The recent launch of the Nano made many heads turn. And if you are smitten by its sleek and glossy design, you might want to follow a career that would allow you to design such a car yourself. “With the auto industry growing by almost 12 per cent in India, the prospects for a career in auto design are extremely bright,” says I.V. Rao, executive director, engineering, Maruti Suzuki India Limited. According to the latest data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, more than one million passenger cars were manufactured in India in 2006-2007. As a fallout of such growth, the chances of exercising one’s ability to design models of new brands of automobiles is getting brighter by the day.

The job of an auto designer has several facets, for example, exterior design, interior design, and colour design. “The stylist responsible for the design of the exterior of the vehicle develops the proportions, shape, and surfaces of the vehicle,” explains Dilip Chhabria, managing director of DC Design Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. For interior design, the stylist responsible develops the proportions and placement for the instrument panel so that passengers get the maximum comfort while travelling. “Apart from applying technical skills to ensure a car runs smoothly, an auto designer is responsible for the research, design, and development of all interior and exterior colours and materials used in a vehicle,” says Rao. Auto designers working on colour design collaborate with those implementing exterior and interior design, he adds. A good designer, Chhabria stresses, should also have good aesthetic sense so that the cars look beautiful.

Several institutes in India offer courses in auto design. The National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad is one of them. Says Pradumna Vyas, mentor of transportation and automobile design, NID, “Transportation in India so far has been technologically driven, with minimum or little attention paid to the needs of users in terms of comfort, safety, information and even the considerations of cultural sensitivities and preferences. With new material choices available, strong design inputs are required in all the domains of public, personal and material transportation.”

Keeping this in mind, NID is offering a two-and-half-year (five semester) postgraduate diploma in transportation and automobile design. The requirement is a bachelors degree in engineering, architecture, design or interior design. An entrance exam is held in the first week of January and the interviews take place in May. “The intake is 10 students a year,” says Vyas.

The course is an equipment-oriented course and students spend the final six months working on sponsored live projects.

On a long drive

They are also given industrial training for six to eight weeks. “We try to inculcate analytical and communication skills in our students who have to comprehend the socio-economic aspect of transportation during their stint as professional designers,” remarks Vyas. The NID department of transportation and automobile design has a collaboration with Domus Academy in Milan. The course costs Rs 1 lakh.

The Industrial Design Centre of (IDC) the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, also offers transportation design as an elective subject in its two-year masters course in design. “Students can specialise in the second year in transportation design under the product design module,” says Ravi Poovaiah, head of IDC. The eligibility criteria is a first class bachelors degree in engineering or architecture. “Students also learn ergonomics in this course,” says Poovaiah.

A postgraduate diploma in product and tool design at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) in Pune also has automotive design as a subject. The qualification required is a graduation in mechanical or production engineering. “The six-month course costs Rs 70,000. The selection process involves an online test, an assessment of one’s engineering aptitude and a personal interview,” says Sachin Satpute, centre co-ordinator of the Computer Assisted Design and Computer Assisted Manufacturing Centre at MIT.

Auto design can also be studied at the graduate level. A bachelors degree in design at IIT Guwahati imparts training in auto design. “Students in this four-year course can specialise in auto design from second year,” says S.C. Mishra, dean of academic affairs, IIT Guwahati.

Apart from specialised programmes, students of mechanical engineering can also study the various topics of auto design. “Jadavpur University has a master of automobile engineering degree where students learn the concepts of design, shape and aerodynamics involved in auto design,” says Timir Kanti Saha, head of the department of mechanical engineering at Jadavpur University. “We also have an auto CAD (computer assisted design) laboratory where students can visualise the car on a screen. To become a good auto designer it is necessary for a student to thoroughly grasp the subjects of thermodynamics and production engineering,” says Saha. Soft skills like communication and analytical ability are as important as technical skills to make a successful career in auto design, he adds.

A new school of auto design is being set up in Pune by Dilip Chhabria. “Once we get our act together we would be the only institute to enable students to make and sell cars,” says Chhabria. Courses are planned at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

A fresher can earn Rs 4-5 lakh a year while someone with 10 years of experience can earn as much as Rs 50 lakh a year. “A trainee designer can gradually work his way up to become an assistant manager and go all the way up to become a senior manager in a firm in 10 years time,” observes Rao.

So if those beautiful four wheelers have ever caught your fancy, why not give auto designing a try?