Concept
cars and the development
of the bleucar project
Giuseppe Calabrese
National Research Council of Italy, CNR-Ceris,
Via Real Collegio 30,
10024 Moncalieri (To), Italy
E-mail:
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Abstract: Many scholars are discussing signs and
company strategies that seems to confirm that the transition to cleaner
vehicles is starting. Freyssenet (2011) announced a new automobile revolution
and Rifkin (2011) a third industrial revolution. How could industrial design be
a field of study and discussion about ideas related to an automobile
revolution? What are the links between an automobile revolution and a third
industrial revolution? The prospective design approach would be used to analyse
the new orientation taken in the automotive industry. Concept cars and new
experiments are giving signs about the evolution of the automotive sector
towards new forms of mobility. The Bleucar and Autolib in Paris, an innovative
electric car sharing system is the outgrowth of an historical process. The
paper examines how design of concept cars introduced new representations and
changing social uses of the cars in the 1990’s. It will be described the first
step of the Bleucar’s project, the design research, the actors and the
companies involved in the project since 2005. Finally, the paper analyses
actors and institutional interactions between public and private partners for
setting up the Autolib mobility system in Paris. The conclusions present some
reflections about the issue of new mobility systems for the automotive
industry.
Keywords: Industrial
design, design theories, concept car, new mobility, electric vehicle
JEL Codes: L60, M10
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Il presente working paper è frutto dell’accordo di cooperazione
scientifica tra il CNR e il CNRS per il biennio 2012/2013 in merito al progetto
congiunto tra i due autori Franch and
Italian trajectories in design for the new mobility systems in the automotive
sector.