Claus Luthe
| Claus Johannes Luthe | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 8, 1932 Wuppertal, Germany |
| Died | March 17, 2008 (aged 75) Munich, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Employer | Voll, Fiat, NSU, Audi, BMW |
| Spouse(s) | Gertrude Luthe (m. 1953–2008) |
| Children | 4 |
Claus Luthe (December 8, 1932 – March 17, 2008) was a German car designer, noted for his design work on the NSU Ro 80, Volkswagen K70 and numerous seminal models from Audi and BMW. Luthe was a pioneer of aerodynamics and digital design within the automotive field.
On his death in 2008, The Guardian called Luthe "one of the most important figures in postwar European car styling."
'"Luthe was one of the first to embrace digital tools to improve and accelerate the process so that the designers could pass information directly to the engineers in digital form, he changed the methodology of designing into what everybody does today.” — Robert Cumberford
Luthe was born in 1932 in Wuppertal, the second-oldest of five children in a deeply Catholic family. His father died on the Eastern Front when he was just 12 years old. Luthe originally wanted to follow his elder brother into a career in architecture, but took an apprenticeship from 1948 to 1954 as a coachbuilding student at Karosseriebauer Voll in Würzburg, where he worked on proposals for buses. After completing his apprenticeship, he joined Deutsche Fiat AG, where he was, among other activities, responsible for the frontal styling of the original 500.
He soon, however, joined NSU, where he was instrumental in developing the company’s design department. Luthe’s first designs at NSU were the second-generation NSU Prinz 4 and the NSU Wankel Spider.
The Prinz had a distinct resemblance to its contemporary Chevrolet Corvair; the original design had already been finalized when BMW launched its new 700 model in 1959, with a very similar design. NSU management decided that changes were needed, and an NSU board member who had just returned from the United States described the Corvair design to Luthe, who incorporated some of the elements into the Prinz's bathtub design.
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Wikipedia