pratt has transportation design as part of the industrial design program. i'm not sure what your friend is willing to do/go but the royal college of arts has a degree in vehicle design.

I know at our school, the car design studio is offered to the top upper level students through the industrial design program. The studio is sponsored by GM, who essentially creates the focus of the studio (the last studio I can remember was focused on the redesign of a not so hot gas-electric hybrid prototype). If the students do well, I think they are offered internship positions in the GM design department, essentially getting their foot in the door for a future career there.
However, I do not know of any schools in NY that offer this just from my lack of knowledge (I was only there 6 months). But I would suggest "googling" I.D. schools and checking if car design is part of their curriculum.

what school are you from, glick??

anyways the Art Center in Pasadena has, arguably the most well-respected and well rounded course in Transportation Design, and all the studios are sponsored by different car Manufacturers.

its a very good program but very expensive too

sameolddoctor

I went to the University of Cincinnati.

For the car studio, I don't think they got into the design of the actual skeleton of the car, i.e. engineering/chassis type issues. I believe it was all aesthetic and market driven, slick renderings, graphic lifestyle type presentations, etc. The technology was already mostly included. But they do different ones each year, so technology may be a large part of the next studio.

They don't get into that until their 4th year of a 5 year program I believe. They have traditional I.D. foundation and product design track education up unitl that point. Just additional info for what it is worth. May be the same setup for some other schools with similar programs.

Not NY, but the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit is one of the best...

http://www.ccscad.edu/flashHomepage.cfm

how about MIT? read this "autoweek"

Well, actually it's not a program, but it was a Media Lab course taught here (MIT) last year comprise mostly of architecture students.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Frank Gehry designing a car? Although he actually hasn't design anything yet, but he will.

i believe a four year degree in architecture ought to be enough for any sort of product design, as long as the student has taken enough fine arts cognates with an emphasis on clay modeling and 3d visualization. architecture programs are usually liberal enough to all students to persue their own interest if they really want to, so there's no reason a studio project couldn't encompass industrial design, and arguably many of them already do. many industrial designers have started out with a background in architecture.

also i believe the college for creative studies, a design school in detroit, has one of the better programs for someone willing to persue a career in this field

http://www.ccscad.edu/flashHomepage.cfm

Hey, thanks everyone, for the input.

oh, someone already mentioned that school

sorry freelsk