Drivers of one of Germany’s most fashionable sports cars, Porsche, will soon be able to choose the level of comfort their car seat has after the company announced innovative new seat design technology.
The company announced that future buyers of 911s and 718s will get the option of choosing between three levels of firmness: hard, medium, or soft.
Taking its lead from the innovation in mattress technology, the new Porsche bucket-seat features a sandwich style construction with a range of layers including expanded polypropylene, which is bonded to a breathable comfort layer, using additive manufacturing – or 3D-printing. The final element of the new-look seat will be a ‘Racetex’ outerskin, featuring a specific perforation pattern for climate control.
The new seat is one of a range of ‘fully personalised solutions’ for the German company and could lead to the advancement of F1 style technology which sees the seat moulded to the body of the driver.
Porsche is planning 40 prototype seats from May 2020, and will develop options based on feedback from buyers.
“The seat is the interface between the human and the vehicle, and is thus important for precise, sporty handling," said Porsche’s R&D board member Michael Steiner. "That’s why personalized seat shells customized for the driver have been standard in race cars for a long time now. With the 3D-printed bodyform full-bucket seat, we’re once again giving series-production customers the opportunity to experience technology carried over from motorsports.”