Autumn issue of Interior Motives magazine out now

The autumn edition of Car Design News' quarterly interior design publication, Interior Motives magazine, is out now. As ever, it features in-depth design development articles on the most interesting and important concept and production vehicles launched in recent months.

This issue's cover star is the Buick Riviera concept, first seen at the Shanghai show in April. The design brief was to develop a new identity for Buick while also showcasing the latest technology. "We looked back to classic Buicks and the original Riviera [sold from 1963 to 1993]... Though it was really a start from zero," reveals GM PATAC Chief Designer, Cao Min. Min's team used inspiration from architectural design, aircraft and electronic products – plus luxury items, natural materials and cultural influences, including feng shui, water and Chinese calligraphy – to create the most convincing Buick for a generation.

Also in this issue, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the BMW i3 and hear from design boss Adrian van Hooydonk about how its focus on sustainability kicked off a new era of holistic design at the German carmaker. "It's a unique opportunity in a designer's life: to design two new cars [i3 and i8] at the same time, to develop a new form language, the whole technology... Everything is new from the ground up; we even designed the logo and brand," says the Dutch designer.

Another key production vehicle to give up its development secrets in this issue is Mercedes' S-Class. We use exclusive behind-the-scenes images to chart its beginnings at the advanced design studio in Lake Como in Italy in 2007 to its realization into arguably the most advanced, high tech limousine ever built. "Together with this infotainment revolution, we introduced a new architecture," reveals interior design boss Hans-Peter Wunderlich. "Unlike in the five previous S-Class generations, you don't sit above the IP – but rather behind it, in a nicely protected manner. 

"We achieved this effect by straightening up the surfaces on the passenger side and inserting the wooden trim piece 100mm lower than before. This enabled us to run leather across the entire width of the IP, between the wood and the displays."

After a period of management changes and the complete renewal of the production model line-up, there was a desire within GM Europe to clearly communicate where the Opel brand was headed next. The result of this is the Opel Monza concept featured in the pages of this issue. 

"This project was initiated around 18 months ago, but we needed time to find the essence of Opel," says Friedhelm Engler, director of GME Advanced Design. "The conceptual thinking stage was lengthy, the build phase quite quick. Like a good meal, we took time in the ‘cooking' and went out for the best ingredients before starting."

We also take an in-depth look at the genesis of the Visteon e-Bee concept, whose brief was to explore a new kind of interior better suited to the needs of drivers in the year 2020, when research shows that vehicle renting and sharing will be more common. 

Visteon Europe's chief designer, Simon Harris talks us through the Nissan Leaf-based design study's development, starting from an examination of the futuristic but unloved digital HMIs introduced by Citröen on cars such as the BX in the 1970s. "We wondered how we could do a similar thing today [introduce a new kind of HMI], but in a way that's more consumer-friendly," says Harris.

Finally, we give readers a chance to catch up on all the winning entries in this year's Interior Motives Student Design Awards. For more details on this and other issues of the magazine, plus information on how to subscribe, visit the Interior Motives website. To download the Interior Motives iPad and iPhone apps, visit the Apple store.

By Euan Sey