Top Designers from Ford and Mercedes-Benz to Headline WardsAuto Interiors Conference May 9

Event features exhibits, eight breakout sessions and ceremony for winners of Wards 10 Best Interiors awards


SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The WardsAuto Interiors Conference, the annual event with a laser-focus on the automotive interior, announces Dennis Sartorello, Chief Designer, Global Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company, and Andrew Hill, Director of UX, Data and AI at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development, will deliver the keynote addresses. The event will be held May 9, 2019 at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan.     

The event will also host vehicle and supplier exhibits, as well as an awards ceremony for Wards 10 Best Interiors and will celebrate the industry’s top designers. The ten winning vehicles will be on display for attendees to see the advanced features, styling excellence, innovative material usage and other details that make the vehicles worthy of their honors.  Plus, attendees will choose from eight “deep-dive” breakout sessions, each focused on specific aspects of the vehicle interior:

Breakout Sessions

  • How Autonomy Will Drive a Materials Rethink
  • Creating the Ultimate User Experience
  • Advanced Design and Manufacturing
  • The Next-Generation Cockpit
  • Innovative Materials Solutions
  • How Vehicle Sharing, Commercial Ride-Hailing Fleets Will Change Interiors
  • Designing Specifically for Fully Autonomous Vehicles
  • New Concepts and Tech for Enhancing Interiors

The event will also spotlight the winners of the WardsAuto Interiors Student Design Competition sponsored by IAC and Lectra.  Award winners will be announced, and the work of all finalists from the College for Creative Studies, judged by a panel of the industry’s top designers, will be on display.  

“Autonomy, electrification and new mobility strategies are forcing major changes in the way vehicle interiors are designed and experienced. The WardsAuto Interiors conference is the largest event of its kind in North America and it is aimed at understanding these forces, where they are taking vehicle interiors and how new challenges can be met,” says Drew Winter, senior content director at WardsAuto. 

“It’s always exciting to pack so much design talent, along with technologists and industry disruptors, into a single venue for a high level of information sharing and networking.”   

A limited number of seats remain available, and individual session seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.  Exhibit space is also available for suppliers of interior technologies and materials to display their products.  Registration, exhibit and additional information is available at http://www.AutoInteriors.com

ABOUT WARDSAUTO
WardsAuto is a world-leading provider of automotive insights and analysis, having served the industry's information needs for more than 90 years. A Southfield, MI-based Informa business, WardsAuto provides a forward-looking perspective on all aspects of the automotive business, from the tech center to the plant floor to the showroom.  Its services include the premium Subscribers.WardsIntelligence.com resource and suite of customizable data reporting tools, the WardsAuto Interiors and User Experience (UX) Conferences, digital newsletters and magazines, as well as the Wards Intelligence Outlook and Focus Conferences. Subscribe to WardsAuto and attend its events by visiting http://www.wardsauto.com.

ABOUT INFORMA
Informa PLC is a leading, international business to business information services Group, operating in over 30 countries. We create transaction-led exhibitions and content-based events, specialist data, intelligence and marketing services products, as well as scholarly research and specialist reference-led academic content. Our products and services help businesses and professionals connect, learn, do business and gain an edge over the competition. Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

MEDIA CONTACT:  
Alexa Madden
Marketing Manager
WardsAuto
248 799 2648
Alexa.carron@informa.com