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Thread: Faurecia Premium Attitude Concept

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    Faurecia Premium Attitude Concept

    Faurecia Premium Attitude Concept
    2007 Los Angeles

    Faurecia launches “Premium Attitude”: added-value for automakers through design, innovation and engineering
    Faurecia’s new Premium Attitude concept car reveals the next generation of innovations available to automakers. Far from a flight of fancy, Premium Attitude displays Faurecia’s ability to create new design innovations and integrate them into highly feasible engineering solutions within one car.
    Faurecia is a global specialist in six major modules, including seats, doors, cockpits, acoustic packages, front ends and exhaust systems. Faurecia is committed to innovation and premium, creating design freedom for its customers through end-user understanding, technology integration, and production expertise. This new complete-value-chain approach accounts for the economic reality of the business in which both the costs and risks incurred by innovation must be managed appropriately. In a growing premium market, Faurecia shows that premium products are possible in any style of vehicle.

    The premium trend
    “The idea of premium is the single biggest trend to be sweeping the automotive market at the moment,” explains Jacques Mauge, Faurecia’s Executive Vice President of Group Customer Development. “Automakers are well aware of this. They are seeking to differentiate their vehicles through the notion of premium. Consumers today want much more than utility and
    function out of their vehicles. They also want pleasure and status. They want an experience.” Premium is one of the fastest growing market segments worldwide. In 2006, premium vehicle sales accounted for two million units in North America and more than 2.5 million in Western Europe. By 2019, this segment is predicted to grow to nearer three million in North America and close to 3.5 million in Western Europe.

    Faurecia’s answer: Premium Attitude
    Faurecia covers all automotive market segments but “premium” is a quality that can be found in all vehicle segments. It is desirable but affordable and can be mass-produced. Premium should always represent ”good taste”, be well designed, constructed with high quality materials, exceptional craftsmanship and perceived quality. But premium can be cost-effective. It is about intelligent product design, fine execution and an obsession for detail. It does not necessarily have to come at a cost. As a leading Tier 1 supplier, Faurecia is a driving force in creating new architecture giving design freedom to the
    automakers, and then turning their conception of premium into an industrial reality. Once a product is industrialized, Faurecia has the capability to mass-produce it with a consistency already respected by global automakers worldwide.

    Ten key innovative technologies are revealed on the Faurecia Premium Attitude concept car, ranging from production-ready features that could be utilized today, to production-feasible solutions for the near future. These innovations have been built around three key directions:
    1. Intelligent product design and user interaction
    2. Magic experience and surprise in use
    3. Obsession for detail
    1. Intelligent product design and user interaction
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:49 AM.

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    Sharing Faurecia’s vision of the future
    All innovations featured here illustrate how Faurecia is able to combine its extensive design and engineering expertise to offer a new level of ”premium” values which automakers’ designers can then utilize in their creative visions for new products. As Faurecia’s Industrial Design Vice President Andreas Wlasak puts it: “This is the first ever concept to bring all of Faurecia’s disciplines into play. But it is not just a catalogue of features; it is an integrated statement of market understanding, product innovation and development competencies within a full-size concept car.”

    Faurecia’s strategy – based on component platforms where invisible parts are standardized as much as possible – opens space and design freedom for automakers. By presenting a full vehicle concept, Faurecia is able to demonstrate its design and engineering expertise across its six product lines in a vehicle environment, as the end-user would experience it. Each innovation can be appreciated in its context.

    Anticipating user needs and creating a dialogue with automakers

    The Premium Attitude concept car is aimed at starting new dialogue with automakers’ design, product planning and senior management departments before new vehicle projects are started. As Philippe Aumont, Vice President of Product Planning stresses: “Our concept is not trying to compete with our clients, but to act as an enabler of joint innovation development.” The Tatra’s classic sedan silhouette was chosen as the basis for the Premium Attitude because it offers a very similar interior space to a modern Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series or Audi A6, and shows that such vehicle body types can still compete in terms of versatility and premium space, when developed intelligently. Furthermore, Premium Attitude emphasizes the increasing importance of vehicle interiors to offer more differentiation in an ever more fragmented automotive market.
    This concept car is also a truly international project, encompassing Faurecia teams from France, the United States and Germany and involving Faurecia’s expertise in the fields of industrial design, product planning, research & development and engineering.

