"Building cars takes more than just an idea"
Smart Founder Johann Tomforde on the Birth and Development of His Vision
Smart father Johann Tomforde on the birth and development of his visionThe automotive designer Johann Tomforde, who grew up at Mercedes, realized his idea of an urban microcar in the Smart. It took twenty years for the vision of the design professor, who teaches at the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, to be ready for series production and finally hit the streets thanks to the joint venture between Swatch and Mercedes.You are known as the forefather of the Smart. What did the Ursmart look like?
Johann Tomforde: You could actually fill books with the history of the Smart. It started when people, driven by the more ecologically oriented population, became interested in vehicles that were more compact and required less energy and driving space. In developing the Smart, I remembered the studies I did for a city car at Mercedes in the mid-seventies. In order to work with the Mercedes design team and my California Advanced Design team to develop a vehicle that was not only ecologically exemplary but, above all, emotionally completely different, I dug up this theme again in 1990.
What vision is represented in the smart?
Tomforde: We wanted to build a vehicle for people who want to stay mobile in balance areas and who drive alone or in pairs. That is still the majority. All you have to do is look in the cars in the morning and evening. There are one to two people in it. We didn't want to develop a second car suitable for mothers, but to achieve that men who normally drive to the office in the big car and leave it there all day, drive to work more economically with our vehicle. Our vision was not a renunciation car, but one that would be fun to drive, even though it was very small and compact. When Mr. Hayek announced that he wanted to build a Swatch car, it spurred me on even more. For this reason, I pushed the developments with my team to the point where we built the first prototypes.
What did Nicolas Hayek contribute to Smart?
Tomforde: The creation of the joint venture between Swatch and Mercedes in 1994 was preceded by a year and a half of negotiations with Mr. Hayek. You can imagine that he also wanted to make it big with this project. But to build cars, you need something more than just an idea. You also have to know what you have to realize. This constellation meant that we had already developed a complete concept, starting with a completely new sales strategy, a new brand image and a completely new production system.
Did you never fear a flop?
Tomforde: We did studies, of course. We also conducted surveys and interviewed focus groups with our prototypes long before this joint venture was unveiled. In the process, we found that a lot of people understood that you're going to need vehicles like this. But the rational reason was less interesting to them than the emotional factor, to drive an original car that is fun to drive, that is simply also different from the other cars. That was the motivation for people at the time to get excited about a vehicle of this type. And that enthusiasm gave us the courage to go through with the project. However, in the second half of the nineties we experienced that the issue of ecology was becoming less and less important. Unfortunately, this attitude slowed us down somewhat in our further development. Instead of electric drives, for example, the gasoline and diesel engines were initially developed further.
Isn't the Smart car more of a luxury toy than a car?
Tomforde: When you come to the balancing areas today, whether it's Zurich, Milan or
Rome, the Smart car is the cult car in all the major cities of Europe. I'm happy about the people who sit in these vehicles, not only because they've understood what we're about, but because these people are trendsetters for many things. These people are setting the signals for everyone who won't understand what the time has come for another four or five years. If a brand succeeds in convincing this discerning group of buyers, it has won.
Why are you fascinated by the car?
Tomforde: Maybe because my father was already a car fanatic, because he drove rallies. Cars fascinated me from an early age. At the age of 15, I completely rebuilt a VW Beetle. After that, the subject of automobility never left my mind. It's just that I'm much further ahead in my thoughts than the vehicles you see on the roads today.
What are you dealing with today?
Tomforde: Today I work in the leisure vehicle industry in the large Hymer Group, which is the European market leader for several types of motorhomes. In my innovation and design center in Pforzheim, I deal with leisure-oriented vehicles and develop new vehicle concepts and novel products for the automotive industry. Since 1977, I have also held a teaching position for automotive design at the University of Design, Economics and Technology, also in Pforzheim. I enjoy it immensely because I can pursue projects that have no use in the automotive industry at this moment. The university in Pforzheim is the best-known training center for automotive design in Germany, if not in all of Europe. This is where designers for the automotive industry are bred, so to speak.
Where is the automobile headed?
