Derek Jenkins to head up Mazda North America design
Volkswagen IROC Concept - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Mazda has a new leader for its North American design efforts courtesy of Volkswagen and Audi. Derek Jenkins is moving to Irvine, California to head up the studio that created concepts such as the Nagare and Furai as well as the latest 6 and 3 from Mazda. Jenkins had a 15 year tenure in design at the Volkswagen group, including most recently being the Chief of Design for Volkswagen Group North America. His credits at VW included the Audi A8 and the Volkswagen Iroc concept that eventually became the new Scirocco.
At the Mazda studio Jenkins is charged with migrating the design language seen on recent concepts like the Nagare into production vehicles coming in the next several years. Check the press release after the jump for all the details.
Gallery: Volkswagen IROC
Press Release
IRVINE, Calif., April 30, 2009 - Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Derek Jenkins to the position of Design Director, Mazda Design Americas (MDA).
As the former Chief of Design for Volkswagen Group North America, Jenkins is credited with numerous concept and production vehicles including the Audi A2, A8 and Volkswagen Scirocco concept. Prior to joining VW in 2000, he held various design roles at both VW and Audi, both in North America and abroad.
"Derek's intimate knowledge and understanding of the North American market, combined with his wealth of experience after having spent 15 successful years at VW & Audi, are going to be a tremendous asset for the Mazda Design team," said Robert Davis, Senior Vice President, Product Development and Quality, MNAO. "He will help us transition our Nagare design philosophy from concept to reality."
In his new role as Design Director, Jenkins oversees a staff of about 25, which pushes creative boundaries by developing advanced ideas for Mazda's next generation of cars. The Irvine-based team is credited with the Kabura, Nagare and Furai concept cars, as well as the new 2009 MAZDA6 and 2010 MAZDA3.
A graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Jenkins, 39, enjoys surfing, running and motorcycling, as well as restoring cars, remote control airplanes and exploring architectural and industrial design.
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Mazda North American Operations oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico through more than 850 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada, Inc., located in Ontario, Canada, and in Mexico by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dude 5:36PM (5/01/2009)
greetings. consume mass quantities!
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phez 5:59PM (5/01/2009)
:D
Rick 5:45PM (5/01/2009)
Good, first order of business-get the damn smiley faces off the 3! And smooth out the front wheel arch on the 6!
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Protzenegger 5:45PM (5/01/2009)
Excellent. Now give us Nagare design.
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Imag 6:26PM (5/01/2009)
I love the Furai. But I think the recent Miata and Mazda 3 refreshes have shown that you can't just paste "design language" bits onto cars.
Maybe it's because the Furai is the only one I liked. I think the Kabura concept is grotesque, and would make a dreadful RX7, but I've seen online that some people like it. The best RX7 design I've seen out there is the rendering some random person did, although it's essentially unbuildable:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/03/rendered-speculation-another-stab-at-the-2012-mazda-rx-9/
No matter what, I'm glad there is someone new on. I'm very ready to buy either the next Miata or, more likely, the next RX7, as long as the looks don't suck.
Protzenegger 7:47PM (5/01/2009)
The Kabura wasn't part of the Nagare group though. How about the Taiki? I have a 1st-gen RX-8 and really dislike the 2008 model. Would love to see elements of the Taiki in v2.0... I believe they can pull it off as long as they design from a clean sheet.
Imag 12:06AM (5/02/2009)
My mistake - you're right. And I could live with the Taiki-style in the RX-7 (I'd love it if they were ballsy enough to really do the separated rear wheels).
I guess I just worry - the best elements of the Furai and Taiki are not the fish lips - they are the fish lips in harmony with some other really striking flow, nice weighting, and good old-fashioned styling pluses like big wheels and fenders, low height, steep windshield rake, etc., that don't necessarily translate into production models. The fish lips glued onto a rectangular box will be problematic, as they have already shown with the half-nagare grin on the Mazda 3.
I'm sure they've been gauging the public's willingness to accept those novel elements in car design - I'm just not sure those elements will work toned down. I'd almost prefer they just work on the car they're working on than try to import cues - make it look as good as possible within the constraints of the size, weight distribution, motor, etc...
Thanks for the reminder about the Taiki...
the_MVP_X 5:53PM (5/01/2009)
The Iroc had a big smile too, I just hope that Mazda won't have the oldish design of VW or the huge A8
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Tomac 5:57PM (5/01/2009)
Well, there goes my favorite Japanese car make down the tubes. VW currently has nothing I care to look at, and the Iroc/Scirocco in my opinion are duds. I can only hope the Audi grille doesn't make its way into the Mazda lineup. Damn.
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Kiiks 6:09PM (5/01/2009)
Don't despair, friend! "Jenkins is charged with migrating the design language seen on recent concepts like the Nagare into production vehicles coming in the next several years."
Not bringing over the VAG design and adapting it to Mazda production vehicles. That wouldn't make any business sense and Mazda knows better than that, or else they wouldn't have bothered to come up with so many striking concepts in the last few years to define and gauge public reaction to their potential future design language.
The next RX-7 needs to look like the Furai. You know what, I don't even care if it's rotary. Mazda needs a sports car that looks like the Furai so I can have a boner for it all day long. I would also like to see them pull an Aston Martin and re-work their Lola coupes in ALMS to reflect at least some of the design elements found in their road/concept cars.
Tomac 8:00PM (5/01/2009)
I certainly hope you are right! "Smiley face" grille and all, I have really been warm to Mazda's designs.
a 6:01PM (5/01/2009)
probably inspired by the R8
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Mmaestro 6:02PM (5/01/2009)
Job #1: Fix the Mazda3's smily front.
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Sea Urchin 6:03PM (5/01/2009)
Wow that looks good
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dwaynebrown19 6:26PM (5/01/2009)
They should have gotten, LEEEEEROYYYYYYY JENNNNKKINNNSSSS!
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the_MVP_X 6:42PM (5/01/2009)
Schhh, it's the-no-fan-boys hour on autoblog.
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Dude 6:44PM (5/01/2009)
Dude. Take it easy. Like Audi owners are all "inspired" or whatever. Don't hate on the Mazda owners.
Mazda = people mover.
Audi = people mover.
They're in the same class.
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Smegley 7:14PM (5/01/2009)
Hope this guy knows that "mean sells" and smiley cars suck.
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Rev 7:27PM (5/01/2009)
"Mazda truly makes uninspired cars for uninspired people."
I find that comment ironic coming from a glorified-VW driver. $30k in my pocket: do I buy a driver's car or a secretary car? Hmmmm, tough choice...
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Mazda FTW! 7:30PM (5/01/2009)
audifan - Even zamafir would probably b***h-slap you.
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