The upcoming Proton SUV, which is based on the Geely Boyue SUV, will be re-designed for the local market.
What that design entails remain a mystery for now even after speaking to Design Director, Geely Design, China, Guy Burgoyne (pic above), the man responsible for designing the Geely Boyue and is overseeing the current re-design of it for the Malaysian market.
Burgoyne was in Malaysia recently and we caught up with him to see if he would reveal any design cues for the Proton SUV.
What was revealed was the massive undertaking a Geely designer has to go through. It’s not simply the case of one man designing one product from start to end.
For one thing, Geely has, under its umbrella, a range of different car brands which include Volvo, Lynk & Co, Lotus and Proton.
Burgoyne oversees the design of all these products and then some. Geely also has design studios the world over from the United States to various European countries which they tap into.
The new Boyue.
“We’ve got this amazing global design group now and it keeps growing by the day.
“We have lots of great talent globally. When we have a new project, what we try to do is offer that new product – that theme-ing stage – across as many studios as possible so we get the breadth of ideas and creativity and quickly we will narrow down to some themes.
“You need fresh input all the time. It’s very good and healthy to have a diverse design team.
“If every designer came from the same college, if every designer watched the same TV shows, have the same influences then there is a tendency they might all give you the same answer to a design problem,” said Burgoyne.
Burgoyne, who hails from the UK, has almost 25 years experience as a designer and has worked in the automotive industry for such brands as Volvo, Renault and General Motors. So he is no stranger when it comes to designing a product for a particular market.
“As designers, we are always intrigued by identities and brands.
“Obviously there are some very happy overlaps and synergies between Proton and Geely which I think the two companies can take full advantage of in a good way.
The Boyue dashboard.
“And we take advantage of becoming right-hand drive, this Boyue (the Proton SUV) for example, we take advantages of elements we could change and elements we want to change.
“This is to ensure that, whilst we still have a globally-designed product, when you get introduced to it from 200 meters away, and either you come to it or it comes to you, and you get that little intimate connection.
“We still think we can deliver some local flavours appropriate for Proton in the same way we deliver some local flavours to the Chinese market with some small details,” he said.
One of the overlaps is the theme behind the Boyue which Burgoyne calls a happy coincidence.
“We talked about the Boyue in the past as the leaping cat. And then we happened to be with a brand (Proton) that has a tiger motif. Amazingly fortuitous coincidences here and we’re happy about that,” said Burgoyne.
Keyword: At Geely, styling matters