Bentley Arnage
Maserati Buran (Ital Design concept from Geneva 2000)
Original Renault Vel Satis concept car from 1998 showing strong, continuous and clean interior forms. Perhaps the first new luxury reductionism interior.
4th generation BMW 7 series exhibiting a strong, simple, horizontal IP form and revelutionary 'i -drive‘ user interface controlled from a mushroom shaped knob infront of the centre armrest, and viewed in the centre binnacle.
The new Renault Vel Satis features upright tumble home, additional adjustable angle mid way up the front seat backs, and seven different colours of leather carefully integrated into the interior environment.
|
Why new luxury car interiors are becoming more reduced.
For as long as the history of the car, large expensive cars have been synonymous with luxury. In turn luxury has been synonymous with high specifications and perceived quality.
But this situation is changing with the advent of smaller, cheaper cars that offer high levels of specification and high perceived quality.
At the lower eschelons of the market the Skoda Fabia is available with heated front seats, cruise control, parking sensors and plastics quality that Mercedes would be proud of. At the upper reaches of the mainstream market, the interior environment of the Jaguar X-type questions the need to spend more and have an S-Type, which in turn questions the point of the XJ8.
This challenge to the preconception of luxury being the exclusive domain of the large expensive car poses a question; if luxury is known to come in a convenient and affordable package, why buy a large expensive one? One reason in the immediate future will be that only large expensive cars will have new luxury reductionism.
Luxury reductionism is the new trend in large expensive cars that rejects the traditional, overtly ostentatious automotive luxury interior. It focuses on fewer, more considered and cohesive interior elements.
Several new car interiors at the Frankfurt motor show support and contribute to this trend, most notably the BMW 7 Series, Renault Vel Satis and concepts from Jaguar, Audi, Renault and Johnson Controls.
They create, through luxury reductionism, a deeper and more passive luxury experience that delivers a 'get away from it all‘ haven from the increasingly hectic business, domestic and social life of their target users.
|
|
