A quick quote from former FIAT design guru Frank Stephenson about the importance of national character when designing a car.
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MARCO WERMAN: Before we take a quick break, here's one more thought on car design. It comes from Frank Stephenson, the man who redesigned Fiat's new 500 sub-compact.
FRANK STEPHENSON: Cars have to have their own character – almost like a nationalistic character. If you look at a German car, or an English car, each one has its own personality. You know right away that the car came from Japan or Germany. So for an Italian car, it's important that it looks as if it were hand-made – which means lots of curves, no straight lines. We always sculpt the concept out with clay. So it needs to seem like it's a hand-made sculpture; almost as if we had made it by massaging the clay.
WERMAN: Well, I think the folks at FIAT and Chrysler will be massaging a lot of clay in the months ahead. Our Geo Quiz and Global Hit are coming up on PRI.
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