Design Management: Managing Design Strategy, Process and Implementation (Required Reading Range) by Kathryn Best

Author:Kathryn Best [Best, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: azw
ISBN: 9781474260374
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

CASE STUDY

The Honda Zoomer

The Honda Zoomer, scooters, ‘making city life easier’.

CUSTOMIZING THE DESIGN AROUND CONSUMER NEEDS

Honda’s Zoomer was born in Asaka, Japan. Created by N Projects, a group of forward-thinking designers, whose client brief was to create a bike that would adapt to the varied lifestyles of today’s youth. N Projects’ design response was to make the Zoomer as bare as possible so that owners could customize the bike according to their individual needs. According to Mr. Tateishi from N Projects, ‘it is possible to make a bike adapt to users, users shouldn’t have to adapt to the bike’.

The Zoomer is designed with extra-wide tires and dual headlights, and is powered by a quiet, fuel-efficient 50cc engine. Its plush seat, which is contoured for comfort, can be easily adjusted to seven different levels, while under the seat, a ‘barebones’ approach to chassis design has created a huge storage space to carry anything from skateboards to camera tripods. At the heart of the Zoomer is its liquid-cooled, four-valve, four-stroke single-cylinder motor, which benefits from the latest programmed fuel-injection system; the Zoomer was the first small capacity motor to be fitted with such an advanced fuelling system.

Although the engineering and performance of the Zoomer are exceptional, it is the aesthetics and attitude of the bike that are winning over other brand-loyal customers. The Zoomer’s fat tires, bug-eye headlights, raw chassis and minimalist design signals something quite different and unique. Owners can customize their Zoomer, making the bike even more personalized, with a wide range of optional ‘hop-up’ parts and accessories, including radiator covers, a rear carrier and racing foot rest. A choice of different saddles, paint jobs, frame colors, racks and chrome parts, as well as a range of performance-enhancing engine parts, are all available and many of these parts are matched to the Zoomer’s color options of red, black, yellow and green.

Since its launch in 2001, the Zoomer has achieved a considerable following in Japan, the United States and Europe. The key to its success is the Zoomer’s ultra-cool, minimalist urban styling, which provides a base for a very individual machine that is fully customizable via a range of accessories specifically created around the needs of their target audience of young, urban consumers.

For Honda’s UK launch, a limited edition of 100 Zoomers were released, and potential customers were informed that they would have to hurry as stocks of the ‘hip and zippy little 50cc scooter’ were in very short supply. Wanting to make their own mark in the local market, Honda (UK) bought into the Zoomer culture by modifying the Zoomers with chrome bodywork, nitrous oxide injection, extra lights and even a playable Sony PS2 with mini-screen under the seat. An online magazine for ‘the coolest scooter around’ was also created (www.zoomerzine.org).

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