    Faurecia’s new Premium Attitude concept car reveals the next generation of interior innovations available to automakers. Far from a flight of fancy, Premium Attitude displays Faurecia’s ability to create new design innovations and to integrate them into
    highly feasible engineering solutions within one car. Faurecia is a global specialist in six major modules, including seats, doors, cockpits, acoustic packages, front ends and exhaust systems. Faurecia is committed to innovation and premium, creating design freedom for its customers through end-user understanding, technology integration, and production expertise. This
    new complete-value-chain approach accounts for the economic reality of the business in which both the costs and risks incurred by innovation must be managed appropriately. In a growing premium market, Faurecia shows that premium products are possible in any style of vehicle.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:30 AM.

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    The premium trend
    “The idea of premium is the single biggest trend to be sweeping the automotive market at the moment,” explains Jacques Mauge, Faurecia’s Executive Vice President of Group Customer Development. “Automakers are well aware of this. They are seeking to differentiate their vehicles through the notion of premium. Consumers today want much more than utility and function out of their vehicles. They also want pleasure and status. They want an experience.” Premium vehicle brands include Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Mini but there are also many examples of premium versions of mainstream vehicles.
    This includes the new Fiat 500[1] or some of the higher trim versions of high volume car models like Titanium or Ghia for Ford, Initiale for Renault, Premium for Peugeot or Exclusive for Citroën in Europe.
    Premium is one of the fastest growing market segments worldwide. In 2006, premium vehicle sales accounted for two million nits in North America and more than 2.5 million in Western Europe. By 2019, this segment is predicted to grow to nearer three million in North America and close to 3.5 million in Western Europe – with important growth in Asia and Eastern Europe too.

    Faurecia’s answer: Premium Attitude

    Faurecia covers all market segments: luxury, mid-level, entry level and low cost, but “premium” is a quality that can be found in all vehicle segments. It is desirable but affordable and can be mass-produced – just like an Apple iPod[2], for instance. remium should always represent ”good taste”. Premium should always be well designed, constructed with high quality materials,
    exceptional craftsmanship and perceived quality. But premium can be cost-effective. It is about intelligent product design, fine execution and an obsession for detail. It does not necessarily have to come at a cost. As a leading Tier 1 supplier, Faurecia is a driving force in creating new architecture giving design freedom to the OEMs, and then turning their conception of premium into an industrial reality. Once a product is industrialized, Faurecia has the capability to massproduce it with a consistency lready respected by global automakers worldwide.
    Ten key innovative technologies are revealed on the Faurecia Premium Attitude concept car, ranging from production-ready features that could be utilized today, to production-feasible solutions for the near future.
    The Faurecia Premium Attitude concept car bristles with innovations in all of the Group’s areas of expertise.
    The innovations featured on the Premium Attitude concept have been built around three key directions:

    1. Intelligent product design and user interaction
    – self-supporting instrument panel
    – sliding trunk drawer
    – rear seat center armrest
    – asymmetrical driver seat with integrated central armrest & multi-controller

    2. Magic experience and surprise in use
    – conformable seat cushion
    – rear seat center armrest
    – rear seat relax function
    – door armrest synchronized with seat comfort adjustment
    – magic wave instrument panel aperture

    3. Obsession for detail
    – jewellery case-like glove box
    – large-scale interior real-wood technology
    – innovative air vents
    – lounge lighting concept (ambient and task-lighting)
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:32 AM.

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    Sharing Faurecia’s vision of the future
    All innovations featured here illustrate how Faurecia is able to combine its extensive design and engineering expertise to offer a new level of ”premium” values which automakers’ designers can then utilize in their creative visions for new products.
    As Faurecia’s Industrial Design Vice President Andreas Wlasak puts it: “This is the first ever concept to bring all of Faurecia’s disciplines into play. But it is not just a catalogue of features; it is an integrated statement of market understanding, product innovation and development competencies within a full-size concept car.”
    With an automotive industry facing significant pressures to keep prices low while producing increasingly innovative and exciting
    products, Faurecia’s strategy is based on component platforms where invisible parts are standardized as much as possible, opening space and design freedom for automakers. A full vehicle concept is the perfect tool for demonstrating the user benefits of Faurecia’s ability to integrate standardized components as part of the vehicle architecture while extending the automakers' freedom to explore.
    By presenting a full vehicle concept, Faurecia is able to demonstrate its design and engineering expertise across its six product lines in a vehicle environment, as the end-user would experience it. Each innovation can be appreciated in its context. Individual product concepts – like stand-alone cockpits or vehicle seat systems isolated from the vehicle – are not as powerful in comparison.

