Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design at BMW, sits down an in an excellent interview with Tyler Brûlé of car magazine Monocle. The conversation leads down many threads including how BMW’s design thinking has changed recently, how they are always working to meet customer’s changing expectations, and the relationship between the drawing board and the driver. Big pushes for the company are happening in the way of being more environmentally friendly, meeting more of their owner’s needs and their lifestyle, and creating story narratives around vehicles as part of the design process.

Adrian Van Hooydonk, head of design at BMW, talks about the design of the new BMW 7 Series. In the commentary, Adrian discusses using proportion, concentration, and strength to create the final look which is both sporty and elegant. From the headlamps to the tail-lights, the extreme attention to detail and crystal clear point of view is evident and inspirational.

Coinciding with the launch of the BMW Z4 website, www.expressionofjoy.com has been launched with an over-the-top creation of an art piece using the new car to paint on the over-sized (100×200 foot) canvas. With a 300-horsepower paintbrush, 9 days, and top artistic talent, creativity abounds. The website features the event movie, a making-of documentary, gallery of stills, and behind the scenes video with the artists.

Sebastian Vettel, driver for Red Bull, gives a run down of the design changes made to F1 vehicles for the 2009 season. Beyond the body-work Sebastian mentions the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System which will recover energy from breaking and enable drivers to use that boost of energy later on during the race.

Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez and Design Director Marek Reichmann talk about designing the Aston Martin One-77. With only 77 cars being made, the 700hp are all built by hand and customized to their owners. Be sure to watch parts 1, 2, and 3 of the video.

Aptera, one member of a new breed of vehicles built around energy efficiency, is taking to the road. Aptera claims a fuel efficiency of 300 mpg at 55 mph and has a range of

Audi highlights a few of the Audi TT’s design elements.

Nissan’s 2005 Concept Car demonstrating many great innovations in car design.

Gary Flint, Large Project Leader of the 2006 Honda Ridgeline, talks about many of the design details that went into making the vehicle user friendly and functional.  Between the enlarged dashboard buttons for use with gloves on, to the grooves slotted in the back of the truck bed, it is clear just how much time they spend thinking about the end customer experience.