Nikola Vargov is a 26-year old Bulgarian resident who works as an economist. He is a car design enthusiast since the age of four. He worked on a design study of what a TT would look like in 13 years and came up with Audi TT Concept.

Following interview will reveal the hidden intricacies behind the concept and of course the designer’s approach towards automotive design.

1. You are working as an economist yet you have come up with a startling Audi TT concept, please shed some light on this aspect of your personality?

Nikola: I’ve always been passionate about automobiles and design. The only reason I happen to have a degree in economics and some experience in that field is because there has been no automotive industry in Bulgaria for years, hence no automotive design education and, before we joined the EU in Jan ‘07, no way for me to have studied abroad either. I am very glad that this has changed and I am answering your questions as an Automotive Design student at Coventry University.

2. How far have you been in offering ’strong reference both towards Audi’s glorious past and to the typical Audi’s research for innovation’ with respect to your Audi TT Concept?

Nikola: Audi is a company with long and amazing history. Known as Horch in its first years, later as Audi, then as part of Auto Union and even having been owned shortly by Daimler-Benz, its name has been associated with myriad of technical innovations, strongly distinguishable image and many racing achievements. And yet, maybe until recently, in terms of image Audi somehow seemed to be in the shadow of its arch rivals BMW and Mercedes.

Audi TT Concept is a design exercise, my first of many more to come I hope, which is based on the first Audi TT and was aimed to put together characteristics which, in my mind’s eyes, shape the brand Audi. This is how I would imagine it in the comfortable position of someone who is not constrained by current market situation, environmental-, cost- and feasibility-issues.

3. Critics say that your Audi TT concept is Audi R8 combined with some 1990s concept car, what do you have to say in this regard?

Nikola: I based my design on the first Audi TT, which first appeared in mid 90s, but gave it a mid-engine body layout, which is basically what R8 is. I would have been disappointed with my work if people said it didn’t look like an Audi at all.

4. What is innovation to you - design, technology or the creative processes itself?

Nikola: To me, innovation in a broader context could be happening in any of these three directions alone and yet, in the end, it would have affected all of them. I believe that design, technology and creative process are interconnected.

5. Do the contemporary cars focus more features and benefits than looks and style, I mean, how do you delineate the present market?

Nikola: Automotive industry and the car have never been so complex and under so much pressure before as they are today. Whereas years ago it would have been enough for people to be able to travel from point A to point B, nowadays cars are expected to be safe, pollute less or at all, be comfortable, practical, affordable, give pleasure on the road and still look good. Obviously we can no longer talk about sports, luxury or micro cars in their own right as before - today they must all abide by the same rules.

6. What according to you are the greatest stylistic differences in approaching the automotive designs with respect to predecessors?

Nikola: There are people who’d actually write a PhD on this question. The aesthetic aspect of automobiles has always been a paramount. To a large degree, contemporary automobiles are still expected to possess the same array of visual characteristics as the automobiles of the early days, such as suggesting speed or comfort. Yet there are different approaches depending, for example, on the level of innovation, the technical capacity of the industry, the present social, political, economic reality, fashion, architecture, you name it. Think of the Space Age and how it shaped the automotive fashion in America in the 50’s. Or films like Need for Speed more recently.... The near future, however, will probably bear the label “Environment.”

7. Could you describe the projects on which you are working at present?

Nikola: This is my second month at Coventry University, UK, where I am going to spend the next two years and eventually get an MA degree in Automotive Design in the end. It’s fantastic! Quite a challenge at the same time, leaving almost no room for anything not directly related to my study and is still too early to know what my final project is going to be.

8. Where do you find yourself in array of the upcoming designers? What do you think, future holds for you?

Nikola: Competition is getting even tougher, but so are the fields in which a young designer may find an excellent career start. I’ll therefore try to be as competent and flexible as possible. Automotive design, though, will always be my greatest passion.

9. Finally, we’d like to have your views on Instablogs News Network and Auto Motto?

Nikola: I quite liked both Instablogs News Network and Auto Motto and even managed to go through most of the interviews on the latter, of which I also suspect I will be a regular reader. The more of it the better!

Wow! that was indeed a wonderful interview, thank you Nikola for sparing out time in doing an interview with us, it is greatly appreciated; also I’d like to wish you success for all your future endeavors.