    1 Sustainable design:
    large-scale interior real-wood technology Wood: a traditional material used in a new way. It may have been around since the beginning of the automotive history but Faurecia’s interpretation still manages to be fresh. This aesthetic innovation is also a sustainable one. The lightweight super-thin but high quality real-wood technology makes large-scale interior trim applications possible. A sub-one millimeter (0.02 inch) real-wood laminate is fixed onto a pressed wood fiber board – best described as a much lighter version of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) widely used in furniture. Proprietary to Faurecia, some woods have already been validated for aesthetics, sustainability and crash safety meaning that unlike previous smaller and more expensive automotive wood trims it can enable large interior vehicle areas – like seatbacks and door panel inserts – to feature real wood at low-cost and crucially, with minimal environmental impact. Increasingly relevant to thoughtful premium customers is their products’ environmental performance. White oak, for example, has the benefit of being a very widely available wood in Europe and thus a highly sustainable and recyclable material to use. Indeed, it is certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC Council (Pan-European Forest Certification). The treatment of this real wood is unusual too. The figured maple used on Premium Attitude has been stained a gray effect color, so that from some angles it looks more like silk. To the touch it definitely feels like wood in its texture but this extra detail provides yet more surprise and delight for the user – an aspect of car interiors that is very appealing to premium customers. Other new wood types have been similarly validated while other wood veneers can be selected to fulfill automakers’ specific requests.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:34 AM.

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    2 Premium is space: the self-supporting instrument panel

    Creating extra space in car interiors is a constant battle for designers faced with shoehorning more and more complexity (even if hidden) into their vehicles. A solution from Faurecia is its new self-supporting instrument panel (IP) that no longer requires a cross-car beam because sufficient strength is built into the structure of the IP itself. This means it can be much narrower and thinner and thus frees up space for designers to reconfigure the front interior ambience. This could simply provide more space for the front passenger or enable larger storage compartments to be fitted. In fact, all this is possible without compromising safety due to another Faurecia innovation now ready for production. The IP’s airbag system swaps traditional metal or hard plastic lids (which can smash windshields if placed too close) for soft foam and mesh fabric ones which don’t have the same effect on glass and can therefore be positioned much closer to the windshield. Usually the passenger side of an IP will have a glove box below with a function-less skin above – because there is an airbag behind it. On the Premium Attitude concept the airbag can be pushed further back while offering the same safety and gains an additional very furniture-like upward-opening glove box. These softer airbag lids also weigh less, their opening force is reduced by 50% and they release 30% less energy too. Such airbag integration technology is available to automakers now for them to implement into future vehicle programs and should create great new opportunities for designers to redefine their car interiors in a very premium way. Three automakers are scheduled to launch vehicles featuring this technology in 2008. At a time when customization is also high on car designers’ agendas, this type of solution could also be a boon, as the basic architecture – the big investment part – does not have to be altered to make the instrument panel change dramatically. Remove the glove box and replace it with, for example, a hook for a handbag and a very new space is created without adversely affecting safety.
    Faurecia masters all types of IP surface skins, ranging from PVC slush molded, polyurethane cast, to TPO (thermo plastic olephin) and extensive ranges of leather – as showcased here – to answer all automakers’ needs. Especially in the premium category, Faurecia has extensive market experience with leading automakers worldwide.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:38 AM.

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    3 Think out of the box: the sliding trunk drawer

    Acting just like a chest of drawers in your bedroom, or a toolbox in your garage, Faurecia’s sliding trunk drawer concept uses the same basic idea but makes it feasible for an automobile. On the Premium Attitude concept, the conventional trunk floor and its rearmost bumper lip slide out to meet the end-user, making access to the rearmost parts of the cargo space much easier. More than a conceptual thought, the drawer is partly made possible through a clever new flat exhaust muffler – approximately three inches thick (80 mm) – packaged underneath the drawer. Only the decorative exhaust end piece moves – along with a section of the bumper – and the drawer can only slide when the vehicle is stationary so there are no stray exhaust issues relating to the movement.
    Faurecia’s Thorsten Suess, Industrial Design Studio Manager and Project Leader of Premium Attitude explains: “To my nderstanding Faurecia is the only company in the world that has expertise in exhaust systems, bumpers and interior trim. In this case, we’ve combined these three areas to create one innovation. Normally suppliers just have standard mufflers so designers have to design the package around them. Here we can optimize the space based on a real need.” Faurecia displays here its ability to combine unique lightweight products, with reinforced acoustic performance, in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner. The partition of the double floor is made out of structural “Sommold" – a mixture of polypropylene fibers
    and glass fibers – which combines optimum rigidity and effectively eliminates vibrations and noise. Futhermore, the whole carpeting and throw-in mats are made of woven tuft, bringing a further premium feel to the vehicle interior.
    The flat exhaust muffler is Faurecia-proprietary and already an industrialized innovation, while the drawer part is perfectly feasible for the next generation of vehicles. All in all, the sliding trunk drawer is a perfect example of how Faurecia is able to offer an integrated product offering through the cooperative approach of its product, design and engineering functions.
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    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:39 AM.

