Some of the auto industry's biggest hits have roots in a company's darkest days, demographic shifts or a defining moment in history.

The strongest and most creative regroups -- even going as far as betting the ranch -- have delivered a triple or a home run in the form of the bubbly Taurus or the minivan.

It's unclear when and how bright the light at the end of the current dark tunnel will shine, but the seeds of a sustained recovery will have their roots in the styling studio.

The entire product development process -- design to manufacturing engineering -- has been put on hold or delayed.

But the product switch is slowly coming back on and while design may not lead a recovery, it will be a differentiator down the road.

A designer's canvas remains huge and will be key as society's transportation needs evolve.

Amid the ashes, it's the designer's job to provoke, push the throttle or romanticize enough that we start opening up the checkbook again.

The U.S. market has seen a net loss of 17 car and truck models during the Great Recession -- and we'll have to wait until 2011 to see another raft of new models reach the market, according to J.D. Power.

After gorging on bigger homes, televisions and meal portions, Americans are downsizing to economize. Nearly 50 percent of the new models planned for launch by 2012 will be compact in size.

Larry Erickson, head of the transportation department at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, says the design community is on edge -- waiting for a new design language to emerge from the downturn and sweep over America.

To get there, designers are just as likely to study how household finances, powertrain choices, seating configurations and audio features trigger positive brain receptors in consumers as hood, beltline and tail lamp styles.

In response to industry and societal needs, CCS this fall launched a new master of fine arts in transportation design that requires students to look even further down the road.

The first class -- six students from the United States, China, Korea and India -- is researching the transition from combustible engine to alternative energy -- electric, hybrid and hydrogen.

They also are being groomed for future leadership roles in the industry.

Combining research and practice, the program requires students to develop an awareness of global environmental issues and social change -- urban population growth, climate change, affordability, etc.

Students must synthesize changing external factors -- safety, recycling, an aging and increasingly obese America -- in their design work and translate styling into a final form that is meaningful to society, while profitable for business. All while creating products that resonate with a target market -- new buyers, the poor, old buyers, families.

The core curriculum will be based in a styling studio but supported by lecture course requirements in history, business practices and social sciences.

It's a tall order. But that's the new reality -- making us all aspire to buy a hot new car that's friendly to the planet rather than settle for an ordinary one.