Material trends
it’s appropriate. You still need them to work on those materials and surfaces, so they’re acceptable as a visible surface. It could also work in other areas, including seat frames, the centre console or the cross car beam that goes from one ‘A’ pillar to the other. These parts could be exposed. By making these parts visible…with a pure, honest, design where everything is no longer wrapped. From a weight-saving point of view, everything you wrap, you’re adding a process step in terms of cost, and you’re adding material, in terms of weight.” Thus far, the most obvious
example of this is in the interior of high-end sports cars, particularly the cabin of the McLaren P1, which has taken its carbon fibre structure to the extreme of utilising it as an interior A-surface.
Hans Hendricks, vice president of Advanced Product Development Automotive Electronics & Interiors at Johnson Controls says they are looking at significantly reducing weight in the IP
What we’ve found is that weight equals cost. OEMs are willing to pay a premium when we take weight out. They’ve been saying this for a long time, but it’s happening now because of CO2 emissions targets that they have to meet in the next decade.”
Fresh alternatives The next stage in this type of innovation will be the ability to integrate at a deeper level, combining the structural with the aesthetic. Ultimately, the drive to
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weight reduction may see the boundaries between A- and B- surfaces disappear in certain vehicles, in specific areas of the interior. The result will be future interior forms becoming simpler, reduced, in terms of their underlying structure, and offering new alternatives when it comes to A- surface materials. “Sometimes you have natural
fibre materials that are structural in door panels and instrument panels,” explains Wlasak. “So why not leave them uncovered in certain vehicles, if
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Strength and aesthetics “Composites and fibre technology are really exciting, because, as these materials mature, it also allows us to integrate ‘A’ surface and ‘B’ surfaces, and structures in IPs and doors,” says Hendricks. “A cross car beam and an instrument panel and air vents – that whole behind-the- surface functionality and structure that make an IP really heavy – combine that with the surface quality that carbon has and will have, or other fibre technologies, or multi- material composites that put strength in areas where you need it, and put more aesthetic qualities in other areas where you need that.” Ultimately, reducing complexity
and weight, while innovating interior design, may be as dependent on new materials and changes in the manufacturing process as it is on the automaker’s desire to hand over the management of such integration to suppliers. How far each carmaker is prepared to go remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the interiors of cars will change significantly as the trend to lightweighting continues.
May/June 2013
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