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    4 Intuitive comfort: conformable seat cushion
    Look at any new car seat with high sporty leather bolsters and after a few months, you will probably be able to discern uneven wear on the door-opening side when compared to the one nearest the center console. However, the inevitable result of the user’s repeated scuffing of the seat upon entry can be alleviated by a new Faurecia technology – the conformable seat cushion. This innovation electrically elevates the driver seat’s cushion center when the door is opened. This cushion movement
    offers the triple benefit of optimizing ingress and egress, offering improved lateral support for occupants and reducing uneven wear of the seats. It is another surprise and delight feature as you do not see it, or feel it, until it moves. Nevertheess, it still has a lot of functionality. This simple but effective solution could be put into production for the next generation of vehicles.
    The function can vary according to the driving mode chosen – City, Sport or Cruise – and more important, places occupants in the optimum position for anti-submarining under a seatbelt in a crash situation.

    5 Lounge feeling: the multi-functional rear bench
    The fixed position rear bench is another example of “invisible premium” or surprise and delight. At first glance, it looks nothing more than a smart if conventional three-seater. But inspect closely and much more reveals itself. Once the passenger sits in the seat, the base cushion adjusts itself for firmness, depth and angle, much like the lumbar support system for your back.
    Look for a conventional pull-down center armrest and you won’t find one. Instead, one magically rises up to a taught curved bridge-like position from the seat base, leaving open-space underneath at the touch of a button. The final deployed sape follows the natural line of the centre console that can extend back to meet the armrest. The sides of the rear seats, when they tilt and splitfold, reveal a striking red contrast to the grey seats. Andreas Wlasak, Faurecia’s Vice President for Industrial
    Design, says “the design detail had a direct influence from fashion, in this case, the unusual lining colors found on suits by Paul Smith[4]”. These hidden colors can also be discovered in the space behind the door armrest when it moves forward, and in the
    ambiently lit insides of the glove box, armrest cubbyholes and on the inner headrest areas. These headrests fold up electronically when they sense a human sitting in the seat and fold flat again – for better driver rear vision – when the seat is vacant.
    This relaxed lounge feel is enhanced by the wraparound rear seats that join with the rear-hinged rear doors and armrests to form one flowing design line. Manufacturing the Rolls-Royce Phantom’s [5] similar wraparound door and seat system in the
    extreme luxury segment gives Faurecia real-world experience in this field and mutually nurtures its engineering and design expertise. Close the door and everything reverts to its standard position so the design looks neat – just as the designers originally intended. This is all possible thanks to an inexpensive software program, which completes the very premium xperience. The overall interior design effect is consistent in every detail.
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    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:41 AM.

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    6 Blurring product boundaries: driver seat with integrated center console armrest and slim seats

    The idea behind Premium Attitude’s 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 onsistent. Meanwhile the door panel armrest also automatically moves diagonally back and forth with the driver to offer the same benefit. The aesthetic inspiration comes from the Lama chair designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Zanotta[6] but its function far exceeds that beautiful (but static) domestic interior sculpture. The seat is slimmer than today’s automotive
    seats thus creating more interior space and it appears even slimmer from the outside due to the placemnt of the integrated
    seatbelts and the associated reinforced structure on the inboard side of the seat – instead of the normal outboard position.
    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 imensions. As Industrial Design Vice President Andreas Wlasak comments: “This slightly higher incline allows most people to be
    low enough in the back and short people higher in the front. It gets closer to the best natural curve between these two points. I have not seen such a solution before. The old way of doing things comes from the time when people were working on drawing boards with conventional up/down, left/right measurements. But that has nothing to do with how comfort is perceived.” Both the slim seats and asymmetrical driver’s seat and armrest are validated innovations – the latter using Bluetooth technology to transfer information from hand controller to display screen, as there are no hard-wired links. In the future, another innovation Faurecia has helped develop called Seamless Mobile Integration (or SMI), will make the process work, see the next innovation.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:43 AM.

