Given how fast technology is advancing, how does a luxury automaker design a car interior that won’t feel dated in a few years?
That’s the question an automotive journalist posed to Andreas Wuppinger, the head of Maserati’s interior design team, at CDN Car Design Night in Milan, Italy.
His answer provides invaluable insight into the philosophy that Maserati, and other luxury automakers, employ when designing their timeless interiors.
Watch the video:
Read his words:
It’s a very interesting question because, of course, we know that technology is changing very quickly — sometimes much quicker than cars are changing.
That’s the problem: You can see that the car interior is aging only by technology. We face this kind of topic very often in Maserati because what we are looking for is creating cars that have visual longevity, that can last for a long time.
For us as Maserati, it’s super important to create cars that becomes a very important icon for the time. So if you think about our cars — the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s — they are still on the on the road or in the garage of some collectors. So creating something that can last over time is super important.
What we are doing is we are trying to create, let’s say, a pure design where technology is there but it’s not in the foreground — it’s not the most important protagonist of design for us. [Instead] we try to enhance the perception of materials because we believe in Maserati that materials are the real protagonist of our Interiors …. We feel like we are creating the frame for a beautiful picture, a beautiful painting that gives us the possibility to adapt to change.
This is so tastes can change, so people can adapt their paintings to their beliefs, to their thinkings and also to the change of fashion over time.
That’s how we try to integrate having technology on board, but make it invisible technology. [It’s there] when you need it, but you can also turn it down and hide it when you don’t want to show it off.
In other words…
You’ll never catch Maserati equipping one of their cars with a giant, gaudy infotainment screen — because once the technology is obsolete, the cars will look cheap and dated. Instead, they focus on premium materials and timeless design, which never go out of style.
That doesn’t mean Maserati’s cabins aren’t high-tech. They are. But the visual presentation of that technology takes a backseat to the interior trim.
It’s something to think about.
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