How good is British car design?
The large number of British designers in senior positions in the motor industry (there is insufficient space here to list all of them) indicates that they are up to the required standard, but there is no evidence to suggest that a British designer is necessarily better than any other nationality. However, there is undoubtedly a particular design culture in Britain. It has a reputation for creativity, for all sorts of social, economic and cultural reasons, but its pre-eminence in automotive design is probably due to the foundation of the RCA’s course, which in turn created an opportunity for Coventry. David Browne, director of Coventry’s course, says: “You could say that all those British designers high up in the industry now date from the ‘golden years’, when British design was ahead of everywhere: in graphic design, product design, television, fashion and pop music.” The car design culture was all a part of that, and the RCA and then Coventry became internationally renowned. Since the