Tomforde: Let me give you a keyword: In view of the unimagined possibilities offered today by the new media, but also by the materials, the technologies and development tools, we will be breaking completely new ground in the future, above all in terms of the use and networking of the automobile and the various means of transport. You don't have to own every vehicle. This using items that you like to have around you as a personal ambience over a period of time is what keeps me very busy. Interview: Ernst Weber
Johann Tomforde: You could actually fill books with the history of the Smart. It started when people, driven by the more ecologically oriented population, became interested in vehicles that were more compact and required less energy and driving space. In developing the Smart, I remembered the studies I did for a city car at Mercedes in the mid-seventies. In order to work with the Mercedes design team and my California Advanced Design team to develop a vehicle that was not only ecologically exemplary but, above all, emotionally completely different, I dug up this theme again in 1990.
What vision is represented in the smart?
Tomforde: We wanted to build a vehicle for people who want to stay mobile in balance areas and who drive alone or in pairs. That is still the majority. All you have to do is look in the cars in the morning and evening. There are one to two people in it. We didn't want to develop a second car suitable for mothers, but to achieve that men who normally drive to the office in the big car and leave it there all day, drive to work more economically with our vehicle. Our vision was not a renunciation car, but one that would be fun to drive, even though it was very small and compact. When Mr. Hayek announced that he wanted to build a Swatch car, it spurred me on even more. For this reason, I pushed the developments with my team to the point where we built the first prototypes.
What did Nicolas Hayek contribute to Smart?
Tomforde: The creation of the joint venture between Swatch and Mercedes in 1994 was preceded by a year and a half of negotiations with Mr. Hayek. You can imagine that he also wanted to make it big with this project. But to build cars, you need something more than just an idea. You also have to know what you have to realize. This constellation meant that we had already developed a complete concept, starting with a completely new sales strategy, a new brand image and a completely new production system.
Did you never fear a flop?
Tomforde: We did studies, of course. We also conducted surveys and interviewed focus groups with our prototypes long before this joint venture was unveiled. In the process, we found that a lot of people understood that you're going to need vehicles like this. But the rational reason was less interesting to them than the emotional factor, to drive an original car that is fun to drive, that is simply also different from the other cars. That was the motivation for people at the time to get excited about a vehicle of this type. And that enthusiasm gave us the courage to go through with the project. However, in the second half of the nineties we experienced that the issue of ecology was becoming less and less important. Unfortunately, this attitude slowed us down somewhat in our further development. Instead of electric drives, for example, the gasoline and diesel engines were initially developed further.
Isn't the Smart car more of a luxury toy than a car?
Tomforde: When you come to the balancing areas today, whether it's Zurich, Milan or
Rome, the Smart car is the cult car in all the major cities of Europe. I'm happy about the people who sit in these vehicles, not only because they've understood what we're about, but because these people are trendsetters for many things. These people are setting the signals for everyone who won't understand what the time has come for another four or five years. If a brand succeeds in convincing this discerning group of buyers, it has won.
Why are you fascinated by the car?
Tomforde: Maybe because my father was already a car fanatic, because he drove rallies. Cars fascinated me from an early age. At the age of 15, I completely rebuilt a VW Beetle. After that, the subject of automobility never left my mind. It's just that I'm much further ahead in my thoughts than the vehicles you see on the roads today.
What are you dealing with today?
Tomforde: Today I work in the leisure vehicle industry in the large Hymer Group, which is the European market leader for several types of motorhomes. In my innovation and design center in Pforzheim, I deal with leisure-oriented vehicles and develop new vehicle concepts and novel products for the automotive industry. Since 1977, I have also held a teaching position for automotive design at the University of Design, Economics and Technology, also in Pforzheim. I enjoy it immensely because I can pursue projects that have no use in the automotive industry at this moment. The university in Pforzheim is the best-known training center for automotive design in Germany, if not in all of Europe. This is where designers for the automotive industry are bred, so to speak.
Where is the automobile headed?
Tomforde: Let me give you a keyword: In view of the unimagined possibilities offered today by the new media, but also by the materials, the technologies and development tools, we will be breaking completely new ground in the future, above all in terms of the use and networking of the automobile and the various means of transport. You don't have to own every vehicle. This using items that you like to have around you as a personal ambience over a period of time is what keeps me very busy. Interview: Ernst Weber