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    7 Infotainment: Seamless Mobile Integration
    In the last decade the world has become full of mobile communications and media devices – from cellular phones to MP3 players and portable GPS systems – but new cars have often lagged behind in connecting with them successfully. Seamless Mobile Integration (or SMI) is a new generic interface system that is developed by one of Faurecia’s partners, and that aims to solve the problem by seamlessly integrating such devices into the vehicle’s electronics and associated operating surface using next-generation Bluetoothstyle shortwave radio technology. In the Premium Attitude concept the SMI application
    allows the driver to operate any mobile device onboard via the pop-up controller integrated in the center console, for optimum occupant reach, and displays content on the car’s dashboard screens. Instead of being confronted by many different operating
    surfaces the driver has everything under control and in good view. The vehicle’s screen can show music titles from the portable media player with song selection Premium Attitude: the ten key innovations in detail controlled by voice activation or steering wheelmounted buttons. Information from portable GPS systems can be displayed on the larger format vehicle screen and the audio system gives clear directions. Thirdly, addresses and appointments from a smart phone can be selected and displayed using the car’s main touch-screen. All operations become less fiddly, more intuitive and crucially, safer – allowing the
    driver to remain concentrated on the road.
    The SMI system has been futureproofed to cope with mobile devices we do not yet know of, and in this incarnation also manages via high luminescence screens, the three main driving modes of the Premium Attitude concept: City, Sport and Cruise.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:44 AM.

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    8 Climate control: innovative air vents
    Clever heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) solutions come in various forms in the Premium Attitude vehicle. The key innovation is the adoption of airflow technology pioneered in the aircraft industry. Faurecia’s “smart air vent” system uses an onion-shaped body for optimal air swirl delivery – where the airflow follows the shape, known as the Coanda effect[7]. It also results in lower noise levels and is believed to be the first time such a technique has been used in an automotive interior. Faurecia went further by integrating the user controls for the two outer air vents directly around where the air comes out, rather than in the center of the instrument panel. It is neat, intuitive and very logical too. In the center of the instrument panel you do not see any additional air vents at all. The directional louvers remain – and can still be controlled from manual
    switches – but they are completely covered up by a grille featuring an abstract design pattern echoed in the interior loudspeaker covers and also on the front exterior grille for continuity (the latter area is another specialty of Faurecia’s). This cover’s design may have an aesthetic touch but its placement has definite durability benefits. Air vents with exposed louvers tend to look and feel cheap – and can break – as they are often very flimsy compared to other interior components on premium cars. Covering them up thus makes functional sense. From an economical point of view, it is possible to standardize these non-visible parts, while offering greater differentiation to the automakers’ design and engineering teams. In yet another take on conventional automotive HVAC wisdom, “rear seat-housed air vent” units are integrated in the top of the seatbacks – where the chrome strip meets the thin wood panel – for the benefit of rear passengers.
    Of these technologies, the “invisible” air vents and coanda effect HVAC systems are completely validated; only the eat-housed vents would need additional development time from a seat integration perspective.

    9 Expect the unexpected: the “magic wave” instrument panel center screen aperture
    This device delivers genuine user benefits by being able to visually shut off elements of the central display to enhance driver concentration, lower distraction and ultimately improve safety. Using similar electronics to the rear center armrest, a “magic skin” – with kinematics hidden under the same material covering the instrument panel giving it a more muscular than mechanical movement – slowly rises from the top of the central instrument panel. It then stretches up to meet the top of the dashboard, 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 drivingrelated 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, elevant information such as the titles of your MP3 tracks is displayed at the top of the screen.
    Another plus to the technology – aside from the improved perceived quality its unusual movement brings – is a more robust information display. As the screens are fixed they don’t have vibration issues – a common problem with some current pop-up navigation screens for instance. Such “magic wave” technology could be built-into the next generation of vehicles.
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:46 AM.

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    10 Obsession for detail: integrated lounge lighting effects
    Concept cars have featured ambient lighting for many years but only in the last year have series production cars started to utilize them. The Premium Attitude concept car has a particularly strong suite of lighting options from overhead console
    ambient lighting to “task” lighting where lifting a lid to a compartment is rewarded with a soft white LED light from the inside to help you see what’s inside. As those storage areas are red-lined, the final lighting effect created is actually a pleasingly warm red, (rather than white) glow, which acts as a further visual invitation for you to investigate its functionality.
    Hidden lighting touches that reveal themselves on closer inspection include a large electroluminescent square behind the polycarbonate bottom of the glove box. Barely seen from an upright sitting position, the invitingly amient red glow effect from this light on the footwell suggests to the user a comfortable and warm place to sit. When the original source of this light is spotted directly – it has something like the “wow” effect of the unexpected flash of the red soles on a pair of sophisticated heels by French shoe designer du jour Christian Louboutin[8]. Such details yet again confirm to the passenger that this interior is a very special – read “premium” – place.

