Trend forecasting tops automakers' priority to gaze into the future

A long gestation period of product development, rapidly changing buying behaviour and a heightening competition make it inevitable for automakers to foresee a trend ahead of a new model launch

Looks like a dream. But it's a job. Four years back, when Tata Motors started etching out company's new design philosophy (Impact 2.O) that would shape its future cars, Pratap Bose, Head of Design at the firm, hired people with a diktat to spend less time in office and rather walk the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, Tokyo and London to peek into people’s lifestyle – food habits, clothing, choice of beverage, etc to determine finer aspects in car design such as the size of cup holders, cubby holes in future Tata cars. These trend researchers who hail from design schools