- Volkswagen is replacing cheap plastics with high-quality fabrics to improve both interior aesthetics and durability.
- Future door panels will be crafted from a single piece of material, simplifying production and lowering costs.
- The German brand aims to differentiate itself from competitors by avoiding aggressive design trends for a more understated look.
Volkswagen is set to move away from cheap interior plastics in favor of higher-quality fabrics, claiming that this shift will actually save the company money. If it means we’ll finally be rid of those scratchy black plastics, count us in for this upgrade.
Top Gear recently had the opportunity to chat with VW’s head of design, Andy Mindt, and head of design strategy, Christian Schreiber, about the brand’s future direction will look like. They made it clear that VW cabins will prioritize functionality over flamboyance, saying they need to “play with all the touchpoints you have in life.”
Read: VW’s Radical Plan To Fix Its Design Is To “Just Calm Down – Just Make It Good”
“When you open the door of a Volkswagen it needs to be simple and usable, and not overly decorated,” Schreiber told the magazine. “This should be the same once you use the car; it’s meant to work with you and not make things more complicated. There will be Easter eggs from cars of the past. For example, we’ll have certain patterns, specifically for GTI models, and we are very protective about things like this so we won’t use them on other models.”
Mindt chimed in with more on the brand’s commitment to quality, noting a focus on high-end materials and simplified parts.
“We’re going to try and kick out cheap plastic materials and put the money instead into fabrics and improving quality, which helps save money and means we can use it elsewhere,” he explained. “An example could be a door card that’s made of three pieces. We’ll try instead to design it using one island in the middle. There will still be a door handle and arm rest as before, but it’ll all be built from one piece. It also makes the whole process more sustainable.”
While speaking about the brand’s design philosophy more broadly, the two designers expressed a desire to differentiate themselves from the aggressive styling of some competitors. Instead, they want to be seen as “nice guys.”
“I believe most people don’t want to be the coolest or appear aggressive in public,” Mindt said. “They want to have a suit and a good outside appearance while being happy and optimistic. What is the need to be aggressive? Our core is like this: be the nice guys.”
