WEBVTT - Paul Wraith on the Design Business (Podcast) 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.800 Vas Is Masters in Business with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.320 This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest, 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.120 Paul Raith, chief designer at Ford and the man in 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:19.800 charge of the new Ford Bronco, an icon in the 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:24.120 history of automobiles and a legendary car. This was quite 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.200 a responsibility to come out with something that was so 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.000 heavily anticipated and so long awaited. And if you haven't 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.360 seen the new Ford Bronco, I suggest you go online 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.120 and check it out. They very much hit a bull's eye. 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.920 The car looks great. It's capabilities as an off road 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.840 sports utility vehicle are just astonishing. They've managed to bring 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.239 in the base version under thirty thousand dollars. I don't 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.440 want to sound like I'm doing a commercial for Ford, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:54.920 and I'm a car guy, not a truck guy, but 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.920 I have to tell you I'm really impressed with the 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.360 way the truck came out. No impressed that I managed 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.000 to track Paul down at Ford and say, hey, come 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.600 on the show and let's talk about the process of 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.440 creating a brand new vehicle like this. I found our 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.160 conversation absolutely fascinating and I think you will also so 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.160 with no further Ado. My conversation with the chief designer 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:24.440 at Ford, Paul Raith, via is Masters in Business with 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.959 Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. My special guest this week 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.560 is Paul Raith. He is the chief designer for the 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:37.040 brand new Ford Bronco. Previously, he was chief designer for Ford. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.840 He earned his master's degree in vehicle design from the 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:47.000 Royal College of Art. Paul Raith, Welcome to Bloomberg. Thanks 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.680 for having me. So let's start with the Bronco briefly, 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.160 congratulations or in order. As soon as you guys announced 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:59.600 reservations for the first edition, the truck sold out overnight. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.320 We're going to spend more time talking about the Bronco. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.480 But let's talk a little bit about your career. What 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.880 sort of path does one have to go on to 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.280 become a card designer. I think myself and all of 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.880 my friends who are car designers and colleagues, I think 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:21.440 we all have this little infatuation with the car or 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.720 the truck from to the year dot, you know. I 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.480 think typically our first words were probably car um and 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.520 then we would have been the little kids in the 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.680 back of the classroom somewhere scribbling pictures of cars into 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.080 into our textbooks when we were at school. UM And 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.560 it's sort of stuck with us. Really, it's a it's 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.680 a sort of compulsion, and unfortunately some of us are 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.799 able to get places in design school to develop our 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:54.520 skills through degrees and master's degrees. Um. And then some 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.200 of us, on top of that are then lucky enough 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.040 to get positions in the industry and do what we 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.280 were doing as children as a as a day job, 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.600 which is well, it's amazing, really great fun. So you've 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:09.079 been with Forward for about twenty years. In you were 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.920 appointed chief designer for Ford. Tell us what that role 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:17.799 en campuses in chief design I means essentially, I've got 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.760 more toys to play with. Um. I have a lot 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.680 of team around me of a very very talented people. Um. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:29.880 And it's a it's a better positions one to news 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:34.000 your your point of view and your experience to apply 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:39.160 to across a much more broad body of work. UM. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.360 And it's you know, it's an exciting challenge and it's 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.960 a huge responsibility as well. UM And I you know, 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:49.040 you bring with you your your prior experience, you bring 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.960 with you your sort of formative ideas and wide eyes 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.440 because you're always taking stuff in and you know your 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.360 ears tuned in too to listen to everything that you're 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.440 being told. And then somehow or other, you know you 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.960 you're blessed by having a fantastic group of people to 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.600 work with U. And then we do our best. We 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.920 work like we work really hard, and we push like hell, 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.440 and we we produce what we hope will be compelling 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:20.880 future vehicles. Quite interesting. I have to imagine you are 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.960 thinking about different regions of the world differently. How do 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.440 consumer preferences vary from either North America to Europe or 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.920 for either of those western countries to a place like China. 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:38.640 How does that fit into the entire design process. It's 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.600 a fundamental building block. I mean, vehicles are are owned 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:47.720 and used by people, and everyone's different, and people's can 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.280 be culturally different by region, and also the circumstances the 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.680 situation that they're in can be very different as well. 