Premium Attitude

red dot
red dot award: design concept 2008

company:

Faurecia

design:

Andreas Wlasak, Thorsten Suess, Robert Fitzpatrick, Philippe Aumont and Robert Huber

Faurecia’s Premium Attitude presents new design innovations integrated as feasible engineering solutions in a concept vehicle. It illustrates how automakers can turn their conception of premium design into an industrial reality.

Faurecia’s Premium Attitude concept car reveals the next generation of interior innovations available to automakers. It aims to start new dialogue with automakers’ design, product planning and senior management departments before new vehicle projects are begun. This is the first concept to bring all of Faurecia’s disciplines into play. Each innovation can be appreciated in its context, however. Ten key innovative technologies are revealed, ranging from production-ready features to production-feasible solutions for the near future. Premium Attitude’s innovations are built around three key directions: intelligent product design and user interaction, magic experience and surprise in use, and obsession for detail. Premium Attitude is an international project, encompassing Faurecia teams from France, the US and Germany and involving Faurecia’s expertise in the fields of industrial design, research and development, product planning and engineering.

The instrument panel and seats contain some of the most intriguing features. The instrument panel can visually shut off elements of the central display to enhance driver concentration, lower distraction and ultimately improve safety.

A “magic skin” utilising kinematics slowly rises from the top of the central instrument panel, stretching up to meet the top of the dashboard and covering up the information screens not required at that moment. For instance, when driving in Sport mode, the driver may only want to concentrate on the central driving-related functions – such as the speedometer – so the magic wave covers up the other functions. But in City mode you might also want to know where the next good Italian restaurant is located via the GPS navigation system – so in this instance the cover would stay down and keep all screens visible. In Cruise mode, relevant information such as the titles of your MP3 tracks is displayed at the top of the screen. As the screens are fixed they don’t have vibration issues – a common problem with some current pop-up navigation screens.

The idea behind the asymmetrical driver’s seat is that the floating armrest with embedded HMI-controller (inspired by the mobile phone industry) on the inboard side travels with the seat fore and aft so the ergonomics stay consistent. The door panel armrest also automatically moves diagonally back and forth with the driver. The seat is slim to create more interior space and it appears even slimmer from the outside due to the placement of the integrated seatbelts and the associated reinforced structure on the inboard side of the seat.

The fore/aft track on which the seat moves has also been optimized for user comfort and vision. Tilted slightly more upward than is typical in car interiors – along a very shallow diagonal course – it gives a better adjustment for any occupant dimensions.

The fixed position rear bench is another example of surprise and delight. It looks like a conventional three-seater, but it is much more. Once the passenger sits in the seat, the base cushion adjusts itself for firmness, depth and angle. There is no conventional pull-down centre armrest; instead one magically rises up to a taught curved bridge-like position from the seat base, leaving open space underneath. A striking fashion-inspired red contrast is revealed on the sides of the rear seats when they tilt and split fold. This detail is repeated elsewhere, including the inner headrest areas. The headrests fold up electronically when they sense a person sitting in the seat and fold flat again – for better driver rear vision – when the seat is vacant. A relaxed lounge feel is enhanced by the wrap-around rear seats that join with the rear-hinged rear doors and armrests to form one flowing design line.