Volkswagen : Copy from Searching the sound

There it is again. The question of what the engine should sound like. Indra-Lena Kögler replies with a searching look as she tries to make sure her answer is understood. It is of utmost importance for the discussion that will follow. 'The word 'engine' puts us squarely in the combustion world,' says the UX designer. 'I would prefer to talk about the sound a drive system makes.' Her colleague Valentina Wilhelm chimes in: 'We're not trying to imitate what an engine sounds like. Instead, we're trying to convey the character of an electric car.'

The combustion engine has determined the sound and dominated the design of cars for more than a century. 'But now, in the age of e-mobility, it will cease to exist. That opens up a new type of freedom, which we want to explore,' explained Klaus Bischoff, head of Volkswagen Design, at a recent event. It gives his designers a completely new field of activity. Two of them, Indra-Lena Kögler and Valentina Wilhelm, are pursuing this newly acquired freedom with models like the I.D. - the first purely electric Volkswagen developed and operated on the Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB).

Sound as acoustic identity

'We don't have any mechanical restrictions, and can give each car its own sound,' says 31-year-old Valentina Wilhelm, as if emphasizing again that she and her colleague are not two sound engineers talking about combustion engines but rather two UX designers discussing acoustics in the electric age. The sound that a drive system makes is obviously a key part of a car's overall presentation. As with a combustion engine, the acoustics of an electric motor also convey propulsion, dynamism, power and speed.