The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete. - Marshall Mcluhan

Do you want to do something different? Do you want to be a creator and not a follower? Are you looking for a lucrative career?

A career in automobile design will help you achieve all this and more. It is one career where you get paid to have fun. You get to become a trendsetter and not a trend follower. You decide new styles, new patterns, make lifestyle statements – all in one job. It is the perfect career for people who are creative and analytically inclined.

Today, every seventh job is dependent on the automobile industry, which has grown immensely over the past years and in India, it is exploding. As an automobile designer you will be at the centre of this exciting industry.

As an automobile designer you would not only define the aesthetics of an automobile, but also the functional aspects such as dashboard, seating, cabin interiors, boot space, etc.

They are a part of multi-disciplinary teams that define the interior and exterior forms, materials, textures and colors applied in the shaping of an automobile. Primarily, Automotive Designers take care of everything that gives us pleasure when we look at an automobile: style, function, quality, safety etc.

Your professional profile will be much more complex as you would need to develop a deep understanding of psychological and emotional issues connected to the concept of transportation and vehicles.

While designing the right look for an automobile, you will also need to consider several other factors, including cost of production, manufacturing limitations, the target market, ease of use, comfort, and safety and environmental issues. Therefore, you would be working on multi-disciplinary levels.

For pursuing an automobile design career you need to be bright, passionate, creative and highly imaginative. You should be good at not only problem solving, but also at problem finding. Ability to translate user needs and preferences into a finished product and keeping abreast of current products, trends, and customers’ tastes is of importance. Attributes such as attention to detail and drawing and sketching by hand are also important.

The job outlook for automobile designers is very positive. There are very few qualified, talented people applying for a relatively large number of automobile design jobs. This makes competition for jobs almost negligible.

You would find work as Automobile Designer, Design teacher, freelance designer and even start your own design firm.

You would advance by earning greater creative control over the work and commanding higher salaries. You would advance to larger, better-known companies, which can lead to higher-profile projects, better salaries, and more opportunities for advancement. You might move into managerial positions, supervising other designers and heading up design departments. With exceptional managerial skills you may become top company executives or open your own firm.