On the Avant-Garde IDeS Method for the Future of Car Design Applied to an SUV Project

Abstract

This case study aims to develop a new innovative SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) model exploiting IDeS (Industrial Design Structure), which is an engineering approach conceived to optimize car design projects in the automotive industry like never before. A compact SUV was chosen because it is a type of vehicle that is highly requested by customers, and it is extremely successful in the market due to its versatility. In fact, compact SUVs are mixed vehicles that combine the pragmatism of a car with the typical robustness of an off-road vehicle making them suitable both for urban and off-road scenarios. The following pages will illustrate the steps followed for the realization of the final product using the SDE (Stylistic Design Engineering) method and other various design technologies, such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Benchmarking (BM) and Top Flop Analysis (TPA). In the final part of this project, the virtual prototyping of the product is carried out using Additive Manufacturing (AM) with an FDM 3D printer. The combination of these methods forms, to all intents and purposes, the IDeS, a newly developed innovative and cutting-edge discipline capable of schematically guiding the new product development process in companies with unprecedented efficiency.