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.200 In the US, we've got a road system that speaks 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.359 really being framed around the vehicle. Go to Europe and 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.800 it's it's been framed around box. You know, in sort 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.560 of medieval area, people moving livestock around the sort of 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.400 wild landscape so um, you know, the road is smaller 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.400 and much more complicated. The city centers are a very 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.320 intense it's a very different situations they're here. So once 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.600 you know and the people are living those environments as well, 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.719 they have different needs and aspirations. Their circumstances are very 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.000 different as well, so they may not have a garage 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:31.479 stark and vehicle in at all. So you need to 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:33.839 get into the into the skin of the people that 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.440 you're designing for and as much as you possibly can 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.080 sort of see the world through their eyes. And I 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.839 think once you start to do that, the output in 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.520 your work naturally sort of changes. Um. And it's a 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.719 really you know, learning is terrific fund um, and experimenting 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.000 is great fun. And putting your ideas out there to 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.760 sort of test and stress testament is also interesting. You know. 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:59.840 It can be disappointed sometimes when you when you've got 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.760 to but it can also be really energizing when when 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.760 you when you seek you're onto something which is new. Um. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.480 And from those kind of insights, we we we hope 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:13.000 to design more relevant products that move the topic the 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:18.359 subject of cars forwards. So that's consumer desires. What about 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:23.080 the enthusiast crowd. Do you pay much intention to social media, 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:28.159 the press and then the hardcore enthusiasts community, how do 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.320 they impact the design and marketing of cars? I would 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.440 say first of all that I was sold a long 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.200 time ago that designers are like information filters. We just 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.719 we just draw in this wild pile information. We sort 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.000 of push it through our brains and somehow it falls 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.159 out of that of our hands and our pens with 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.560 in a form of cars that we're like, we're just 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.200 filtering all this information all the time. Part of that, 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.640 of course, is what we see in the press. So 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.800 what we read social media players a really big part 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:05.080 on it. UM. And then you wanted to get the 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.479 the unsort of setter words of the of the user. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.160 And so it's great when you've got an enthusiast space 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.920 to tap into. And we were really lucky with Bonco 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.000 that we had that. So we spent a lot of 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:20.640 time you know, reading, watching, listening, spending time with going 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.600 to places, you know, using the internet. UM, and that 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.560 was that was a sort of that wasn't a thing 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.440 that we did now and again that was something that 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:35.000 was happening constantly. UM. We were sharing as a team 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:40.640 on the Bonco program insights and observations and images and 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.080 quotes from from social media from the time that we 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:45.680 got up in the morning until the time we were 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.160 going to go to bed amongst the team, whether the 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:53.600 word we were sharing via text or email or or Instagram. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.240 It's kind of a popular means of communication for us 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:02.200 as well, So it's really important. Um and so nobody 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.800 knows products better than the enthusiast, so you know, it's 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.480 good to learn from from them and then trying to 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.560 apply it into our into our future visions as well. 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.080 We can't be constrained by it, of course, we can't 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.120 just do what they know that they want. We need 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.920 to also trying to stretch the topic further out so 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:28.240 that we're always making progress. Quite fascinating. So I'm an enthusiast, 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.280 I have a Gebrubican, and I'm kind of a fan 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.839 of some of the older Toyota f js and Ford 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:40.040 Broncos and land Rover Defender nineties and all of these 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.280 have just gone crazy in the collector market. So the 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:48.200 question I have for you, what took so long to 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.600 bring out a new Bronco, Well, that's a very good question. 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:53.600 I think you're right I think we've seen a shift 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:59.199 in the in the in the classic car market is 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.120 playing a lot of it each in to the vehicles 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.640 that you've just listed. I think we are seeing a 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.600 shift in there in the sort of public's ambitions for 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.160 the sort of off road vehicles that they want um 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.040 and I think there's there's going to be a lot 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.679 of growth in the rugged SUV space, and the Bronco 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:19.640 is really well primed for that. So I think it's 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:21.600 a little bit of serendipity, if you like, in a 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.719 way that the stars are aligned in just the right 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.960 way to open the door for Bronco. But the Bronco 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.640 has never gone away in the minds of the four team. 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:36.520 I'm sure there are people have been working on opportunities 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:38.800 to try and get it back for for a long time. 