17 Sep 07
4Car: So what does Auto Emocion mean to you?
Donckerwolke: You know that feeling when you've been driving on a mountain road and you get to your destination and your hands are all sweaty? You get out of the car and you walk away from it, but then you turn around and take another look at it? That's Auto Emocion to me.
It's that feeling that links you to your car. It doesn't matter if you've been driving all night and only had a few hours' sleep, you still want to get back into the car, because there you feel comfortable and content.
4Car: How does what you've learned at Lamborghini influence what you're doing at Seat?
Donckerwolke: I try to have every day at work. I feel very privileged to have my job and to have worked 15 years within VW.
At Lamborghini I worked with a lot of committed people, people with real convictions. There, the only way to design new cars was to have proper human relationships. Sometimes we'd have three-hour meetings without coming to a decision, but after the meeting we'd all go off and have a coffee together and make the decision.
So perhaps the most important thing I learned there was that you can only manage to convince colleagues of your point of view by really talking to them as people. Problems only escalate when you don't talk.
Teamwork is the only way to design.
