Marelli has unveiled its new Interior Innovation Center (IIC) in Yoshimi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, picking up the experience of the previous Miyahara location.
The aim of the Interior Innovation Center is to create next-generation cockpit solutions through the combination of innovative ideas and technologies, Marelli said.
“The establishment of the new innovation center for Interior Experience is an important step for our team,” said Tsukasa Fujii, president of Marelli’s interior experience division. “This advanced facility will be key in further enabling innovative value creation with our customers and partners, with a sense of speed.”
The location, that hosts a team of engineers and designers, is implementing three key initiatives inspired by the theme “What’s next? Innovation for the new era.”
The Interior Innovation Center has established a hybrid team structure, integrating interior engineering, electrical engineering, material engineering and interior design: experts from different fields collaborate, and inspire each other to generate new ideas and solutions, according to Marelli.
The Center is an environment focusing specifically on innovation: it is independent from the development and production units, while cooperating effectively with them to enhance creativity, Marelli said.
It applies manufacturing based on “3 Reals Theory” (principle to determine everything based on 3 realities at place, product and situation): equipped with clay modeling facilities, prototype workspaces and Virtual Reality technology.
The progress achieved through the new center has already led to the creation of the cockpit concept “Digital Detox,” which was exhibited at CES 2024. Following this concept, the cabin is realized to offer a comfortable “living room” environment, with high-quality and sustainable materials. To ensure a relaxing personalized space, digital screens and buttons, when switched off, can become invisible, concealed under panels or stored under the console with necessary information displayed when needed.
