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The Future Of Automotive Design: Sex And Koons

Diego Rodriguez, a self-described gearhead who works at IDEO and teaches at Stanford's d.school, observes the phenomenon of the masculine lust for fast and shiny automobiles and trots out a description of "lekking," which is at the root of the drive for conspicuous consumption as postulated by Thorstein Veblen in 1899. "A lek is an arena where animals engage in sexual signaling in order to attract mates ...," Rodriquez writes. "Automotive designers get this instinctively."

But it turns out there may be more to it than that. According to new research by Gad Saad and John Vongas of Concordia University, "driving a cool car such as a Porsche actually does raise one's level of sexual potency; there's something visceral happening that goes beyond the reactions of bystanders." Testosterone levels rise, in other words. And Rodriguez posits the interesting theory that a Porsche can command its premium price not because marketers have convinced us that it's worth it but "because our genes value them so highly."

Over in Fast Company, meanwhile, we learn that Jeff Koons will design the next installment in BMW's "Art Car" series, which has featured works by Andy Warhol and David Hockney, among others. Details won't be released until later in the year, but Cliff Kuang provides tantalizing photos of two other transportation-related works of Koons' -- a functioning yacht and an uncommissioned locomotive dangling from a crane. Best that you click through

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Read the whole story at AOL Autos, Fast Company »

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