Questionnaire for Ted Klaus
- Thread starter TURBO2GO
- Start date
The only thing I recall in the presentation was a slide discussing the division of design and engineering labor between studios in Europe, the US and Japan. There was a lot of the typical talk about globalization, but basically it is being designed as a global car "from Honda": Japan doing powertrain, US doing the chassis/manufacturing and Europe doing the refinement (and I believe also the interior).
In other words: the powertrain will bulletproof and run like a Seiko, the chassis/manufacturing will be unreliable and fall apart, and the refinement/interior will be over budget and costly to maintain. Is that what you are saying?
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Osiris_x11
Gold Member, Moderator: Marketplace
Great that Ted Klaus (Large Project Leader / Chief Engineer) was able to drop by NSXPO. However, it should be noted that he is at such a high-level that many/all of "our" curiosities, concerns, and comments can not be entertained fruitfully by him. Our queries are too enthusiast-based, though with merit, just not focused (at the right person / time).
It's almost as-if the community needs the Japan-based power-plant/drive-train project lead, the US-based design/concept lead (Jon Ikeda), technical/performance lead (which may involve additional McLaren Automotive input?) to fully engage and somewhat satisfy our curiosities.
Lastly... need swan-like doors, yeaaa!!!
It's almost as-if the community needs the Japan-based power-plant/drive-train project lead, the US-based design/concept lead (Jon Ikeda), technical/performance lead (which may involve additional McLaren Automotive input?) to fully engage and somewhat satisfy our curiosities.
Lastly... need swan-like doors, yeaaa!!!
Rats. Well of course he has to tow the company line, but hearing that as justification is a little disheartening...it's one thing for a mother to be bestowed with an "ugly baby" completely out of her power only to grow into considering it beautiful, as the baby is a functional component in-line with all her effort to build a family and satisfy her maternal instinct, but wowzers....both mouths below are a functional component in-line with an effort to build food into the tummy...but when you're given free reign to design the tool, doesn't one seem like it'd satisfy a bit more...
Very ironic that passion for cars seems highest in the world now vs. any other time I've been alive, yet a guy like Ted is probably pretty shackled within today's politically-correct corporate world. I need to find a good nsxprime thread or book and read about Uehara's development venture with the first NSX and see how much control he or others had to be a bit of a cowboy and chase down the passion...rather than be forced to tow the company line and talk about human interfacing (??) and have to inherit a company beak while talking unapologetically about it... I'm hoping something in Bob's video provides some more depth and soul that resonates with us enthusiasts and doesn't sound like just a replay of various videos you can find online...
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/19F07bmgYfY?feature=player_embedded" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>
hmmmm......based on that old video of the NSX above I think the people still bitching and crying about the "beak" maybe haven't seen updated pics. The design has changed (I think for the better) and may still change some more. Anyway stop crying about it already.................
Ha ha, I know, enough already. Though, the video link was not intended in regard to the beak - was for Ted's interview. I've seen those updated pictures, including the more relaxed blue wrap at mid ohio.
Oh I get tired of hearing myself complain about the beak too and sounding like the Steve Jobs of auto design.
...about how all those artsy pointy edges means that today's bumpers can no longer act like bumpers and instead, now one light tap of a pointy edge results in a marred scratch or cracked plastic instead of leaving no trace....and those increased insurance rates... But don't worry I'm likely to wear myself out soon I'm sure...like a colicky baby...no matter how inelegant the beak looks....ok I'll stop...after it gets labiaplasty. Ok...really..I'm done and moving on....
But thank God my '93 looks like it does. Ok shut it already.
Great that Ted Klaus (Large Project Leader / Chief Engineer) was able to drop by NSXPO. However, it should be noted that he is at such a high-level that many/all of "our" curiosities, concerns, and comments can not be entertained fruitfully by him. Our queries are too enthusiast-based, though with merit, just not focused (at the right person / time).
It's almost as-if the community needs the Japan-based power-plant/drive-train project lead, the US-based design/concept lead (Jon Ikeda), technical/performance lead (which may involve additional McLaren Automotive input?) to fully engage and somewhat satisfy our curiosities.
Lastly... need swan-like doors, yeaaa!!!
Ted kinda touched on this with a discussion of "red cars vs. silver cars" ~ a term that apparently came out of a conversation with LarryB and other NSXPO organizers just before his talk. The idea is that there are "red car people" who will want full-on performance and will sacrifice comfort and amenities in favor of very marginal gains in performance, but then there are also "silver car people" who still want leather, a trunk and reasonable MPG in a car that is only slightly weaker in performance than its Spartan sibling. Ted used this analogy multiple times throughout the talk in answering enthusiast-oriented questions.
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It's always been said that red is the fastest color :biggrin:
I agree that this was a VERY important point that Ted made and was one of the few areas on which he went "off script". My translation of this is that a Ferrari 360/430 is a "red" car and our current NSX is a "silver" car. The Ferrari makes a ton more power but lacks in creature comforts, whereas the NSX is underpowered, but has good comfort levels. Those two elements balance each other out to make the two cars "competitors". I personally find his logic very flawed, but that isn't the point. The point is that this is the type of logic behind the marketing strategy.
One thing I really enjoyed was hearing him repeatedly use the word NSX as an adjective, roughly translating as the pinnacle of automotive performance and refinement, e.g. "we considered such-and-such but decided it wasn't NSX enough", "we want it to be the most NSX design possible".