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.640 But the circumstances have to be right. And it isn't 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.719 just a question of someone like me doodling pictures of 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:47.920 of a cool looking Bronco and hoping that that that 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:49.720 would be enough to sort of kick the program off 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.360 before I get to pick my pencil up. There isn't. 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.120 There's an awful lot of work with some super sharp 0:09:55.320 --> 0:10:02.520 people who take on the colossal undertaking of trying to 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.520 take all of the parts that they know might exist 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.320 that would help form the vehicle that the engine, the 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.760 platform or the wheels, electronics, the safety systems and so on. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:17.000 Overlay that against the legislative list of framework that will 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.440 drop the vehicle into the amount of investment required to 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.160 to set a vehicle up, the amount of resources that 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.280 we have available, human and financial. You know, is there 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.240 a factory in the right place at the right time, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.920 with the right capacity. There is a sort of miasma 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.320 of variables, and if you can get all those sort 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.320 of all those things to align and then you see 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.520 an opportunity for for a segment of the market that's 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.280 not really saturated, that has a lot of growth potential, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.800 then then then it works. And then I guess we're 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.600 just really happy that, you know, the stars aligns in 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.760 the right way this time such that the the overall 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.800 product development team afford are able to get their teeth 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.680 into this thing and do a really good job. There's 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:01.840 a lot of passion behind the scenes to try and 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:03.640 make it work, and you know, and I think it's 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.280 well known that there've been a couple of runs at 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.240 it in the past but in the past maybe the 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:12.439 situation wasn't quite right. Thankfully, and here we are it 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.600 clearly was right this time. It was pretty obvious to 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.240 me that your bogey was the jeep Wrangler. They've kind 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.920 of had that market all to themselves for a long time. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.640 How close do you guys think you came to hitting 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:32.079 the mark of what's going to be your most direct competition, 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.760 the jeep Wrangler. I think whenever you launched the vehicle, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.320 there's almost certainly going to be something out there. It 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.000 was a bit like it. Um. It's sometimes it can 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.679 be a bit of a difficulty when when there's your 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.480 segment composes of basically one vehicle, because that can become 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.640 too much of an influence. So what I think it 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.600 did for us is it redoubled our focus on just 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.600 doing what was right for for us, for the Bronco 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.000 as a brand, for its legacy, and for the users 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:06.840 as well. Of course, we look at competitive vehicles for 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:08.880 good and but you know, we want to poke holes 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:10.360 and then we want to see what they're doing wrong 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:12.199 to see if we can do it better. We want 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.439 to look at what they're doing right and learn from 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.800 that as well. But we didn't just six about one 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.400 other vehicle we looked very badly. Fact as well in 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.920 our on our benchmarking was as as why wide as 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.360 side by side UTVs? You know there are road registered 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.880 all the way over to the marine industry products and steamboats. 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.880 So yeah, we didn't. I don't think we really spent 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.280 a lot of time really thinking that one vehicle, how 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.120 can we be like it? We use it as a 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.720 as a measure that really our focuses about what we 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.080 thought we needed to do. Quite interesting. I really love 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.400 the thirty five in tires and the nearly foot high 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.959 ground clearance. What are some of your favorite design elements 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.199 from the new Bronco. You know, that's a really difficult 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.280 question because you're so invested in all of it. I mean, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.200 some of these favorite elements would be the ones that 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.680 you felt you have to hide, you know, push for 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.360 in the greatest sort of vigor. Other things are just 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.480 ideas that I think just seem to make a lot 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.439 of sense and are a bit unusual. Um. I really 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.800 love I really love the Bronco bolt. Actually, I love 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:27.840 the fact that we have a bolt with Bronco smashed 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.520 into its head. Um. Wherever you see one of those 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.360 on the vehicle. It's an invitation for you to get 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.920 the tool whut and get involved with the vehicle and 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.719 undo those bolts and take that part off and either 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.439 put another one in its place, or it's an opportunity 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.200 for the answer market to come in and do something 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.240 kind of exciting and creative and interesting. I think that's 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.440 a really interesting part because generally, you know, in the 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.720 contemporary automobile industry, we tend to want to not have 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.719 exposed bolts all over our vehicles. We like this sort 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.320 of I should finish everything's very discreet and very crafted. 