Design shaping the interior revolution
Designers not only take care of the styling, but also contribute significantly to how auto-makers define their products and their services. With our design and technology offer, we help them strengthen and convey a strong brand image so that what someone sees from the exterior will be consistent with what they experience inside, right down to the smallest details. User experience is at the heart of our reflection and so we have to understand many dimensions – the characteristics of materials or technology, human psychology and perception, how people interact with the space around them, as well as the business context and competitive environment.
At Faurecia, our designers are at the hub of an extensive collaboration with a range of internal experts in areas from materials, technologies, kinematics, thermal management to electronics and optics integration or acoustic science. We make sure our traditional expertise in the fields of safety, comfort, ergonomics, aesthetics in the physical environment converges with emerging technologies (what I personally like to call “digital magic”) such as connected objects, smart surfaces or intelligence on-board. That means making decorative features functional and designing functional objects to blend seamlessly into the aesthetics of their environment.
As an industrial partner mastering the entire cabin, this convergence puts us in a unique position to contribute to the evolution and development of brand identities and branded user experiences - shaping whole new interior environments enabling a distinctive design intent.
A user-centric approach allows us to really show our clients the value and the attractiveness of an innovation in a meaningful context. Our role is to create a concept, validate the functional and perceptional benefits it brings to vehicle occupants, ensure it can be industrialized, and refine it to the brand strategy of each customer. Faurecia’s vision of ‘inspiring mobility’ spurs us to think bigger than just the car, the brand or even our automotive customers, and reflect on the overall on-board experience. This involves everything from ways to better connect people to the in-car environment, to shaping a more versatile space that adapts to different travelling modes or integrating new materials that enhance perceived quality and help lightweight vehicles.
The technology revolution in our industry puts Faurecia at the center of a wide playing field that’s strategically important to automakers - designing the cockpit of the future for its occupants and clean mobility solutions everyone can benefit from. Curiosity and creativity are central to being a designer and help us think differently about solutions that communicate the promise of a car brand and improve the mobility experience.
At the Tokyo Design Forum last week, surrounded by some of the automotive world’s most renowned design leaders, we have been outlining exactly this position: our design and user experience skills not competing with those of the car makers, but extending them to commonly shape the future of mobility.
