His vision was selected after an internal design competition against about 30 others from Mitsubishi's studios in Japan, Germany and California.
He admitted that the Concept RA doesn't look environmentally friendly, although the diesel was intended to provide good fuel economy and low emissions. "There are vehicles like the Prius out there that look environmentally friendly, but I think a sports car should look like a sports car," he said.
MICHAEL THOMAS
GENERAL MOTORS
If someone says "automotive design," what usually comes to mind is the exterior of a vehicle, not components like the steering wheel or radio. Michael Thomas, 30, admitted that he was no different.
"You don't think of it that much, which is kind of ironic considering that's what you interact with the most," he said. Now, after working in component design - he is creative designer for GM's Component Design Strategy Center - Thomas has a different perspective. He designed the steering wheel for the Cadillac CTS.
He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and was initially interested in jewelry design, partly because of the influence of his parents, who were stained-glass artists.
Working at Ford, Bose and finally GM, Thomas gained a growing understanding that parts of the interior can be a kind of jewelry that are important to a brand's image and to an owner.
"For the CTS you really want to emphasize luxury and quality," he said. "It becomes critical to iron out things like the fit and finish, craftsmanship and materials so that when the customer is handling it, it feels like luxury and it feels like quality."
He likened the CTS wheel, with its leather and stitching, to a fine purse. "You say, 'What makes the leather in a purse appear high-end, and how can we incorporate that into the design?'"
As a musician who plays professionally with his wife, he draws inspiration from instruments. "If you look at the details of a clarinet, something people have been using for centuries, that design has been so refined and executed so perfectly. That can be inspirational."
MATT SPERLING
TOYOTA
The A-BAT, a four-wheel-drive hybrid pickup, is Toyota's attempt to respond not just to compact trucks that are getting bigger and bigger, but to increasingly important environmental issues.
Matt Sperling, 28, of Toyota's Calty design studio in Newport Beach, California, designed the A-BAT's exterior. He said he could relate to those issues.
"I have a Tacoma myself and I love that thing to death, but sometimes it's a little too big for me," he said. "This was kind of my own personal response to that. If I could get my hands on this in real life I would use it every day."
But Sperling also wanted a design that seemed to be from tomorrow, to be "very forward thinking."
To make an environmental connection and link it to the Toyota hybrid family, Sperling gave the concept the trapezoidal silhouette of the Prius.
Sperling was hired in 2002 after studying at the College for Creative Studies, where his mother had enrolled him in a car-design course when he was a high school senior. Her reasoning: At school, he was always drawing cars instead of paying attention.
"It was the most brutal course I ever took," he recalled, "but it got me introduced to the world of car design. I fell in love and that was it."
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