Driving Conversations: The official GM Europe blog

Did you know that 70-80 percent of what you experience in the interior of a car is purely subjective, sensual, perception? In simple terms it’s what you see, touch (feel), smell and hear while sitting inside your car but cannot directly point to when asked. It’s still integral in forming your perception of the car.

It gets even more interesting when you know that about 30 percent of the above comprises what you don’t see, just touch, smell and hear.

These factoids are vital when designing the interior of a car as they go beyond the styling - “the looks” - into perceptual quality. To use a simple example…the buttons that you use to control the radio functions or the automatic climatic control. Each of us has our own perception of how they should feel and click when they turn; similarly the gear shifter knob, the steering wheel or even the car key fob.

The sum of these detailed experiences unconsciously adds to our perception of the car and whether we would consider buying it.

So it is in the detail…as they say.

The key denominators to get to the right results are choosing high caliber components that fulfill our high quality standards and at the same time fit the sculptural yet precise form language that we have created for Opel and Vauxhall. This needs to be combined with a focus on perfect fit and finish of these components.

That is why we have a team of engineers working side by side with designers that focus on what we call “Design Appearance Quality”, to ensure that all the “Key Components” of a car that you interact with on a day to day basis, look, feel and operate beautifully.

The design and engineering teams are there from the very first sketch. They basically translate the sketch, clay models and surface data into production reality.

Even before the first pen is put to paper, it’s this team that goes out and starts searching and benchmarking all aspects of the vehicle, including decorative finishes and materials, to ensure the foundations of the design are sound.

The new Insignia is a really good example on how designers and engineers work together. Over 800 parts went into the appearance of the Insignia, from the leather and fabrics on the seats, to the chrome decorations around the gear shifter to the pyramid structure found on some of the Insignia buttons in the interior.

So maybe the next time you get into a car. Before you look around, close your eyes and try to touch and feel what’s inside - it’s an interesting experience.

Mark Adams, GM Europe Vice President of Design

For all of the right reasons, we are devoting a great deal of investment and energy to ensure that our next generation products are both fuel efficient and environmentally friendly. All GM products will offer the latest fuel efficient technologies- for example, a start-stop system- as well as a broad line-up of hybrid propulsion systems to significantly reduce fuel consumption. But let me pose a question: will meeting substantial improved energy requirements be enough? People still want to feel a sense of thrill and emotion about the driving experience and GM has plenty of examples where it introduced provocative innovations on vehicles. The fun to drive Tigra basically established a new market segment. Then there's the panoramic windshield on the Astra GTC and the Saab 9-3 with XWD. Moving forward, where should GM focus its innovation resources? How can we make you say WOW? Is it flying cars, self-cleaning cars, driver-free cars - you name it. We want to hear your thoughts. Push the limit with us.

Jamal El-Hout
GM Europe Vice President, Product Planning