More Innovative Interior Parts Design Prevails in China

For years, multinational car- makers always launch the auto with the same model in the western market. But now, these enterprises have a better understanding of the Chinese market which is reflected by knowing what design Chinese consumers prefer. For designers of auto’s internal decoration, this means no tiny adjustment to the instrument board but the re-design of the auto’s internal decoration.

The Conference of Plastics for Autos in China held in Shanghai on April 17 defines the challenges confronted by foreign auto companies in the interior parts of automobiles for the Chinese market.

Todd Fortner, president of CAIP Group, said that Chinese consumers care less about how the design of the car is made when driving. Fortner stressed:“The primary principle of auto design is none other than safety.” But he also said that the auto design should be attractive enough for consumers when the safety is guaranteed.

CAIP stands for Changshu Automotive Trim Co., Ltd, which specializes in the design and production of various kinds of interior parts for automobiles. It provides services for multinational automakers like Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz. Acutely, it is building two new plants in Beijing specially to provide products for Mercedes Benz.

According to Fortner, carmakers are now holding three different attitudes when launching new cars in China. Some carmakers do not change the original interior parts at all but have the will to build production lines in China. Some are willing to change the existing design while some prefer to make completely new designs.

Fortner said: “when I first came to CAIP, I partially told my boss jokingly that CAIP could refer to ‘copying automotive interior parts’.” But now everything went through dramatic changes.“We are getting into the space time.”

For example, some luxury carmakers think that their automobile interior parts are designed to meet the expectations of global purchasers. Some makers would like to make tiny adjustments as Nissan did when launching the middle-end luxury car Nissan Teana in China. Fortner said: “Chinese consumers prefer using a large amount of light-color interior parts like wooden materials and they prefer hitech products.” In Japan, however, the interior parts look dark and heavy and the Japanese consumers attach more importance to the practicality.

Fortner also said that he joined in the re-design of interior parts for many kinds of automobiles. As he said, the interior parts of Cadillac SLS for China went through complete changes. “We know that the owners of these cars are government officials or entrepreneurs who would like to recruit drivers. Therefore we attach more importance to the back seats with a lot of wood and leather materials used to improve their comfort.”

Wang Qiong, engineering director of automotive seat producer Faurecia(China) Holdings Co., Ltd and general manager of Faurecia Shanghai R&D Center, said that plastics owns some flexibility in design and could both cover the demand for safety and comfort of automobiles.

Engineering plastics and plastic mat can give designers more freedom to design automotive seats and it can reduce the overall weight of the cars.

In Wang Qiong’s opinion, the problem of traditional seats is that thick mats and big metal frameworks are needed to keep the comfort of seats. He said:“Plastic mats can be molded into different shapes without affecting its safety. Therefore you can attenuate the mat as much as possible.” In addition, compound plastic materials can be used to replace a part of metal materials of seat frameworks.”

Wang Qiong said that plastic mats were mainly used for high-end cars but he hoped that they could be spread to ordinary cars. In his opinion, using more plastic materials can help to reduce the carbon emission and give designers more innovative ideas.

“Though the cost might be a bit higher, we can make sure that we can meet the highest requirements of clients for comport while guaranteeing the safety.”