Top auto firms have designs on NID

Companies rush in to use skills of  automobile design students.

Automobile majors Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj are talking to the National Institute of Design for sponsoring projects of the newly launched Transportation and Automobile Design Department.

The companies are also exploring the possibility of teaming up with NID to design new automobile products. The institute is starting the country's first course in Transportation and Automobile Design this year.

Gaurang Shah, Coordinator, Product Design and Transportation Design at NID said, "The companies have approached us but everything is in initial stages."

"We may tie up with the companies, whose technicians and engineers will work with our designers," Akhil Saxena, a faculty member at NID, said.

On sponsorships, he said, "Corporates will pay the design fee for the projects. Also, as getting automobile faculty members from abroad is very expensive and the institutes with whom we have a tie-up do not have permanent faculty members for automobiles, these corporates may support their visits".

The institute has a state-of-the-art design visualisation centre The department had also taken part in Auto Expo, 2006, to showcase the skills of its product design students.

The collaboration with NID may also help auto majors develop 3D models in a year. This takes two years if companies do it on their own.

Institute officials said automobile companies like Tata Motors, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj were behind the launch of the course.

NID has also tied up with premeire automobile design institutes. These include University of Transportation Design, Art Center College of Art and Design, Pasadena, USA, and some Italian institutes.

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Road ahead

The institute is starting country's first course in Transportation and Automobile Design

Top auto companies were behind the start of this course

The companies want to team up with the students to design new products

They may also sponsor visits of faculty members from abroad

The tie-up will help firms develop 3D designs in a year. This takes two years at present