A Scout, Benjamin says, will: "look like a serious machine, like it's there for business, but with an approachability." VW Launching Electric Truck, SUV Under Revived Scout Brand In USĪnd on the exterior? Again, the design language will represent the brand, which is more about exploration and respect than conquering and dominating. Just a small amount of exactly the most critical things that are desired by customers to get to quickly," he said, mentioning things like a volume knob and HVAC controls.
"Like a high-precision machine."īenjamin promised the "right mix" of physical controls and digital touchpoints. Not just a sort of sea of matte black buttons, but rather something that feels special," he said.
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"We will hold on to an element of tactility, making manual controls feel special, like something that you want to interact with.
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Though Benjamin promises the Scout interiors will feature all the latest tech that drivers will want, including Android Auto and Apple CarPlay ("I certainly don't believe in taking away conveniences that people are happy with"), he also assured me that the digital will not overwhelm the physical. " looking into what we can do there without finding some of the pitfalls that we've seen other companies fall into with leaky roofs, stuff like that." "We're trying to avoid innovating for novelty sake but rather innovating for real usability," Benjamin said, then referenced some classic Scout design features of old: "The thing that was a big part of the Scouts in the past was being able to experience the environment around you, the open air," he said. You still have the motors, of course and all of the same modules that you've always had, if not more these days."īut, like all good art, upcoming Scouts will take advantage of their medium. This frees Benjamin and his team from a lot of classic design constraints – but not all of them: "You are still beholden to carrying people and you're packaging different things, right? Batteries instead of an engine. "Those shifters are meaty."Īt Scout, there won't be a need for meaty shifters. The switches and knobs, the shifter, for example, the way you put it into four-low," he said. "The one thing you'll see in the Wrangler is this heavy tactility. "Those products had been becoming more and more premium, and the interior was sort of falling behind," Benjamin told me. There was a big push to increase fit and finish without losing that classic Jeep heritage.
"Those haven't been shown yet, but they'll be good," Benjamin assured me.īut, of all that experience, his recent re-shaping of the interior on the 2024 Wrangler would seem to resonate most strongly with his new role. His team also did the interiors on the upcoming Jeep Recon and Wagoneer S. In the decade since, he oversaw interiors on everything from the current Chrysler Pacifica minivan to the Grand Wagoneer.
"Yeah, we're all over," Benjamin said.īenjamin joins from Stellantis, where he most recently served as vice president of interior design, specifically overseeing Jeep, Wagoneer, Dodge, and Chrysler.īenjamin's stint there started in 2013. There'll be an engineering presence there as well, complementing Scout's manufacturing and other corporate facilities in South Carolina and its current, DC-based executive team. That team will be built in Michigan, near metro Detroit, where Benjamin lives now. "That was a team of one." At Mercedes he also worked on 2007's Ocean Drive concept and did the interior on the 2008 GLK.īenjamin's last three projects at Stellantis: The Jeep Recon EV and Wagoneer S Concepts, and the 2024 Wrangler. So, I pretty much dove into school headfirst and really enjoyed it, and it was my sanctuary, if you will," he said.Īfter graduating from Miami's Design and Architecture Senior High School, he was accepted at top design schools like Pratt, but scholarships and his family's finances didn't line up, so he spent a year at Miami Dade Community College before a friend turned him on to Michigan's College for Creative Studies, alma mater to so many of the industry's finest.Īfter graduation from CCS he was hired by Mercedes-Benz, his first project the Vision GST Concept, which debuted at 2002's Detroit Auto Show and gave a strong look at the later R-Class MPV. I mean, you know, the area I lived in wasn't the greatest, a lot of crime and that sort of thing. "Miami Dade County was a great public school program.
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