If you don’t get the structure right, no amount of airbags will help in surviving a crash at a certain speed, says Mahindra's Chief Design Officer Pratap Bose

As the recently appointed design chief at Mahindra & Mahindra, Pratap Bose has had the singular privilege and responsibility of taking the Scorpio brand forward with the new  ScorpioN. With one iconic Indian SUV makeover already under his belt, Bose talks about helping design what’s, from the looks of it, a future best seller.

Is it a greater challenge to create a design from scratch or build on a design like the Scorpio which has two decades worth of visual history?

When you’re designing any product, you have a huge responsibility, not only towards your customers but towards your company. With such emotive names that we have in our company, like the Bolero, Thar, Scorpio, XUV – there’s so much emotion attached to these vehicles that the sense of responsibility goes up because you have to get it right. So it’s a challenge, but an exciting one.

This is the first ladder-on-frame chassis vehicle that you’re designing, the previous ones having all been monocoque. Are there any particular challenges or limitations in terms of design?

A lot of it comes down to proportions. Monocoques are generally lower so the roofline can be lower. With body-on-frame the roofline is a little higher, because the frame is taller. The engineering team created the architecture by pushing the wheels out, by pushing them almost in line with the body. So the front overhang is very short, and you still get a very dynamic looking body-on-frame car. I give a lot of credit to the engineering team in the US, and our team in Chennai for giving us the opportunity to create a stunning vehicle, on the body-on-frame construction.

Ever since you’ve taken over as design head, there’s been a logo redesign and almost a soft visual reboot of the brand. Given its strong focus on SUVs, how would you currently describe Mahindra’s aesthetic?

When it emerged from the 90s and started creating vehicles that were designed for customers who themselves have changed over the years. So the level of sophistication someone expects in a vehicle today is very different from twenty years ago. Twenty years ago there was no term called multimedia interface or infotainment. Today you see large screens dominate interior designs. Customers expect that. They’re comfortable with it, they’re comfortable with technology. So you want to change your design with the changing customers.

Can you point at some of your trademark design flourishes that have made their way to the new ScorpioN?

As I came in, we got the grille redesigned, we got the new logo. My personal inputs are of a much finer nature. Of getting the gaps right, the craftsmanship, the colours etc. You can’t have something sophisticated that ends up looking crude. For example, the graining on their plastics which make it look rich, because when it’s shiny, it reflects the sunlight which can be distracting.

Mahindra is clearly an SUV brand. Given that you’re about to introduce a new range of electric vehicles, what sort of potential does a born EV platform have for revolutionising SUV design?

That’s a fantastic question. And of course, you’ll get your answer in a couple of months. We are going to showcase our entire EV strategy in the UK, in an event in August. And that will not only surprise but delight a lot of folks. We’re at this unique transition point between ICE and EV and it’s so exciting to operate in both worlds. The EV story is developing into an extremely exciting range of products and we will reveal that strategy soon.

Mahindra has always prioritised structural integrity of the car, and even received a “Safer Choice” award from Global NCAP for the XUV700. Where would you place multiple airbags as standard on a list of priority features, in comparison to structural integrity?

Both work hand-in-and. The structure and the airbags system work hand-in-hand. The structure distributes the load in a certain way. So there’s a two-load path, one which goes up the A-pillar and the other which goes through the sill. And if you don’t get the structure right, you can have any number of airbags and you won’t survive a crash at a certain speed. So the structure is your first defence system. If that works then your airbag deploys and you’re fine. For example, the structure has to hold, so that you can open the doors after a crash. I think that’s a huge requirement, because if people are trapped inside and you get to them and you can’t open the door because the structure has collapsed then your airbags don’t help. That’s why structure plays a primary role in an immediate crash. That’s why airbags are a supplementary restraint, which supplements the primary system.