Derek Jenkins, former design director for Mazda North America, joined electric car startup Atieva in September of last year. Though what Jenkins is working on as Atieva’s Vice President of Design is being kept under tight wraps, a recent article published by Reuters news agency shed some light on what the company — one of four nascent electric car makers funded by Chinese backers in California — has in the pipeline.
In an effort to be more transparent, Atieva’s Vimeo account has also begun featuring new content, such as the video above. In it, Jenkins explains the reasons why he left his position to Julien Montousse to join Atieva, discussing the newfound freedom of legacy platforms and technology and being able to design around a new set of criteria thanks to electrification and new mobility proposals. As Jenkins accurately notes, it’s an exciting time for designers.
