In the last few years, aspects such as functionality and variability have played an increasingly important role, next to optical design. Due to an increase in the number of holiday packages, the proportion of leisure and vacation travel with bulky luggage increases the transport performance.
Particularly in smaller vehicles where the interior space is limited, variability or flexibility of the interior has become an increasingly important buying incentive. Variability here, implies that seats can be removed without large expenditure, in favour of luggage area and loading volume.
Userfriendliness is a primary feature representing quality in a variable interior. This can be indicated by the fact that the seats need not be removed from the vehicle but can be folded away. This should also be possible without the use of tools. The space which is hence freed, should be of a single level for convenience and should not contain any jagged edges.
The design conflict related to the rear seats for example requires on the one hand that the seats be light in order to be able to conveniently handle them, while on the other hand, the passive safety requirement demands a stiff and solid construction which increases the weight.
In the example shown here, the useful variability is essentially created by the rear seats. Since the bench seat can be adjusted in numerous ways, folded away, or set-up individually or together, the loading area can be changed from 390 l upto 1740 l if only the driver's seat remains.