Whenever not trying to produce cars through the 1970s and 1980s, his Cumberford Design International worked in Europe on behalf of clients including Renault and Citroen. Patrick Le Qu├йment, for many years head of design for Renault, remembers meeting the critic shortly after heтАЩd unwittingly fired him тАФ along with all outside consultants тАФ shortly after assuming the role in the mid-1980s.
┬атАЬI threw out the baby with the bathwater,тАЭ says Le Qu├йment, whoтАЩs credited with creating the Twingo and the original Ford Sierra. But he and Cumberford made amends. тАЬWhat I like about Robert is that he is above all a designer who writes and not a journalist who dabbles in design. He understands, what else can I say?тАЭ ┬а
тАЬRobert has an opening to the real world, to design in general and socio-cultural evolutions,тАЭ he said.
It was around this time тАФ 1986 тАФ that Automobile magazine hired Cumberford as its design critic, a position that to this point had never existed at any similar magazine. And in full disclosure it was there that this author worked alongside him for years.
тАЬHe was absolutely honest to a fault and never held back on cutting criticism,тАЭ says Jean Jennings, a former editor-in-chief of Automobile. тАЬHe terrified designers. He had plenty of enemies but in the end most of his detractors agreed. And of course readers loved him.тАЭ
After 30-plus years of writing about cars, Cumberford today returns to his initial passion of airplanes. The industry today is barely recognizable to the one he joined. Sedans are nearly gone. SUVs are everywhere, found even in the hallowed supercar programs of Lamborghini, Aston Martin and soon Ferrari. Even the Ford Mustang has an electric SUV.
He heaps scorn on the recent trend for space-inefficient SUV coupes and increasingly frantic designs, with тАЬeverything itтАЩs got stamped into it, a two-inch-thick layer of surface around it, where people do horrible things, including some that look like fish scales, some like horrible nightmares.тАЭ┬а He says carmakers should bring back the station wagon and put efficiency above all else.
Unlike many industry veterans, Cumberford bears no ill will toward electric or autonomous vehicles, though he suspects that the two 21st-century technologies are unlikely to enliven automotive design. He quite likes the look of Teslas, including the aggressively angular Cybertruck. ┬а
He remains underwhelmed by the fundamental conservatism and pack mentality of most carmakers. Consider the BMW of 20 years ago, when designer Chris Bangle тАФ responsible for the Z3 and Z4 roadsters тАФ persuaded company directors to adopt a higher rear end for the 7-Series of 2001. BMW fans were outraged and called for his dismissal. ┬а
Then a funny thing happened. The car outsold its predecessor. Rivals followed. A higher deck gave consumers better aerodynamics and more trunk space. Ever the contrarian, Cumberford admired it.
тАЬThe courage to do something new and different is really lacking in the upper levels of all the car companies,тАЭ he says. тАЬTruly, the safe thing to do is not much.тАЭ
Moray Callum, the designer of the Aston Martin concept car that Cumberford panned in Geneva, later made friends with and was reunited with Cumberford during an industry panel some seven years ago in California. Also on the stage was his brother, Ian Callum, the head of design at Jaguar; Ed Welburn, then GMтАЩs head of design; Shiro Nakamura of Nissan and Andrea Zagato of the famed Italian studio.
Moderating the panel, Cumberford asked the guests to pick the proudest achievements of their careers. Callum chose the Aston Martin.
тАЬI always listened to his input and have certainly learned that it will be his honest opinion that he gives me,тАЭ Callum says of Cumberford. тАЬHe is unique in the car design world in his ability to write and educate the reader about our business, and that has benefited our profession immensely.тАЭ
