Toyota and its luxury car brand, Lexus, have been the front runners in the interior industry. In the J.D.Power interior quality report, Lexus ranked first in four times in the past six years. At the just-concluded Chicago Auto Show, Toyota set a new goal for his colleagues. In its 2004 So-lara, Toyota claims to reduce the gap between the interior of the car from the old 1.5mm to 0.5mm. Don Esmond, senior vice president and general manager of sales division at Toyota USA, said that such high precision requirements will give customers a very high quality and exquisite feeling. More importantly, such an accurate fit will be maintained over a long period of time. Although it is not a big achievement to drive 1 mile of oil per gallon on the fuel economy indicator, for the interior, a 1 mm reduction in the gap is a remarkable thing.
Bob Lutz, GM’s vice president of product development, admits: “We really lag behind Japanese companies in this area, but we are learning.” He said that the launch of Buick La Crosse this autumn will be an excellent proof. Buick La Crosse represents the first major step in our efforts to improve the interior to achieve the best interior level of a Japanese car. He said that La Crosse’s rich interior material texture and wood grain are hopeful to have a positive impact on the Buick brand.
Lutz hopes that Buick will become Lexus in the United States and provide the highest quality cars at the price that consumers can afford. This is also one of the strategies Mazda is using. The Mazda B-series pickups are also intended to provide consumers with high-quality interiors at a low price. Mazda spokesperson Jeremy Barnes said that there is no reason why a high-quality interior cannot be obtained because consumers only bought a car for $30,000. Because only the interior is the item that the driver has always felt after getting on the bus.
Ford’s interior design director Reichman said that comparing the interior of the Ford’s new Mustang with the old interior, we can see how much energy we spent on the quality of the interior in the new car, Ford last year The investment in improvement is three times that of previous years. The quality of the materials used in the new Mustang, the degree of material handling, and the differentiation of the different materials make it very attractive. At the time of design, the goal is to minimize the friction of the interior, to be more durable, and to be more sporty. Ford is currently leading the way in the use of new interior materials. Mercury Mariner 2005, which is expected to be available this fall, uses a soft and comfortable fur. For the first time, the $140,000 500-horsepower Ford GT uses the Azdel SuperLite material in the interior of the car. It is a compound of glass fiber synthesized with many other substances. It used to be used only for roofing.
In an era when the smart industry dominates everything, the auto industry is once again eyeing the car interiors in order to provide users with a better in-car experience. In recent years, new materials have been widely used in automotive interiors, namely modified plastics, carbon fiber, synthetic leather, textile new materials, adhesive sealing materials, IMD, spray-free materials, water transfer materials, sound insulation / heat insulation / Shock absorber materials and polyurethane materials, etc., for consumers, the aesthetics, comfort, noise reduction and shock absorption performance of automotive interior parts become more and more important. As the overall quality gap between different brands of cars shrinks, automotive interiors have become a new battleground for competition, and the market potential is huge.