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.600 We sort of took completely the opposite attack at the 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.880 same time is we were coming up with that initial idea, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:14.120 we discovered that actually the the that Forward produced willis 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.000 cheeks during the Second World War. But what stand keeps 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.240 the forward produced vehicles different to the others is that 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.280 each should have bolts on the Forward produced cheap have 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.240 an f bashed into their head. So we thought there 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.240 was kind of a nice nod in the wink back 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.840 to the history. I love that part. I think I 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:35.120 also really love the the trial sites on the on 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.800 the leading edge of the front fenders. The original Bronco 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.360 had Peo called peaked fenders. It was a real nice 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.000 piece of styling, but it was it was also very 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.560 practical because when you sit behind the wheel of an 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.000 early Bronco, you sort of see these peaks and it 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:50.880 tells you exactly where the corner of the vehicle in 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.080 the front corner of the vehicles, so it helps you 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.160 position the vehicle very well. It's it's just a it's 0:14:56.160 --> 0:15:01.440 a nice, attractive, iconic piece of very small product designs. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.480 So we decided we would follow the same path. So 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.480 we have peaks and offenders, but on top of that 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.720 or you know, piercing offenders. In fact, we have these 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.160 things called trail side, so they're like separate parts which 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.520 you can bolt things to strap things through and also 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.360 use as a visual guide to the corners. I really 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.600 like those because they actually solve some I think, some 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.000 problems that we're all and count them down again when 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.280 we're trying to tie things off to the front of 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.240 our vehicle with ropes running over the hood and the headlights. 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.960 And they offer up an opportunity for the aftermarket and 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:40.600 the public to get involved funagling original solutions to fit 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.240 their very specific need. You know, we don't know what 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.360 they are, all those needs and will be and we 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.080 don't know what the solutions will be, but we've set 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.800 the vehicle up in in that area to provide a 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.920 good platform for them to to to do what they 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.240 need to do to make the vehicle their vehicle. Just 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.440 make sure no one tries to pull the truck out 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.320 of the mud with those they have like a hundred 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:05.000 and fifty pound capacity. That is not where the winch goes. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.080 And I hope nobody makes that mistake. So what sort 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:15.440 of additions did you consider? But ultimately decide that's just 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.520 way too impractical, and you have a lot of really 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.640 interesting things that I imagine we're hard to get past 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.720 upper management. What was just a bridge too far? Well, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.200 the cutting room floor is very deep of broken dreams 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.120 in the car industry. That is the case always, but 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.360 maybe in this case where we have to lose a 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.440 fewer ideas because the vehicle that we've we're producing the 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:46.440 Bronco we're talking about less than more than the Bronco Sport, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.400 but the it has a degree of modularity, so you 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.360 can do things with a vehicle which you couldn't do 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:55.120 with an escape or an explorer. For examples even get 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:56.520 the doors off and get the roof off. You can 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.920 put different rooms on. You better put different doors on. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.320 You can get the fender flares off, you can there's 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.280 multiple bumpers, multiple grills and to the vehicle has got 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.160 this high level of modularity. So that unfortunately that means 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:10.840 that we kept the door open to doing lots of 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.960 cool things. Is there a specific thing that we didn't manage? 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.439 And you know what, I think credit to the system, 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.840 that to the Forward Motor Company that we managed to 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.400 to keep the door open to the cool ideas. I mean, 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.919 I'm a designer. I've you know, I won't I wouldn't 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.040 be happy till I wouldn't want to retire from this 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.240 industry and sort have made something of flies or there's 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.040 been three D printed in one go from graphite. So 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.240 our imagination is always it is always going to be 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.000 out there. Um. But I think in a sort of 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.399 practical sense, I think we we we managed to come 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:48.359 to it's just about everything, which was a lot of 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.680 pressure on the on the team as a whole. We 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:56.560 set ourselves, you know, more homework than normal, um, and 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:58.880 we did everything in the same time as normal, which 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.920 you know, for aard Is Tood's got amazing product of 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.880 land process, very fast, very robust. But we just chose 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.680 to do significantly more in the time available than normal. Yes, 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.960 so please, I would imagine the base version comes in 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.320 under thirty thours. That's a great bogey And all told 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.960 there are seven models. I was kind of surprised, Big Bend, 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:27.440 Black Diamonds, Outer Banks, bad Lands, Wild Track and the 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.160 first edition, which the initial run has already sold out. 