Chrysler says its interiors will get more attention
Filed under: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep


Thank goodness! That was our first response, and we bet it might have been yours as well. Ralph Gilles, vice president of Advance Interior and Design for Chrysler tells Automotive News that his company will begin designing new interiors as much as a year sooner than in the past.

Chrysler's 2008 minivans are cited in the article as an example of the company's decision to invest more time into what some customers consider the most important part of a vehicle. Gilles said the longer design time will give Chrysler more opportunities incorporate innovative ideas, materials and technology into its products.

Hopefully it will give Chrysler more opportunity to get rid of those vast expanses of gray, featureless plastic that their cars are now filled with. It's about time the company that has had some of the most progressive exterior designs gets interiors to match.

 

i hope this will happen to the challenger in the beginning. it wiuld suck to have a cappy interior for the first model year.

 

I don't think the Challenger's interior looks that bad, of course I have yet to see one in person. I think the problem that Chrysler is currently suffering from is having to use MB interior because quite a few models that they have had have nice interior (LH cars, current minivans, etc.), they just needed a little more spice. They need to get away from plastics and go back to more soft touch materials.

 

I like the concept's interior, but I am wondering is that where they will cut costs. I cant wait to see the production pics. Who knows with all of these spyphotos that might be sooner than later. As for the cheap materials, the hohum colors bother me more. hopefully they can reach a happy medium with more colors and better materials.

 

Soft materials? Is there a company that actually makes soft material or gets away from the plastic these days? I mean I'm sure the more expensive cars may have different materials, but what about the Rams, though those aren't cheap, the Calibers, the Avengers and even the Challengers? Heck, my Mustang has plastic and I'm sure the Chevys are the same way. Just seems that it's the most cost effecient way to go, not to mention the cracking I'm sure is less then the soft material.

 

You are correct about this for the most part. My point in complaining about that is it wasn't that long ago that Chrysler had softer materials, in fact some of their older models still in production still have softer materials. Ironically the current minivan line that is about to be replaced has extremely soft materials on the dash, but most of the trucks and cars do not. The LH cars had lots of softer materials, but when they switched over to the MB parts bin, they got hard plastics instead. The problem is all the manufacturers are going in this direction despite popular belief. At the last autoshow, I was shocked that models that magazines bragged so much about were over loaded with hard plastics.

The reason why softer materials are many times favored is they look better. There is a difference between cost efficient and cost effective. Cost efficient is always less expensive (quantity over quality); meanwhile, cost effective is buying quality over quantity. Plymouth, Ford, and Chevrolet were designed to be cost efficient;meanwhile, Chrysler, Lincoln, and Cadillac were supposed to be cost effective. This leaves the brands in between to be a compromise at different scales. Despite what one might think, soft materials would be less likely to crack because they are more flexible. The cushioning effect of softer materials are more likely to bounce off if one were to hit the materials because they give a little; meanwhile, hard plastics are more likely to crack because they take the full force of the impact and were designed not to give at all. Do you understand what I am saying?

 

Yes, I understand, I just remember the interior from the 80s, the soft materials, kind of plastic like, that would crack and split and show the nice cusion under it. I don't know if that's different with the materials that they use now or not as I've had the trucks and the cars that have the hard plastic. I kind of got use to that so I really don't know anything else out there.

Now what kind of material are they using in the Viper or the Charger? That would give a little clue of what kind of material they are going to use in the Challenger. I mean they could always change it, but I think it's going to take them at least one production year before they do that. Of course it would be nice if they surprised us and decided to do it sooner.