GM FastLane: CTS: Answering Your Interior Questions

[Bruce Nunnally]

By Eric Clough

Director of Design, Cadillac Interiors

Thank you to all who responded about the new CTS interior. I appreciate the feedback and enthusiasm. I’d like to answer a few of your questions and topics that have been posted here on FastLane.

Radio and screen

The radio is usable with the navigation screen retracted. In fact, the only time the full screen is necessary is for nav use.

Wood

The Sapele wood is a species of African mahogany and is nursery grown for consistency, sustainability and to avoid rainforest depletion.

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2007/...wering_y_1.html

[Bruce Nunnally]

Full text for the search archive:

CTS: Answering Your Interior Questions

By Eric Clough

Director of Design, Cadillac Interiors

Thank you to all who responded about the new CTS interior. I appreciate the feedback and enthusiasm. I’d like to answer a few of your questions and topics that have been posted here on FastLane.

Radio and screen

The radio is usable with the navigation screen retracted. In fact, the only time the full screen is necessary is for nav use.

Wood

The Sapele wood is a species of African mahogany and is nursery grown for consistency, sustainability and to avoid rainforest depletion.

Serviceability

One of the most challenging requirements we have designing interiors is ease of assembly and service. As was noted, cars in general are easier to assemble and disassemble than ever before. We try to eliminate as many screws as possible, since every one is labor and time intensive and prone to marring the surrounding surface during installation. Unlike aircraft, which are largely fabricated (machined and bolted together), cars have the luxury of higher production volume which affords more sophisticated tooling and manufacturing techniques so we can hide the fasteners, reduce the errors and improve the quality at the same time.

Park brake location

Not having a handbrake in the center console was a conscious decision to enable dual cup holders and air ducting to reach the rear passenger outlets. An electric park brake will be in the car starting in model year 2009, located just behind the shifter. It was unfortunately not fully developed in time for this launch, but along with the obvious interior space-saving benefit, will also be lighter than the mechanical system it replaces.

French Stitching

French stitching is a type of seam that has a line of stitching on both sides of the seam. The excess material from each piece being joined is folded back under and secured by the lines of stitching. This keeps the seam flat and greatly improves the quality of the surface because the excess can’t wobble back and forth underneath.