Research Into Automotive Styling Modular Design

The automobile is an important symbol of modern industrial civilization. Since the latenineteenth century, the pattern of the world automobile industry has undergone severalsignificant changes. The invention of the automobile started softly in Germany and France;the development of the automobile accelerated sharply in the U.S. Britain, Italy and Sweden,the reform of the automobile occurred rapidly in China, Japan and South Korea.In the21st century, the automotive industry is moving towards modularity,Intelligentization, Internet of Vehicles, zero injuries, fatalities and emissions. As GeelyGroup President Li Shufu said,“Automobile manufacturing has moved from the era ofmechanical1.0and electronic2.0, into the intelligent3.0”.Today’s world manufacturers in the technological environment are facing enormouschallenges. Economic globalization, network management and production diversification isits main features. International market competition heats up, focus is reflected in productcost control, product quality control, production cycle control, and whether the user of theproduct has their personalization and diversification needs met.The direction of the world automotive industry has moved towards an industrialdevelopment model of modular design, modular manufacturing, modular assembly, andmodular services. In the past few years, the level of modular design and its application hasbecome the key point research field in the automobile industry. It has increasingly becomethe major global manufacturers’ focus of attention. However, Study on modular design inautomotive styling is still very limited. There has been a great space about the research anddevelopment of automotive styling modular design.This paper is based on Cutting-edge Science Research and Interdisciplinary InnovationProjects at Jilin University (Automotive Styling Modular Design Studies). Withmultidisciplinary, the thinking of research for automotive styling modular design is thecombination of Kansei engineering and Rational engineering. Ultimately, the establishmentof a modular library of automotive styling is controlling modular application and itsupgrades in real-time. The purpose of a modular library of automotive styling is in order tocater for the ongoing trends in the automobile industry and to meet changing user needs.The main subjects of this paper include:1. Sorting out the latest development status of automobile industry on the modular design. From comprehensive, progressive and hierarchical analyzes the breadth and depth ofdevelopment of the automotive modular design, from the perspective of the naturalenvironment, social environment, science and technological environmental analysis of theimpact and constraints of the automotive styling modular design. From the perspective offorward engineering and reverse engineering to illustrate systematically the managementapproach of automotive styling modular design.2. Study of the modular design principle of automotive styling. Physical decompositionprinciple is the premise of modular design. Technical complexity principle is the difficulty ofmodular design. Innovation flexibility principle is the soul of modular design. The userparticipation principle is the method of modular design. Green security principle is the socialbenefits of the modular design. Moderation with reason is the criterion of modular design.3. From the perspective of aesthetics, study of automotive styling modular design mustmeet the appreciation standards of industrial product design, to achieve harmony and unitybetween aesthetic subject and aesthetic object. Analysis of the automotive styling modulardesign has the formal beauty, functional beauty, structural beauty, plastic beauty andmaterial beauty.4. From the perspectives of genetics, branding and semantics, study of the formation ofautomotive styling modular design is on intrinsically logical relationship. After automotivestyling analysis, cataloging time style, environmental style, personal style and team style.The formation of automobile styling modular design is based on an inheritance from familyfactors in genetics which is in favor of a branded product in market operation, to meet thesemantics of individual consumption concept.5. From the perspective of management, study of the automotive styling modular librarycan be covered some related issues that are the definition, the principles, configuration andmeaning of the automotive styling modular library.This paper also focuses on the evaluation indicator and evaluation model of automobilestyling modular product family design. Through the case study of the actual developmentsituation of automotive styling modular design, it forecasts the future development trend ofautomobile styling modular design.The innovation of this paper is as follows:1. To be studied and analyzed from two aspects of epistemology and methodology, toestablish the basic theoretical framework of automotive styling modular design.2. According to the latest development of science and technology. The introduction of 3D printing technology to the automotive industry has brought innovative trends, but also forthe automotive styling modular design it provides the most powerful technical support andpowerful protection.3. From on aesthetic and stylistic perspective. These are features of automotive stylingmodular design, namely, formal beauty, functional beauty, structural beauty and materialsbeauty and other aesthetic features. Analysis and discussion of automotive styling modulardesign includes era style, environmental style, personality style and team style.4. From the perspective of management. Through the method of comparative study, thisputs forward the establishment of the overall vision and ideas of the automobile stylingmodular library, forming a framework system of the automobile styling modular library.5. Through the study of the modular design. And put forward the overall scheme of theestablishment of modular library and method of the planning of modular product family,research of application of product family planning in modular design. It also brings up theevaluation indicator and model for automobile styling modular design.In the past, a revolutionary change in automotive industry production and managementmode, has gone through Ford type mass production, Toyota type lean management and VWmass modular strategy three main stages. Nowadays, the automotive styling is facing newchallenges. It needs a new thinking perspective, new theory, new technology and newmethod to enrich the existing automotive styling.The paper is based on this background, the research of modular design theory frame ofautomobile styling, based on the framework, more and more scholars can further conductthoroughly detailed research work.