Cadillac's Racing Inspired Seats Stun
They’re
the first thing you notice upon approaching Cadillac’s racing-inspired V-Series
line. But there is more to be discovered with the track-ready seats made by
German manufacturer Recaro.
Cadillac V-Series.
Available for the
first time this year, on both the sedan and coupe versions of the ATS model, as
well as the CTS super sedan, the Recaro seats seamlessly blend form and
function as well as, ultra-luxury and high performance. “That was the ‘“journey”’
from the start,” says Cadillac’s V-Series interior design manager Phil Kucero.
“We wanted what racecar drivers call ‘seat of the pants’ feel, but there also
needed to be comfort. We didn’t want a sofa in there, but it couldn’t be rock-hard
either. So it’s a Jekyll and Hyde, or Beauty and the Beast.”
Seats are designed
by German manufacturer Recaro.
The front seats for the ATS-V and CTS-V feature sporty racecar
seatbelt pass-throughs above hard-shell backs, which are heated and adjustable
in 16 ways, including adjustable bolsters for thighs and backs. The adjustments
show up as graphics on the standard 8-inch CUE interface, which also controls
the Bose
sound system, with the area being adjusted highlighted in red on detailed
diagrams of the seats.
“There was a lot of science input for the contact points,
especially the aggressive bolstering, with dense foam, for lateral support,”
added Kucera, a graduate of the industrial design program at the Cleveland
Institute of Art. “We used 1-to-1 clay models from our studio sculptors, laser
scanned them, then went to CAD. It began very early in the overall design
process and ended very late. It was almost like the shoe industry, we
calibrated, tuned, then went back out there.”
Recaro Automotive
Seating was founded in 1906 by master saddler Wilhelm Reutter in Stuttgart,
Germany, as a coachbuilding company. In 1935, Ferdinand Porsche contracted
Reutter for the prototypes of the Volkswagen Beetle.
In 1949, Recaro created the bodies for the legendary Porsche 356, and
later on, the BMW 328.
Written by
Nicholas Tamarin
Compiled from http://www.interiordesign.net/articles/13473-cadillac-s-racing-inspired-recaro-seats-stun/
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