The conversation - the first in the upcoming Charlie Rose series on the changing nature of cars in America - focuses largely on the role of aesthetics in automobile manufacturing. This roundtable features a gathering of the most prolific design studio heads including Hyundai's Joel Piaskowski, Edward Welburn of GM, and a former Mazda design director and now Tesla's own Franz von Holzhausen. Automotive design critic Phil Patton of The New York Times joins the conversation as well.

As expected, the discussion delves into energy efficient drivetrains and the plight of embedding them with modern, low-drag exterior platforms. The dialogue is largely an interesting one. Though at some point during the discussion of each automaker's new pet projects Charlie's production crew mistakenly showed footage of the upcoming Chevy Camaro while Ed Welburn talked about the Chevy Volt. Next up is the interview with the GM CEO Rick Wagoner.