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:35.840 Why so many variations? Normally these things get fed out 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.480 in year two and year three. Why come out of 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.640 the gate with so many different choices. I think there's 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.959 a few things there so well. First of all, we're 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:50.119 not using the typical series non licature. There's no TITANEUM 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:54.280 or XLT or any of those things. Um, so broncageserve 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.439 its own series walk. We chose to use locations instead 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:04.199 of abbreviation, which I think is really fun. Um that 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.560 becomes a creative opportunity in its own right, because our 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.480 graphics team did an amazing job actually on the the 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.480 series badges. They're all different. Um, they're all placed on 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.240 the side of the vehicle, not the rear, And the 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.840 cool thing with them is actually reflective as well. So 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.959 when you're on the campsite, new flasher a light over 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.119 the mild, they'll pop in the distance, which is really fun. 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:30.800 So lots of creating opportunity even even with those things. Um. 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.440 But to come back to the original points, I think 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.560 it's important to try. And our users are so diverse 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.760 um and in fact, when we started the program, we 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.720 had we had five target customers in mind. That's that's 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.800 just to buy a way of explanation, that's relatively unusual 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.200 in my experience. In fact, it's completely unusual. You tend 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.120 to have a target customer. The target customer for an 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.840 automobile design tends to be an amalgamation of available the sticks, 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:05.320 um and and behaviors sort of created into some sort 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.800 of virtual humans um And it's a little bit it's 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.840 a little bit superficial sometimes. But in this particular case, 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.240 the five people that we were we were to trying 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.520 to design for were very different and they were real, 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.120 real people that we've really spend time with. So we've 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:24.960 got to know a little bit and got to observe 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.359 doing their thing, which we learned a great deal from 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:32.800 and they stand in both genders. From twenty one year 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:36.959 old to a fifty plus year old guy, someone who 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.399 lived in the city, to someone who's just not happened, 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.359 not happy and left there hanging their truck off the 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:44.919 edge of the cliff somewhere. Um. And then when you 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.000 get down to it, you go, these people are so different. 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.520 You know what we need to do more to cater 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.680 for them. Hence the greater number of series um, and 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.840 also the different ways that we're going to allow customers 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:59.840 to add packs to their vehicle to tune it, spec 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.959 it lead to their needs. And so you say, interesting 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:05.160 five inch tiles and everything. You know, no matter where 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.560 you buy a base or you buy a bad land, 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:09.920 you know you can get what you need. Quite interesting. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:15.560 Let's talk a little bit about the design process. Let's 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.879 use the Broncos as an example. How long have you 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:23.040 been working on this new car? And is that typical 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.360 for either a new vehicle or the reintroduction of an 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.720 older vehicle. Whether we're doing a new new vehicle or 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.159 reintroducing an iconic nameplate. I think you take pretty much 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.920 the same amount of time. It's always a very difficult 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.920 question to answer this one because you sort of think 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.760 that somebody would walk into the studio and say here, everybody, 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.119 here's the brief, and then that's some indeterminate period in 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.320 the future. They'll go, thanks very much, this is great. 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:52.480 We'll just take this from here and how it goes. 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.400 But we have a we have a build up too, 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.879 and then we have a soft run out. So the 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.560 amount of time it takes systems design it a vehicle 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.360 is it's a little bit. It's a little bit difficult 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:06.480 to tie down. But what I can tell you was 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:11.280 I think it was the The North American also showed 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.840 it's twenty seven team sitting up in the in the 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:18.640 Cobo Hall in Detroit looking down at are Then CEO 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.960 announced the fact that the Bronco was coming back, and 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.800 I think that's probably for me the point when I 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:26.879 really although it was on my plate, that was a 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.680 bit where I really thought, actually know what, Yeah, this 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.000 is the game is on. As he announced it, and 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:37.480 they the screen behind him announced the Bronco coming back, 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.040 and I noticed all the journalists heads around me all 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:41.600 sort of went up. They all looked at each other 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.040 and they all started scribbling curiously and writing text messages. 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:47.280 I thought, things me, there's there's an energy from this. 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.400 This isn't normal. This is much bigger than I've sort 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.320 of anticipated. But you know, we don't we don't run 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.240