J Mays...Did he fall off the face of the earth?
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J Mays...Did he fall off the face of the earth?
I remember a few years back..he was pretty in the news and controversial. As of late though I have not heard his name uttered anywhere for seemingly years. I went to wikipedia, and supposedly he is still the head of Ford design...so I guess he is still there?
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If you saw J. Mays for the 1st time in a few years tomorrow, you wouldn't recognize him. He's changed alot! 
He's traded in the Tshirt, jeans, and designer suit jacket for what one might call the tacky Brit look. His stay in Europe has seemingly changed him a bit. Last I saw, he even grew a pretty good sized moustache.
My favorite (and coolest IMHO) car design chief has been cooling his heels in Europe (England & Germany, when I last heard late last year) at Ford Europe.
He still commutes to the main Ford office I believe it was once a month (might have been more), but he leads the co-ordination of Ford's global design "language". He has the title of Chief "Creative" Officer (meaning he gets to play around with designs and gets paid for it) as well as VP of Global design.
That new Ford "Kinetic" design we're about to see on everything from the new Taurus to the new Fiesta to even a new small people mover?.... J. Mays.
He's quietly been winning awards while at Ford. He was controversial early on more because of perception than actuallity. The last Thunderbird design was done before he even set foot in Ford. The 500 was also more or less dictated outside of his control. The Ford GT was supposed to resemble the original, and the design of the Mustang was mandated to take in historical designs of the Mustang. May's mark (at least till he got his designs in at PAG before Ford sold it off) is the current Land Rovers, Jaguars, Aston Martins, and the forementioned Kinetic look.
Ford's interiors are under the May's influence. To me, I feel his undisputed strength is in interiors. Colors, textures, and design he manages to make things look both very comfortable and futuristic at the same time.
Don't get me wrong. I think Welburn at GM is also exceptional (SSR, & Corvette were under his hands, as well as GM's current batch of new interiors... compare the look of the new CTS dash with the look of the new Malibu). But I feel alot more of Welburn's influence is diluted at GM than Mays is at Ford. Giles is pretty flashy and perhaps over the top in his design (all the LX cars, & the new Ram), plus he is the newest in his position as design chief, so his mark on a wider range of Chryslers remain to be seen.
Got to meet Mays more than once.
Coolest guy I've met in the biz.
He's traded in the Tshirt, jeans, and designer suit jacket for what one might call the tacky Brit look. His stay in Europe has seemingly changed him a bit. Last I saw, he even grew a pretty good sized moustache.
My favorite (and coolest IMHO) car design chief has been cooling his heels in Europe (England & Germany, when I last heard late last year) at Ford Europe.
He still commutes to the main Ford office I believe it was once a month (might have been more), but he leads the co-ordination of Ford's global design "language". He has the title of Chief "Creative" Officer (meaning he gets to play around with designs and gets paid for it) as well as VP of Global design.
That new Ford "Kinetic" design we're about to see on everything from the new Taurus to the new Fiesta to even a new small people mover?.... J. Mays.
He's quietly been winning awards while at Ford. He was controversial early on more because of perception than actuallity. The last Thunderbird design was done before he even set foot in Ford. The 500 was also more or less dictated outside of his control. The Ford GT was supposed to resemble the original, and the design of the Mustang was mandated to take in historical designs of the Mustang. May's mark (at least till he got his designs in at PAG before Ford sold it off) is the current Land Rovers, Jaguars, Aston Martins, and the forementioned Kinetic look.
Ford's interiors are under the May's influence. To me, I feel his undisputed strength is in interiors. Colors, textures, and design he manages to make things look both very comfortable and futuristic at the same time.
Don't get me wrong. I think Welburn at GM is also exceptional (SSR, & Corvette were under his hands, as well as GM's current batch of new interiors... compare the look of the new CTS dash with the look of the new Malibu). But I feel alot more of Welburn's influence is diluted at GM than Mays is at Ford. Giles is pretty flashy and perhaps over the top in his design (all the LX cars, & the new Ram), plus he is the newest in his position as design chief, so his mark on a wider range of Chryslers remain to be seen.
Got to meet Mays more than once.
Coolest guy I've met in the biz.
Last edited by guionM; Jan 16, 2009 at 02:54 AM.
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I think Welburn at GM is also exceptional (SSR, & Corvette were under his hands, as well as GM's current batch of new interiors... compare the look of the new CTS dash with the look of the new Malibu). But I feel alot more of Welburn's influence is diluted at GM than Mays is at Ford.
Guy...could you please elaborate as to why you feel his influence is diluted at GM. Is it the sheer size of GM, the GM management structure...? How can his talents be better utilized?
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