What futuristic aspects distinguish this vehicle from the competition?
We look at what’s out there in the marketplace and we think hard about how can we stand out and how we can make it feel fresh. For example, the vehicle has got 75 inches of screen in it. There’s a 12-inch screen in front of the driver, 12-inch screen in the center and a 10-inch screen at the bottom for massage and comfort functions. You can even make that screen go away and there’s hidden storage underneath that we call the “James Bond” feature. And even the passenger in the front has a display of their own where they can watch or listen to their media, find different waypoints and send those to the driver or even look at the cameras around the vehicle. We wanted to make sure no matter which seat you were in it was the best seat in the house.
What would you say to young designers who want to incorporate technology in new vehicles?
The biggest thing is that it’s not technology for technology’s sake, it’s all about creating — I always like to say — “surprise and delight for the customers” because when you’re in the vehicle, you want to feel like you’re part of something special. Every day you get in there, it’s an experience. Imagine when someone walks into a dealership, they are captured by the way the car looks. If they see commercials, they see the outside of the car, they see it rolling down the street. The inside is where you live, I like to say.
The integration of technology is all about the modern statement because everyone has a smartphone, everyone’s starting to get used to technology and the idea of how it’s tied into your life. And so, we wanted to bring that into the vehicle to allow customers to have that same seamless sort of interaction with technology that they have at home, in their vehicle as well. We even included the integration of Fire TV in the rear-seat entertainment. You can be watching a show in your living room, pause it, get in the car and hit play and keep watching it. So, it’s kind of an extension of your life.
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