Chrysler Upgrades From Inside Out

What's the inside story on Chrysler Group LLC's approach to interior design? Think data, rapid prototyping and passion — all delivered in-house.

Often maligned for skimping on the types of soft-touch materials considered by other auto makers to be the price of entry, Chrysler says it now is committed to the challenge for market leadership on quality, style and customer satisfaction.

“Throughout the whole company, from the CEO down to the engineers, down to the design department, we learned the lesson that we have to do better,” says Klaus Busse, head of interior design and component commonization.

And the auto maker promises to achieve that on its own, Busse adds.

Faced with playing catch-up on interiors, Chrysler brought in suppliers earlier when its Ram 1500 fullsize pickup was on the drawing board for redesign in '09.

The move paid off with the Ram receiving critical acclaim, including a Ward's Interior of the Year award.

The redesigned Ram “showed we treat interiors seriously,” Busse tells Ward's.

But in between came the all-new '11 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, which benefited from “the right use” of design data, stereolithography and the assembly of a team of designers with flair and a zeal for interiors, he adds.

While suppliers contributed mightily to the Ram interior's development, their role no longer is the lynchpin to Chrysler's potential success.

“It really doesn't come down to bringing on the suppliers early,” Busse says. “Back then (during the Ram's development), it was important because we were still depending on a lot of outside help. Over the last 2-3 years, we were able to establish that know-how internally.”

That know-how now resides in “a passionate team that is dedicated, obsessed with quality.” It also is one with its engineering counterparts.

“We have worked very hard on tearing down these ‘chimneys’ (between the) design office and engineering,” Busse says. “These days, and I'm very proud of it, there's almost a blur between engineering and design. There's no more ‘us’ and ‘them.’ That was a big enabler.”

On the empirical side of the process, Chrysler embraced data-driven design, bolstered by stereolithography.

“The Grand Cherokee was the first one where we really made it part of our process,” Busse says, noting the technology enables designers to inspect, by hand, surfaces that existed exclusively in the virtual world only hours before.

To generate the prototype, Chrysler designers use the same data used to cut production tooling. Visualization software is key to the process, which culminates in a simulation formed from resin.

“Then you can look at the part and say, ‘This is what we have to do to make it feel better, look better and have a higher appearance of craftsmanship,’” Busse says. “It's as good as the real thing.”

The next beneficiary of this new approach? “All future products,” Busse says, adding the debut cadence is at least one per month for the next several months.

The '11 Jeep Wrangler features a redesigned instrument panel with upgraded materials. Metallic trim on the front passenger's grab handle boasts the slogan “since 1941” in homage to Jeep's roots as a military vehicle — and the unofficial signal of a marketing campaign.

A new lockable console and revamped door armrest also offer softer touch points — changes mirrored in the '11 Patriot.

Critics have slammed the small Jeep for hard plastic that dominated its interior since its debut in '07. Some of those surfaces, such as door panels, benefited from the subsequent addition of a skin.

But in the light of a new day, under the management control of Fiat Automobiles SpA, Chrysler decided the '09 upgrade still fell short.