silvrsvt Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 http://gizmodo.com/how-fords-top-interior-designer-puts-the-future-in-the-1613239744 Some good stuff there like this... Gizmodo: How do you differentiate a car for the U.S. market versus one that's built for Europe or China? Amko: That is definitely one of the challenges that I would say in my experience is a little bit unique to Ford Motor Company, since we do make models that are sold all over the world with the same structure and a similar appearance. The challenge that we have as a design organization is to make sure that the design is as flexible as possible so it can handle different material executions. That could mean that we have a variability in the size of the cupholders—they need to be bigger in the U.S. than they need to be in Europe, while the cupholder in China needs to be more deep but slightly smaller diameter. So apart from materials we also have functional differentiation between the different regions that is definitely a big challenge. And the designs that can handle that variability the best are the ones that we choose for further development. You can see it very clearly, there are large differences between Europe, America and China, they ask for different materials because their tastes, the cultural references that people have with materials, are different. So to give you an example, in America we have more difficulties to have the American customer accept wood without any lacquer, they want the wood trim really shiny. While in Europe [dull wood without lacquer] is considered as a more high-end solution. So it's that kind of flexibility that we talk about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 "So to give you an example, in America we have more difficulties to have the American customer accept wood without any lacquer, they want the wood trim really shiny." Oh hows this, why have any wood at all? Not sure something as industrious as a vehicle, a pinnacle of steel/aluminum engineering needs to be saddled with organic turn of the century ornamentation that belong in a forest or in great grandmas bedroom... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edstock Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 "So to give you an example, in America we have more difficulties to have the American customer accept wood without any lacquer, they want the wood trim really shiny." Oh hows this, why have any wood at all? Not sure something as industrious as a vehicle, a pinnacle of steel/aluminum engineering needs to be saddled with organic turn of the century ornamentation that belong in a forest or in great grandmas bedroom... Blame Rolls-Royce. The people who buy 'em want wood, and they've got lots and lots of bucks. Mercedes would like them to buy their übersleds, too, so they've got wood, too. And so forth, down the marketing prestige pecking-order. Eventually, we arrive at real Corinthian leather. At least the vinyl tops and the landau bars and coach lights are history. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Oh I saw a landau roof on a new Lexus LS460L, just looked horrible, but happily it wasn't on a Lincoln so its all good. Although I did see a landau roof on a new MKZ, urrggg looked horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edstock Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Oh I saw a landau roof on a new Lexus LS460L, just looked horrible, but happily it wasn't on a Lincoln so its all good. Although I did see a landau roof on a new MKZ, urrggg looked horrible. You really know how to scare people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlRozzi Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) Eventually, we arrive at real Corinthian leather. Geez, Ed, your mentioning of Corinthian leather just gave me a flashback of Ricardo Montalban advertising the "Chrysler Cordoba." Edited July 31, 2014 by AlRozzi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Ironically today I saw down on a relatives vehicle they had rented, some poverty vehicle, a Chevy Cruze I think, and they had this mesh-like, fishnet stocking kinda material over their airbag cover and middle portions, I'll try and take a pic tomorrow, I wouldnt go on a ride in it, but I touched it. And while it was "different" I just noticed that it just gathered lint, and dust though, just very odd, I'll try and remember to take a pic of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 So to give you an example, in America we have more difficulties to have the American customer accept wood without any lacquer, they want the wood trim really shiny." Funny, I much prefer the lacquer-less trim i found in the MKC to the shiny wood trim on many cars. It seemed more real/genuine to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 some poverty vehicle, a Chevy Cruze I think People that drive a Chevy Cruze live in poverty? Does that mean I'm destitute because I drive a Focus? Profile much? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoonerLS Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 People that drive a Chevy Cruze live in poverty? Does that mean I'm destitute because I drive a Focus? Profile much? At least he didn't call it a sh*tbox... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4d4evr-1 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Geez, Ed, your mentioning of Corinthian leather just gave me a flashback of Ricardo Montalban advertising the "Chrysler Cordoba." Was at a business clinic about 20 years ago with some fellow workers. During lunch one of the host's reps, for some reason which I can not remember told us about that commercial and how cheap and ugly the cars were and I could not help but laugh out loud because the guy beside me had a really nice one at home. The guy telling the story never apologized or even acknowledged that any negative statements had been made when I told him about this guy's car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I like the Focus, but trust me the Cruze didnt feel anything like a Focus, it was very blah overall, paint job wasn't good by any means, the carpets felt chitzy, and not sure how the rubberized upper dashboard thing will hold up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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