抄録
This study involved the car design development process by comparing an eleven Japanese car company 's design development process. Most Japanese car companies have huge design department and design-branches in abroad internationally. How do these companies manage design development across using multiple bases? Firstly, each company's development methods were gathered through interview with the general manager of the design department. As a result, the car design development process can be classified into four stages, "Advance Stage", "Concept Stage", "Main Stage" and "Tuning Stage". Secondly, role of diverse types design competitions within their design-branches and external design consultant were classified into three groups. Moreover, the design decision method can be divided into three groups, such as, "Consulted by the Project Team", "Decision by the Key Person", and "Entrusting to the Design Department". This study categorized the car design development process, "four stages", "three competition styles" and "three design decision methods".
