Faurecia uses cast PU skin on Mercedes-Benz S Class

By Liz White, UT staffNanterre, France-French automotive supplier Faurecia is producing the instrument panel, door panels and central console for the Mercedes-Benz S Class, which it calls “the automaker’s new flagship” model, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.A feature Faurecia highlights is the cast polyurethane skin it is using, which it said, “provides an exceptional feel and grain definition unachievable with any other technology.” Cast PU, used on the door panels and instrument panel, enables an exact match of colours, materials and grains inside the vehicle, according to Faurecia.The S-class interior reflects Faurecia’s expertise in this area, and “especially its commitment to perceived quality, in balancing the interplay of forms, colours, grain, textures and alignment, the group said. For the instrument panel structure, Faurecia used a compressed polypropylene-based material with long glass fibre reinforcement, which combines great rigidity and maximum impact resistance with reduced weight.Faurecia developed the S-class interior part at its Hagenbach and Scheuerfeld Research & Development centres with production and assembly at plants at Scheuerfeld, Wörth and Böblingen, all in Germany. “