Jan Wilsgaard
Jan Wilsgaard (born January 23, 1930 in New York City , † August 6, 2016 in the municipality of Kungsbacka , Sweden) was a Norwegian car designer who gave the vehicles of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo an unmistakable appearance over four decades and numerous series . In 1950 the sculptor and interior designer moved directly from the Gothenburg art school to Volvo and soon rose to head the design department.
The designer already worked on the Amazon . He was inspired by Italian, British and American car designers. Assar Gabrielsson , one of the two founders of Volvo, criticized Amazon for being way too pretty: “The car looks like a pin-up girl, it's way too pretty. [...] It should be uglier. "
Many fans find the Volvo 164 to be a special highlight in the designer's work. The Volvo 140 seems to be more important . In this series, the foundations of the Volvo design line were laid until the 1990s. This is where the “shoulder” of the Volvo body and the “smiling” frame were created, a rectangle with rounded edges that tapers towards the bottom and is particularly striking in the chrome surround of the lamps in the front of the 140 series. Both basic forms can be found in the 200 series ( Volvo 240 , Volvo 260 ), whereby the "shoulder" in the new models, e.g. B. the Volvo V70 , has been taken up again.
The station wagon version of the Volvo P1800 , which goes back to two designs by Wilsgaard from 1967, was hotly debated : a conservatively cut “Jagdwagen” and a very stylish “Rocket”. Both designs are characterized by a long hatchback with a continuous side window. In the end, the cheaper “Jagdwagen” was built, which was perceived by the public as impressive, but rather strange and crazy. Strangely enough, the car became a prestige success that brought Volvo back into the premium segment, which it had been in before the Second World War. This “ES” variant of the P1800, better known as “Snow White's Coffin” , was a sales success with 8077 units despite only two years of production. The type was discontinued due to new safety regulations in the USA - the main market for the P1800. After Volvo announced the end of production, the rest of the production was sold out within a few weeks.
The Volvo design of the 1970s and 1980s has often been criticized as too angular, too rectangular. Critics created the term "boxiness" which was soon used as a synonym for Volvo design. Volvos were often referred to as "swedish bricks" ("Swedish bricks"). But it was precisely this “boxiness” that created something like a virtual design icon, which, by the way, perfectly matched the taste of one of the most important markets, the USA. After all, the angular, massive and solid-looking design of the vehicles exudes an important value for the brand: safety.
For Wilsgaard, functionality and simplicity have always been in the foreground: “The functional is often the beautiful. You follow the laws of nature and don't make things more complicated than they really are. Functional and sensible solutions are often the most attractive. ”These principles can also be seen in the 700 series and the 900 series , especially in the station wagon. The much criticized right angles and the almost vertically sloping rear made for a cargo volume that is unparalleled to this day.
The Volvo design was never the result of Wilsgaard's designs alone. Volvo had design departments in three locations and it was important to ensure that international trends that were in line with the basic design line were taken up. This enabled the company to offer its vehicles in the same design all over the world - and to sell them successfully.
1991 Wilsgaard was replaced by the British Peter Horbury .
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- ↑ memorial on www.familjesidan.se (PDF; 45 kB, Swedish), accessed on September 5, 2016
- ↑ Volvo press release on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Amazon ( memento of February 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), checked on August 11, 2019
- ↑ Form language influenced by Jan Wilsgaard on 164-140club.de ( memento of October 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), checked on August 11, 2019.
- ↑ Information on the "Rocket" on pietro-frua.de
- ↑ P1800 and P1800 ES, Was Prinzen reiten ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on datum.at ; Archive link checked on August 11, 2019.
- ↑ Volvo P1800ES, Geniale Improvisation ... ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on motor-klassik.de , checked on August 11, 2019.
- ↑ Volvo understands the term boxiness as a criticism ( Memento of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on volvocars.com (Eng.); Archive link checked on August 11, 2019.
- ↑ Jan Wilsgaard's draft is successful in the USA on volvoclub.org.uk (PDF; 92 kB)
- ↑ Quote Jan Wilsgaard on volvo240.ch
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilsgaard, Jan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian car designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 6, 2016 |
| Place of death | Kungsbacka municipality |