The novel coronavirus has changed much in the way we live our daily lives, and it appears that its effects have caused car designers to work on germ-free cabins to minimise the spread of infections in the future.
Kia’s new design chief Karim Habib told Car Magazine that his team is currently studying ways to respond to threats posed by the coronavirus. He said new materials such as copper – a metal known for its antimicrobial properties – could be used on interior surfaces and common touch points, such as door handles and car controls. “Covid-19 will very much influence the way we design our cars in the future,” he said.
“We’re going to have talks with psychologists and anthropologists to really understand how the public’s psyche is going to be in the future. There are things we’ve already been talking about: can we have anti-viral coatings in our interiors? Can you use temperature or ultraviolet light to sanitise surfaces? These are things that we will have to think about rather soon,” Habib added. He formerly worked at BMW and Infiniti before moving to South Korea as design chief.
Prior to this, many car brands were in talks to develop car sharing platforms as a future means of transport, but Habib said this virus might force them to reevaluate those plans. “The pandemic has changed the way we live. Not only over the last few months but the way we will live in the future. For the last few years, we have been talking about a shared economy, shared mobility and public transportation. We will have to see how that develops right now, because of social distancing.”
“These new requirements will have a long-term effect on behaviour. What does this mean for cars? I think we’ll have to wait and see – right now we are trying to expand our understanding of what this might mean – not only the types of vehicles we drive, but also how to design vehicles for shared mobility, or not, as the case may be,” he explained.
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ya, the first thing obvious is there will be a minimum of 1 meter distance between seats.
Wow…
Foreseeable new normal passenger car will be designed based on cable car / ferris wheel large gondola seating arrangement.
Coming from the ugliest car designer.
Don’t think anyone who designs KIA cars is qualified to comment on anything.
God i sure hope the crossover trend dies then.
Imma going to buy a convertible and leave the roof down in the sun. That would kill any covid.
Nah it wont. He’s just blowing air.
Proton & Geely has started the design revolution by equipping cars with N95 filters to protect occupants from external airborne diseases. Kudos to their farsighted thinking.
N95 is disposable grade.
Geely keep using it? omaigod
The CDC and NIOSH do not formally recommend decontamination and re-use of N95 masks
The F01 in M sport looks really good. This Karim guy knows what he is doing! Hopefully the newer Kia’s will have to their own design language.