Director's Commentary: Jeep Mighty FC

Here's a great look at the Jeep Mighty FC concept car, as told by its designers.  Though this director's commentary doesn't illuminate much of the actual design process which led to the creation of the Might FC, it does a wonderful job of showing us the importance of identifying and holding a strong point of view as you make your way through that process. 

In particular, I like this quote from Mark Allen, the lead designer:

Although we work for a very, very  large corporation, and you'd think there would be board meetings and all this stuff, really it's a few guys just saying, "I want to build this because it's cool."  To have that kind of flexibility in our corporation is great.  I've got great support to do this, and the vehicles come out very, very pure in thought.  They're not watered down through a bunch of meetings and decisions.  There's really never any regrets when we get it done.

Not only is it critical to establish a solid point of view, it is essential to trust the people who hold that vision to do the right thing.  A team of talented designers can create a compelling concept car like the Mighty FC.  An extremelky well-structured and led product development organization like Apple can take the vision of talented designers all the way to market.

I love this design.  I hope they find a way to make it -- it would be such a boon to the Jeep marque.

Comments

[Paulo Rebordao]

Reminds me of true utility vehicles like the Pinzgauer and the Unimog.

[Brian Driggs]

There's something to be said about trust and the processes behind anything truly remarkable like this. Somewhere in the organization, a decision maker basically said, "I trust you and your team to do your very best. I know we will all be immensely proud of whatever you create."

The results speak for themselves.

PS: Those Down Shift videos are also exceptional. Did you see the Bentley one linked at the end? Amazing.