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In The Futures Channel’s latest web documentary, “Creating Cars,” viewers go behind the scenes at Ford’s Advanced Design Center to meet the team of designers and engineers steering the direction of their future vehicles.

Watch the movie:

www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/creating_cars/index.php

Burbank, CA May 7, 2007 — In The Futures Channel’s latest web documentary, “Creating Cars,” viewers go behind the scenes at Ford’s Advanced Design Center to meet the team of designers and engineers steering the direction of their future vehicles. Watch the movie:

www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/creating_cars/index.php

Their work is confidential. The technology is cutting edge. The competition is fierce. The secret? Ford Motor Company’s concept cars.

At Ford’s Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California, designers and engineers are developing new car designs that won’t be seen on the road for another ten years or longer. “We work as far into the future as our imaginations can take us,” said Fairuz Jane Arabo, a color and materials designer for Ford.

After spending years designing and building their concept cars, Ford, along with the other major car manufacturers, debut their latest concept cars at annual auto shows around the world for their competitors and the public to see. In “Creating Cars,” a web documentary released today, The Futures Channel gives viewers access to the Advanced Product Creation Group at Ford to find out what goes into their innovative, futuristic concept cars.

“The designer’s job is to come up with a vision for the car and we, as engineers, we try to make that vision reality. We work together with the designers,” said Ford engineer Sven Etzelberger in the movie. “I’d say the biggest challenge in my job is to find a good balance between the best engineering solution and still making an attractive car.”

When it comes to designing cars of the future, finding the balance between innovative design and workable engineering isn’t always easy. “The collaboration between designer and engineer is a very close one. It has to be from the beginning,” explained Etzelberger. “We work together with the designer. We point out the problems and then work together on a solution to overcome those problems.”

In the documentary, now playing on The Futures Channel’s website, Etzelberger, Arabo and designer Tyler Blake talk about the process of creating a completely new vehicle and show how models, early concept drawings and even color samples fit into the design process.

Ford’s Irvine studio is under the direction of Freeman Thomas, Design Director, North American Strategic Design, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an honorary Ph.D. from Art Center College of Design. “Ford is delighted that The Futures Channel chose automotive design and Ford as subjects for this program,” stated Freeman. “There is an endless need for talented designers, and this brings endless opportunity for well educated, inspired individuals. We hope this program will introduce the design career to students who will pursue our profession.”

Watch the movie:

www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/creating_cars/index.php

Since 1999, The Futures Channel has been producing micro-documentary videos that that connect mathematics, science, technology and engineering to the real world of careers and achievement, so that students can envision a context and purpose for what they are learning allowing them to envision their own successful futures.