An Historical Industrial Design Beef: Raymond Loewy vs. Virgil Exner

Industrial design intrigue: Did you know Raymond Loewy and Virgil Exner, the man who turned Chrysler into a design force in the 1950s, didn’t get along?After World War II ended in 1945, U.S. automakers had to switch from wartime production back to making cars. But they had no new designs, so were essentially churning out the same vehicles they were making in 1942.The race was on to be the first to release a postwar car design, and Studebaker was determined to win it. They hired Raymond Loewy Associates to design their new Champion/Commander sedan. (The Champion was the coupe version, the Commander the four-door.)Loewy At the time, Exner was an ambitious designer working for Raymond Loewy Associates. He was tapped by Loewy for the Studebaker project, having cut his teeth at GM as an automotive stylist. But the two men did not see eye to eye. Since it was Loewy’s name on the company door, Loewy took credit for every project that came out of his studio, regardless of which designers had worked on it. This irked Exner, and the two argued about it. The Studebaker execs thought Loewy’s designs were too radical to produce. But they hit it off with Exner, who was more accommodating. To the point where Harold Vance and Roy Cole, Studebaker’s President and Vice President, secretly asked Exner to develop an alternative design, working at home.Exner did, and the Studebaker execs loved it.Loewy found out, and was furious. He immediately fired Exner for disloyalty.Exner didn’t have to collect unemployment; Studebaker immediately hired him as their Chief Stylist.In 1947, the Champion/Commander hit the market, and was indeed the first postwar car. Loewy received official credit, but the design was said to contain substantial Exner influences.It had a crazy-for-the-time wraparound rear window. Loewy’s idea, or Exner’s? We’ll never know. Studebaker continued to retain Raymond Loewy Associates as an outside designer.Loewy and Exner never reconciled, at least not publicly; in an interview, Exner’s son recalled his dad saying he and Loewy “loathe each other.”At Loewy’s studio, following Exner’s dismissal, Loewy promoted designer Robert Bourke to take Exner’s place. Bourke came to head up all of Loewy’s projects for Studebaker (this is speculation, but perhaps so that Loewy wouldn’t have to deal with Exner during Studebaker meetings).Bourke and LoewyIn 1955, when Studebaker moved all of their styling in-house, Bourke jumped ship from RLA To Studebaker, becoming their new Chief Stylist. (By that time Exner had moved over to Chrysler.) Sounds like Loewy had a bit of an HR problem. Exner at Chrysler