Automotive Interiors Expo Europe 2026

Trends from Automotive Interiors Expo Europe 2026 

Automotive Interiors Expo Europe 2026 highlighted a clear shift in how vehicle interiors are being developed. Rather than competing to deliver ever-larger displays, manufacturers are focusing on seamlessly integrating technology into premium materials, creating interiors that are calmer, more tactile and increasingly human-centred. 

Now part of Vehicle Tech Week Europe, the exhibition brought together interior design, vehicle testing and autonomous vehicle technologies, reinforcing how modern vehicle development increasingly depends on expertise spanning industrial design, engineering, materials, manufacturing and user experience. Throughout the exhibition, a common theme emerged: rather than introducing entirely new technologies, suppliers are combining existing innovations into highly integrated, production-ready solutions that improve both user experience and manufacturing efficiency.

Smart surfaces replace traditional HMI 

One of the strongest themes throughout the exhibition was the continued evolution of smart surfaces. Rather than adding visible controls or displays, manufacturers are embedding digital functionality directly into decorative materials, allowing technology to remain hidden until required. 

Solutions on display included printed electronics integrated into trim, capacitive touch through wood and textiles, hidden (“Shy Tech”) displays, invisible speakers, integrated lighting and embedded haptic feedback. Together, these technologies create interiors where technology becomes part of the architecture rather than dominating it, reducing visual complexity while maintaining intuitive interaction.

• Molex – Printed HMI Touch Films 

Molex demonstrated flexible printed touch films using conductive silver, PEDOT and carbon inks to create highly integrated three-dimensional touch surfaces. Beyond improving aesthetics, these technologies enable controls to migrate onto complex curved geometries, reducing component count while giving designers greater freedom over interior architecture. 

• INTOPS – Film Insert Moulding (FIM) 

INTOPS, a Tier 1 supplier to Samsung and Tier 2 supplier to Hyundai and Kia, showcased several applications of its Film Insert Moulding (FIM) technology. Highly textured decorative surfaces effectively conceal displays when inactive while maintaining excellent optical clarity once illuminated, creating a convincing “Secret Until Lit” effect. 

Its Shy Tech Display combines wood grain and decorative graphics with finely engineered light-transmitting structures, allowing displays to remain completely hidden until activated without noticeable colour distortion.

• INTOPS MOBIS – Smart Grille 

A further application of FIM technology demonstrated metallic decorative finishes combined with three-dimensional lighting effects, illustrating how illumination, branding and surface decoration can be integrated into a single component. 

• Gruner – Active Haptic Feedback 

Gruner demonstrated active haptic feedback systems that significantly improve the usability of touch interfaces. By carefully controlling vibration frequency and amplitude, users receive tactile confirmation when interacting with controls, reducing the need to look away from the road. The quality of the feedback was particularly impressive, demonstrating how well-executed haptics can restore intuitive interaction to increasingly digital interiors. 

Decorative finishes become increasingly sophisticated 

Surface decoration technologies continue to advance rapidly, enabling premium finishes that were previously difficult or expensive to manufacture while simultaneously reducing environmental impact and production complexity. 

Across the exhibition, suppliers demonstrated chrome-look finishes without electroplating, laser texturing, advanced painted finishes, soft-touch coatings and increasingly sophisticated Film Insert Moulding processes. The result is greater design freedom while reducing weight and manufacturing complexity.

• Del Vicario – Ferrari Roma Door Speaker 

Del Vicario displayed the Ferrari Roma door speaker assembly, demonstrating the precision manufacturing required to achieve premium decorative finishes through stamping, CNC machining and 3D laser cutting. 

• MGC – Heat Formable PC/PMMA Sheets 

Developed alongside Elematec, HCLTech and Mitsubishi, this process enables complex coloured and masked decorative surfaces to be produced without traditional back injection onto decorative films. The technology is particularly well suited to the increasingly large illuminated panels now appearing across modern vehicle interiors. 

• Gerhardi – Structured Chrome 

Gerhardi showcased a semi-transparent structured chrome finish developed for BMW. The technology allows decorative chrome surfaces to become illuminated while maintaining a premium metallic appearance, supporting the industry’s move towards illuminated design features that combine branding, lighting and decoration within a single component. 

• Innovera – Recycled Nylon Suede 

Innovera demonstrated soft-touch suede manufactured using recycled nylon recovered from end-of-life vehicle tyres. Advanced thermo-chemical processing converts tyre-derived materials into high-quality polyamide fibres, producing lightweight textiles with excellent tactile qualities while reducing reliance on virgin materials. 

Comfort and wellbeing remain a priority 

Manufacturers continue to invest in technologies that actively improve the driving experience rather than simply providing transportation. Climate comfort, air quality, seat pressure management, noise reduction, circadian lighting and occupant monitoring all featured prominently throughout the exhibition. 

These systems increasingly work together to create interiors that respond intelligently to occupants while supporting comfort and wellbeing throughout a journey. 

• Leggett & Platt – Pneumatic Comfort Systems 

Leggett & Platt demonstrated an extensive range of pneumatic lumbar, shoulder support and massage systems. The latest generation of valves and compressors was notably quiet, highlighting the continued refinement of comfort technologies for premium interiors.

Manufacturing innovation enables greater integration 

Many of the most interesting developments focused not on new user-facing technologies, but on the manufacturing innovations making increasingly integrated interiors possible. 

Larger trim modules, structural decorative components, lightweight assemblies, multifunctional parts and reduced fastening systems all demonstrated how suppliers are simplifying production while improving overall vehicle efficiency. 

• Taracell – Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) 

Expanded polypropylene (EPP) featured prominently across multiple suppliers. Taracell demonstrated a wide range of moulded components available in different colours, densities, bead structures and surface finishes. Its combination of extremely low weight, impact resistance and design flexibility offers considerable potential for broader application across future vehicle interiors, particularly where multifunctional lightweight structures are required.

• Bcomp – Thermoplastic Composite Panels 

Bcomp showcased recyclable thermoplastic composite panels incorporating powerRibs™ technology, capable of reducing component weight by up to 50% while reducing plastic content by as much as 70%. Combined with ampliTex™ natural fibre fabrics, these materials deliver structural performance alongside premium visual finishes within a single integrated component. 

Beyond the interior 

Running alongside Automotive Interiors Expo were Automotive Testing Expo and Automotive Vehicle Technology Expo, providing valuable insight into the wider vehicle development process. 

Particularly notable was the extensive range of equipment used to validate vehicle designs, from H-point measurement fixtures and ergonomic assessment tools to sophisticated seat comfort and durability testing systems. These exhibits reinforced that successful interior design relies as much on rigorous engineering validation as creative design, reflecting the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of modern vehicle development.