I still remember where and when I realized luxury isn’t won on a spec sheet, but in the quiet of a well-run workshop: it was during my numerous visits to the Peugeot & Citroën prototype innovation workshops and the DS color and material workshops.
Mercedes-Benz’s ‘Manufaktur’ new-car personalization program is fascinating because it breaks our industrial reflex: it’s not slower, but more controlled. AI-assisted hide inspection without ‘killing’ the material, cutting optimization that still respects the trimmer’s eye, waterjet precision and data-driven QA in the background…and the stitch line ends up looking effortless. The 2026 twist is how this intent-centered mindset collides with the reality of software-defined vehicles: service-first cloud stacks, gaming as a brutally honest platform maturity test, and personalization becoming a genuine margin engine. The question for our cockpit crowd is simple: how do we keep an atelier soul when the vehicle becomes an updatable product, and how do we prevent ‘custom’ from turning into just another UI menu to scroll?
The answers are many, not few, and they’re nuanced and intriguing. I’d love to pressure-test them together with you in Köln this coming 22 and 23 April at the DVN Interior event there. Come join in!
Contact Emilie Bonnet or Laurent Sérézat.
