It has to be a car that conveys personality, strength and prestige. This was the assignment that Seat Design director Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos gave to his team. Now that the Seat Tarraco has made its world debut, we discover what is behind the creative process of this kind of vehicle and the keys to what is going to be the company’s new design language.
The 65% of SUV customers base their purchase decision on exterior design. In fact, their lines are one of their characteristic features: “They’re more aggressive, powerful and imposing”, says brand exterior designer Xavier Villanueva. The size, silhouette and target fully determine the colour range of each model. Each segment features its own colours”, comments Jordi Font, Head of Color&Trim department. The palette of an SUV has to express “safety and protection”.
When selecting the trim for Seat’s largest SUV, designers worked with premium materials: “we chose melange fabrics, and for the first time, matte chrome trim features that give the car an added touch of sophistication”, explains Amanda López from the Color&Trim department. In order to verify the multiple combinations of interior design, they resorted to virtual reality.
Virtual reality in one of the best resource. Whether it is used to define the interior look, the exterior lines or aerodynamic aspects, this technology plays and increasingly decisive role: “Before, with the renders, designers could see their work with 60% realism. Thanks to virtuality, that figure goes up to 90%. This helps save a lot of time”, says Manel Garcés, manager of visualisation at Seat. The work of the entire department concludes with the freeze design, a resin replica of what will be the final vehicle, and which is then used to approve the lines of the new model. This is the last step in the design process, and from this point on the idea is handed over to the engineers.
Read the Seat Tarraco’s full design story on Auto&Design n.234 in January.
