂里按照客户要求改装的野马车。
福特野马车仍然是畅销产品，但是福特公司的设计人员正在开发新的车型，并可能在10到15年内投入生产。福特公司的约翰.科林纳德说，设计人员在加州可以预见到汽车的流行趋势。
越往西越超前？
科林纳德说：“有这么一种说法，说是一个人从美国东部迁移到西部，每跨越一个时区，就代表思维超前了5年，越往西越超前。我们在美国的最西部。超前思维都集中在这里。”
彼得森汽车博物馆的莱斯利.肯达尔认为，科技在发展，不管未来的汽车使用汽油、氢燃料还是其它类型的燃料，消费者都希望汽车外观亮丽，开起来带劲。他说：“人们喜爱车，喜爱他们从开车中享受到的激情，他们在短时期内还不想放弃那种感觉。”
不管汽车产自何地，许多车型都是加州各设计工作室的杰作。肯达尔把加州称为汽车文化的中心。 |
