Every car producer is trying to catch your eye with its new designs. As a result, there’s a scramble to train the new generation of designers. Only a few schools around the world teach this specialty – among them, San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

Twenty four-year-old Dong Lee is one of their advanced students working on his master’s thesis. He studied transportation design at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, then did two, three-month real-world apprenticeships – one with Ford Motor Company. With that academic and practical background, he felt he was ready to tackle his final step, a graduate program in industrial design.

Under director Tom Matano, formerly Mazda’s chief designer in the U.S., and the man responsible for the brilliant Mazda Miata, Dong is in the second year of the program.

His chosen project is to design an Alfa Romeo car and showrooms for a USA introduction 10 years from now, in 2015. In order to do this, he has one year, comprising three segments, to work as follows:

1.   Research the problems (no drawing)
2.   Design car and showrooms
3.   Construct a scale model

At the conclusion, he must present his project to a final review committee in order to earn his degree. One of his far-sighted and valid ideas is to eliminate the car salesman, and instead, handle the sales process on computer screens.

In order to road test a car, a device like a pilot trainer, in the showroom, will recreate all the sensations of driving a car, as specified by the customer on the computer. One could, for example, feel how the special sport suspension feels over smooth or rough roads. Or how different tires affect steering or ride quality. From a road test like this, a customer might consider different options from those first selected.

At this point, Dong’s ideas look something like the Dell Computer system where the customer can select from a range of components, and take delivery of a custom-specified unit within a few days. The overriding idea is to provide quick delivery of a car specifically meeting a customer’s needs and desires, at an unbeatable price.

A Good Buy

Here’s further proof that the price of “goodness” in cars is declining.

A 700-mile back roads and freeway trip through Northern California in this simple, yet remarkable car has convinced this writer that the Acura TSX Sport Sedan is compact and economical. It’s also quite sporty, with a six-speed gearbox and a lively 16-valve, DOHC motor, providing a healthy dose of speed. And it’s beautifully finished, with fine leather and precise detailing, so typical of Honda, creator of the Acura brand.

So what’s not to like? Maybe the styling – it could be called bland – or understated, clean, tasteful and pleasing! No prestige symbol or brand to impress the world? So what! This car impresses, pleases and delights its driver.  In typical Asian fashion, every control device functions smoothly, effortlessly, and reeks of quality.

The price is low – only $29,000 for a car upholstered in fine leather, painted better than classic Rolls Royces, and offering a navigation system that the driver can actually understand. In support of the premise that the “price of goodness is going down,” consider that alternatives to this car include the new Subaru Legacy, Infiniti Q35, BMW 3, Audi A4 or C Class Mercedes. All top quality, lean-sized drivers’ cars.

As for price, the Asians end up at around $30,000 very fully equipped, whereas the Germans start there and charge handsomely for most of the extras the Asians give you.

One complaint: how can one remember all the car model names? NSX, TSX, MDX, LS, ES? Years ago we had memorable names like Eldorado, Fleetwood, and New Yorker. Today, BMW with their 3, 5 and 7 series makes sense. So does Audi with A4, A6 and A8. But the aforementioned letter combinations, or computer-generated names like Camry or Ellipse? They’ll never have enough advertising dollars to make those non-names stick.