Maserati MC20 Cielo: Skyward
Do you actually feel any pressure?
Of course, becoming the chief designer of a brand like Maserati is exciting. But you also have to deliver, which means that about seven years ago, I became intensively involved with Italian automotive design and aesthetics and culture in general.
Was that difficult for you as a German who, among other things, spent ten years at Daimler?
There are a few fundamental differences. For me, the most obvious difference is that German automotive design is primarily an evolutionary design, meaning that the form is developed further in a way that is comprehensible to the customer. Italian automotive design works differently. It creates the best possible design from the circumstances that exist today. On the one hand, this offers fantastic opportunities. Still, on the other, there is always a danger of losing the customer because he can no longer follow the story.
In that sense, you ideally bring together the best of two design worlds?
Ideally, yes.
Does that always work?
I think we've managed it in a great way with the MC20 in particular and for the MC20 Cielo. I say that, of course, as chief designer with a certain subjectivity, but also with all my professional expertise. This car is an emotional sculpture that translates into the present something that once defined our brand essence with racing cars such as the legendary Maserati A6GCS.
The MC20 was a completely new project. You were allowed to start with a blank sheet. As chief designer, are you setting the direction and saying that's where we want to go?
No. The first thing we did was have almost philosophical discussions about our brand, where we come from, how we have developed, and where we want to go. So I didn't give a direction here, but first looked at who was translating our thoughts and in what form. From that point, we more and more derived a concrete direction.
But in the end, you stand on stage and present the new product to the world. In a world of ego brands, does the identification of an automotive brand today only function via types?
That's an interesting question. I have a hard time with that. We know this phenomenon from the fashion industry, where the creative boss has a whole studio of hard-working designers behind him who develop his collections and takes the credit at the end. What I can say is that in Maserati we strongly believe in cooperation and in the sharing of ideas. I work with a great team, composed by professional and skilled people and each goal we reach is a team effort.
"This car is an emotional sculpture that translates into the present something that once defined our brand essence with racing cars such as the legendary Maserati A6GCS."
–
Klaus Busse
But this is not just a phenomenon of the fashion industry.
That's true. Basically, the same thing happened with the great car designers of their time. They were all charismatic types who stood for a certain design, but they didn't design everything themselves. Automotive design is a team sport. There's no other way to do it. And it's the case that designers in particular often have biographies that scream 'rock star' far more than my own.
Can you give a few examples here?
I'd rather not. Colleagues might still want to make a career out of it (laughs).
Too bad.
Wait. I can tell you one anecdote. It's about one of my former designers. He is now retired and therefore has nothing to lose.
Now we are curious.
He was actually in a rock band, but that was a very long time ago. So long that Deep Purple was playing with him as an opening band. Of course, they hung out in the bars and clubs back then, and in one of them it was customary to bring your own beer, because the drinks ran out at some point, and if you wanted to have another drink, you had to bring your own beer. That's what my former designer did, of course, and so, according to the story, he was leaning against the bar, gleefully drinking the beer he'd brought himself, when a guy came up to him and wanted his beer. He responded in character with »Fuck off!«
And then it came to a fight?
No. The guy just walked away.
So where' s the punch line there?
The guy's name was Ozzy Osbourne. One of my former designers sent away an Ozzy Osbourne scrounging for beer (laughs out loud)! So how am I supposed to get up on stage today and be a design rock star?
