“新甲壳虫之父”汽车设计杰作回顾

    汽车设计师杰•梅斯宣布即将退休的消息引发了对他33年传奇职业生涯的无数报道。这33年来，他先后效力曾经于奥迪公司（Audi）、大众公司（Volkswagen）和福特汽车公司（Ford Motor），并分别推出了数款赫赫有名的车型，如新甲壳虫（New Beetle）、奥迪TT（Audi TT）和2005款野马（Mustang）。

    与此同时，梅斯的职业生涯再次引发了一个让汽车业观察家困惑已久的问题：具体到他工作室推出的车型，这位首席设计师到底承担多大责任？在福特效力期间，梅斯要监管多个工作室中多达900位设计师的工作，这些工作室有时候要同时负责八个不同的品牌。就算是管理有方，这个职位也很难让他有多少时间设计一款全新的叶子板或是挑选一套大灯组合。早在1999年，《纽约客》（The New Yorker ）的一位作者造访梅斯位于迪尔伯恩的办公室时就发现，那里没有他能用来画素描的工具。因此这位作者写道：“梅斯……不再亲自操刀他早年还要干的那些手工活了。”就梅斯的这一点来说，由于他近几年一直常驻伦敦，致使进一步探讨变得更加复杂——伦敦是高端汽车集团（Premier Automotive Group，福特公司1999年成立的一个分公司——译注）的前总部所在地，但跟福特公司当前的业务毫无关系。

    梅斯最常用的是所谓“复古未来主义”（retro-futurism）的设计理念，即将史上曾有的车型及其特点用于现代车型的设计。但等到这种设计风靡一时，其他品牌纷纷效仿之后，梅斯就开始不再沉迷此道了。他曾对一位来访者表示：“我设计全新甲壳虫和奥迪TT时还没人能这么设计。但今天你会发现迷你（Mini）、菲亚特500（Fiat 500）身上都有我设计的痕迹，我还能再举出12款这种车来。这说不上是对是错。但如果大家都这么设计，我就得另辟蹊径了。”复古未来主义为他在这个大人物比比皆是的行业里赢得了非凡的地位，他一度努力把这种名望抛在脑后，但从来没有完全成功过。

    多年来，梅斯的大名总是和一些完全配得上“标志性的”这个用滥形容词的车型联系在一起，也跟一些不那么著名的车型相关。下面就来看看这位明星设计师职业生涯中的几款辉煌之作：

    The announcement of the pending retirement of car designer J Mays has produced a flurry of accounts of his 33-year career at Audi, Volkswagen, and Ford Motor, which produced such notable cars as the New Beetle, Audi TT, and 2005 Mustang.

    At the same time, Mays' career raises anew a question that has long perplexed industry observers: How responsible is the chief designer for any individual model that comes out of his studio? While at Ford, Mays oversaw the work of some 900 designers in multiple studios for, at times, eight different brands. Done properly, that executive job hardly leaves much time for shaping a new fender or choosing a headlight assembly. Even as long ago as 1999, a writer from The New Yorker who visited Mays' office in Dearborn found no sign of the tools that he would use to make sketches. "Mays ... does not do the kind of hands-on work he did earlier in his career," the writer concluded. In Mays' case, the discussion is complicated by the fact that he has been based in London for the last several years -- home to the former headquarters of the late Premier Automotive Group but not any ofFord's (F, Fortune 500) current operations.

    Mays was most associated with a philosophy known as "retro-futurism," which involved adapting historic shapes and cues for modern designs. But as its popularity caused its use to spread to other brands, Mays grew disenchanted. "When I designed the original New Beetle, the Audi TT, nobody was doing it," he told an interviewer. "Today you've got the Mini, the Fiat 500, I could go on for about another 12 cars. It is not a right or wrong. But if everyone's doing it, I'd be going the other way." While retro-futurism brought him prominence in a business filled with big personalities, he tried to leave it behind, never completely successfully.

    Over the years, Mays was associated with some cars that deserve the overused adjective "iconic," and some less so. Some big moments from the career of a star designer:

1998款大众全新甲壳虫

    大众汽车在1994年北美国际车展上推出了老款隆背车甲壳虫的全新概念版，可谓轰动一时，于是1998年再次投产了这款全新甲壳虫。这款车是梅斯与其长期伙伴弗里曼•托马斯在大众位于加州的设计工作室合作的结晶，正是它被认为开启了复古风潮。它完美的推广赢得了怀旧的婴儿潮一代发自内心的热爱，一直到2011年才停产。

1998 Volkswagen New Beetle

    Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One revival of the original hump-backed Beetle at the 1994 North American International Auto Show, and it created such a sensation that was put into production as the New Beetle in 1998. Designed by Mays along with his longtime associate Freeman Thomas at VW's California design studio, the New Beetle is considered the car that inaugurated the retro craze. Perfectly pitched to capture the affection of nostalgic baby boomers, it remained in production until 2011.