Let the car interior shine

In touch with our customers - more than 50 people from several Tiers and OEMs, as well as academics and representatives from other companies joined the interactive workshop session “High gloss surfaces in automotive interior” at the VDI conference in Mannheim.

Divided into five groups, the participants devoted themselves to different questions about the future and sustainability of high gloss surfaces in the automotive interior. They were asked to form their own opinions and ideas to questions, such as "Is the glossy trend over already, or is high gloss the new standard equipment?”, as well as "Does painting have a future?" or "What role does sustainability and recyclability play for high gloss decorative screens?".

Subsequently, the opinions collected in each group were summarized and discussed in plenum. The participants came to the conclusion that the trend is not over yet and that it will grow even in premium cars, but also in non-premium vehicles.

Talking about painting, the participants brought up different opinions and ideas. Painting is expensive and complex and therefore it is not expected to grow. In terms of performance, painting offers the best features and will always be used for high-class and expensive components.

Concerning sustainability and recyclability there have been progresses from three layer painting down to one layer painting. Components that consist out of only one material are easier to recycle which emphasizes the importance of unpainted high gloss components.

There are several different technologies in the market with distinct cost/performance ratios for high gloss surfaces. The new Ultramid^® Deep Gloss shows a unique cost performance ratio that was highly appreciated from the audience. Besides the cost advantage in comparison to the current solutions also the freedom of design was intensively discussed during the workshop. Especially the combination of high gloss and texturized surfaces that are possible with Ultramid^® Deep Gloss will be interesting to evaluate future design solutions. Also, the sustainability of BASF´s solution compared to painted trim parts was emphasized during the discussion.