    Conclusions on Premium Attitude:turning design dreams into business reality
    The ten innovations highlighted here and the many more showcased within Premium Attitude represent a massive design and engineering undertaking by Faurecia to illustrate its competencies. It shows its expertise in not only designing new themes but also integrating them into an entire vehicle setting.
    As it stands, the Premium Attitude concept is the perfect vehicle for Faurecia to inform potential clients of its design and engineering skills, plus its market knowledge. Faurecia understands how to work with automakers to find the appropriate package through standardization and to open freedom for personalization through premium design and ultimately knows how
    to turn such ideas into consistent mass-production reality.
    The final word appropriately goes to Faurecia’s Industrial Design Vice President Andreas Wlasak – the man who came up with and championed the Premium Attitude concept. Although this concept is partly the fulfillment of a personal dream, the execution is a 100% real business proposition: “What we’re demonstrating with Premium Attitude is 100% believable and credible. For every detail an automaker likes and says, ‘can I have this?’ we will be able to say ‘yes, but we have to develop it together’. We have the competence and we know the challenges, both technologically and even cost-wise. We don’t
    allow ourselves to dream things and then not be able to do them. If an automaker wants something from this concept, Faurecia is ready to make it for them.”
    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:48 AM.

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    Some design references for Premium Attitude

    1 2007 Fiat 500
    The new Fiat 500 launched in July 2007, exactly 50 years after the iconic first model. Fiat wants this car to symbolize new levels of quality for the brand and much has been made of its personalization possibilities.
    Due to the car’s massive options list there are said to be more than 500,000 potential permutations.

    2 Apple iPod
    The iPod is one of the most successful products of the 21st Century. Since launching in November 2001 the portable digital media player has sold more than 100 million units worldwide due in no small part to its pleasing and intuitive design. Other MP3 players were launched before it, but its success has made it the generic name for this type of product, like “Hoover” became for vacuum cleaners.

    3 1972 Tatra 603/2
    There were three generations of Tatra 603, the first built from 1955-1962, the second from 1962-1968 and the third from 1968-1974. The model used for this project is a third generation model built in 1972 but still curiously called the Tatra 603/2 (as ‘2’ stands for second generation). The Tatra 603 was chosen because its interior package is very close to premium cars in
    the executive ‘E-segment’ – i.e. the Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The major changes made for the concept included removing the B-pillar, moving the C-pillar back 100 mm and replacing the normallyhinged doors with coach doors – all for presentation purposes. The original car was also rear-engined. The unit was removed to display the trunk concept.

    4 Paul Smith
    An English clothing designer whose signature style is classic tailoring with a twist of quirky individuality – for instance a dark suit with a colorful inner lining. The brand sells in 35 countries worldwide.

    5 Rolls-Royce Phantom
    Faurecia makes the wraparound rear-door and seat system for the current Rolls-Royce Phantom – one of the most luxurious cars in the world. The Rolls-Royce brand has defined luxury motoring across the globe since 1906 – when Charles Rolls met Henry Royce and decided to create the “the best car in the world”.

    6 The Lama chair

    Designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Zanotta and launched in 2006, the chair features asymmetric armrests of differing lengths and angles so that it also doubles up as a chaise longue.

    7 The Coanda effect
    The Coanda effect was discovered in 1930 by the Romanian aerodynamicist Henri-Marie Coanda (1885- 1972). He observed that a stream of air (or another fluid) emerging from a nozzle tends to follow a nearby curved surface, if the curvature of the surface or angle the surface makes with the stream is not too sharp.

    8 Christian Louboutin
    This Frenchman is one of the most famous shoe designers in the world today, beloved of numerous high profile female celebrities (including Madonna). All his upmarket shoes feature red soles – a trait that has become his logo.
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    Last edited by 90ft; 01-11-2008 at 06:48 AM.

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    I have heard about this car before. I think it's interesting that the chose a old car to showcase their new innovative idea's. (but I couldn't be bothered with reading it all)

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    looser car, looser name, looser press kit

    not that i don't appreciate your job 90ft
    12 cylinders or walk!

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    Could anyone summarise it in like... a sentence?
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

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