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Faurecia showcases green, light and personalized innovations at its first event for the NAIAS

Faurecia (http://na.faurecia.com) is making its first-ever appearance in connection with the North American International Auto Show in Detroit by exhibiting green, light and personalized innovations during press days Jan. 13-16, with an emphasis on bringing high-end features to midmarket vehicles.

Faurecia’s display at the Crowne Plaza Detroit Pontchartrain Hotel offers new technologies from all four Faurecia business groups: Automotive Seating, Emissions Control Technologies, Interior Systems and Automotive Exteriors.

“Metro Detroit has been the focal point for the auto industry’s resurgence, and Faurecia is proud to have contributed many innovations to the industry’s restyled approach to the marketplace,” said Faurecia North America President Michael Heneka. “We want to celebrate the spirit of Detroit, the transformation of the auto industry and the connection people have with their cars. There’s no better place to share Faurecia’s vision for the next generation of vehicles than in Detroit, the birthplace of the nation’s automotive industry.”

In conjunction with the North American International Auto Show, Faurecia is showcasing more than 30 products that reflect life on board for the next generation of vehicles, which will have the touch-free connectivity of a personal office or entertainment center. Inside and out, these vehicles will be built with natural and lighter-weight materials that Faurecia is presenting at its exhibits.

Innovations to improve life on board include two key demonstrators:

Performance 2.0 features a full front cabin and driver’s door with a glove box that opens with a gesture, the industry’s first heated armrest, wireless charging and streaming, retractable touch screens replacing gauges and extensive use of natural fibers. The OASIS seat offers ultra-premium comfort and digital conveniences and converts to four positions: entry configuration, upright for working and communicating, an entertainment position for video and audio, and reclined for relaxation.

Among Faurecia’s new approaches to greener and lighter vehicles are these developments:

Exhaust Dynamic Sound Technologies, with dynamic sound cancellation (comparable to a noise-canceling headset for tailpipes) and sound generation to remove and/or add selected sound to exhaust systems. Composite Future, showing breakthrough processes and materials for composite use in mass-market applications, incorporating outside body parts, composite closures and structural parts. BioAttitude, which presents BioMat for extracting substances from natural, renewable sources, instead of oil-based plastics, for the matrix of injection material, along with NAFILean, a lightweight material employing hemp-based fibers, and Lignolite, with 85 percent wood fibers for compression processes.

Other innovations at Faurecia’s Detroit exhibit include sculpted seat covers and backs that transform the relationship between seats and seating covers and the Exhaust Heat Recovery Manifold (EHRM), which provides more efficient, fuel-saving heating for hybrids.

Faurecia’s breakthrough approaches to making vehicles greener and lighter and to making life on board more convenient and comfortable for vehicles at all market levels have propelled the company’s growth. Over the past three years, Faurecia has opened or acquired 15 new manufacturing and technology facilities, boosting the company to its position as North America’s fifth-largest automotive supplier and first among the region’s emissions control technologies suppliers and interior systems suppliers. Business in the region is further expected to grow at 11 percent annually to reach $7 billion in 2016. At its 47 locations in North America, Faurecia employs 20,000 people–more than 4,000 of them in Michigan.

About Faurecia

Faurecia is the world’s sixth-largest automotive supplier, with four Business Groups: Automotive Seating, Emissions Control Technologies, Interior Systems and Automotive Exteriors. In 2012, the Group posted sales of $22.5 billion. Faurecia employs 94,000 people in 34 countries at 320 sites and 30 R&D centers. Faurecia is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris exchange.

In North America, Faurecia had sales of $6 billion in 2012. It employs more than 20,000 people at 47 locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Since 2010, Faurecia and its employees have provided more than 2.4 million meals to food bank partners across North America. Connect with Faurecia North America at www.facebook.com/faureciaNA, www.twitter.com/faureciaNA, and www.pinterest.com/faureciaNA.