Lenin directed the revolution from the interior of a Rolls-Royce. King Edward VIII luxuriated in the plush leather of a customised Buick, specially commissioned from Detroit's master-stylist Harley Earl. Bonnie and Clyde enjoyed the outlaw life inside their bullet-holed Ford V so much they wrote an appreciative note to Henry Ford to tell you what a dandy car you make".
Despite its undoubted attractions, a car's interiors have never been a match for the intoxicating power of the exterior styling. Cars have mainly been defined by their external image on the road and what is under the bonnet "" and not by luminous dials, chrome fixings or walnut dashboards inside. Every exterior curve, line and tailfin detail has become a symbol of sex and status "" so much so that the French literary critic and semiologist Roland Barthes was moved to write in 1957 that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object".
For decades, styling studios of large car manufacturers have regarded the design decisions inside the car as secondary to aerodynamic shape and form. But the art of car interior is making a comeback. Not since James Bond ejected unwanted assailants from the passenger seat of his Aston Martin in Goldfinger has so much attention been given to technology, style and comfort inside the vehicle. And it is Europe's car manufacturers who are making special efforts in the style and comfort departments.
Renault has followed through its mould-breaking Twingo style statement, in which the instrument display was centred on the dashboard, in its approach to the Renault Espace. Fiat has introduced overtly organic shapes for the central console, in-car entertainment area and door casings of the Fiat Bravo and Brava and exposed the painted sheet metal of the exterior inside the Fiat Barchetta sports car. Audi has invested heavily in the study of interior texture and finishes in order to create quality plastic surfaces that do not feel synthetic, especially on the Audi A 3. Rover has continued to reintroduce traditional interior materials such as wood and leather under BMW's ownership. Ford has unveiled its futuristic new city runaround, the Ford Ka, winning good reviews for its cute, curvaceous interior contours. Even Rolls-Royce has got in on the act, by inviting 20 top interior designers to enter a competition to create interiors for a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur.
Design experts are divided on reasons for the resurgence of interest in interiors. The phenomenon is customer-led, says Pierre Webster, the Ford Ka's interior designer, People are saying that they want a better all-round product. So interiors are now part of the creative cycle "" there's a lot of design opportunity inside the car."
Design consultant Sebastian Conran who has been working on the Ka's merchandising, advises his students at the Royal College of Art to peek inside vintage Bentleys to see what has been lost by the car industry's quest for mass-produced utility. Car exteriors have become so pre-ordained by drag factors, by aerodynamics, that the only creative focus left is the interior," observes Conran. Car exteriors have become so pre-ordained by drag factors, by aerodynamics, that the only creative focus left is the interior."
Rover's former design director Gordon Sked does not, however, accept this theory. The real reason is because we are all spending more time in our cars and doing more things in them," explains the man whose design team was widely credited with reintroducing traditional wood and leather in the mid-1980s. The car interior totally lost its way from the late 1960s to the early 1980s," says Sked, who now runs his own design firm. It was a wasteland period in which the design departments of the large car makers didn't give it enough attention. Now we are seeing some interesting developments, especially in choice of materials, so we can emulate the evocative appeal of the past without the cost of the bespoke craftsmanship that was involved."
At the top end of the market, where customers have always been prepared to pay for bespoke craftsmanship, the idea of customising never went away and the speckled, soulless synthetics of the modern mass-produced car interior has never been part of the script. Rolls-Royce chief executive officer Chris Woodmark reports a marked rise in customers personalising their new Rolls-Royces and Bentleys on purchase.
Steve Whatmore, commercial director of Rolls-Royce's coach builders, Mulliner Park Ward, says of special interior commissions: It's like buying a tailored suit. You decide the cut and image you want. Rolls-Royce owners tend to have chauffeurs. They are active businessmen who specify a lot of new technology: digital phones, video players, navigation equipment, hi-fis. They are concerned about internal space and a higher quality of wood treatment and trim. Bentley owners tend to be drivers more concerned with power, performance, ride and handling. They want an authentic sense of engineering integrity which evokes the 1920s and 1930s: engine-tuned aluminum on the dashboard and drilled pedals in stainless steel."
Rolls-Royce customers spend on average £8,000 on special commissions for their new cars, after paying prices which start at £107,000 for a standard range Rolls. For a top-of-the-range Bentley, the price can rise to as much as £230,000. By comparison it costs £8,000 to put a new Ford Ka on the road. Between the elegant tailored grandeur of the Rolls and the stylish mass-produced economy of the Ka, there is an entire world of automobile interiors.
Although poles apart, each has something to say about the current state of the art. In both, for instance, new connections are being made between the once hermetically-sealed world of automotive styling and the broader concerns of home interior design. Webster highlights the exposed sheet metal surfaces of the Ka's interiors: It shows it is not scared of being seen as a functional, inexpensive lifestyle car. In its crisper lines and taut surfaces, we have tried to introduce an interior design culture of furniture and products from outside the car industry. The clock, for example, is a good looking object in its own right and could live in a modern, minimalist apartment."
Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, has raised the agenda for new design with its interior design competition. Chris Woodmark, who was one of the judges, says, the results have encouraged us to be more adventurous in the way we mix and match colours and textures". The winning entry designed by Joanna Wood had a real person and a specific occasion in mind "" to transport the Duchess of Westminster to Ascot. Using the Duchess's yellow and black racing colours, the interior comes with Connolly leather seats, lambswool rugs and silver rather than chrome fittings. Accessories include a wicker cocktail cabinet, an Aspreys picnic basket, Zeiss racing binoculars and picnic furniture by David Linley. Televisions in headrests are linked to the Tote racing results line. The environment is ultimate high-tech luxury for the racing fanatic.
Among the three highly commended entries to the competition, father and son team Edmund and Charles Rutherfoord emphasised the beautiful detailing of the traditional Rolls in their design, while Stephen Ryan's scheme, with its massage equipment in the chairs, captured what he called a sybaritic experience, a cocooned environment, with all the comfort and style of a grand ocean liner".
'There has always been a tradition of coachbuilding in England, of restyling car bodies and interiors for customers," says Philip Hooper, another highly-commanded designer. The problem is that design is limited by the ergonomics of driving or sitting. That means it often comes down to textures and surfaces. But I don't see why there needs to be such a divide between the schools of automotive design and residential interiors."
As the large car manufacturers consider flexible manufacturing systems which can alter specifications on the production line, as well as new distribution arrangements where dealers can customise cars, the prospect of cars becoming as personalised as our living rooms may not be as far-fetched today as it sounds.
In the meantime, the good news for customers is that no matter what your price range, new models will see major interior design improvements. As Gordon Sked puts it, It's not just a question of more dials and buttons to press. It's a question of making people more comfortable and making the interiors work harder to support the brand values of the marque. That's where all the current effort is being directed."
