Visteon Joint Venture Showcases Innovative Electric Car Concept "Q-e" at Auto China 2010

Yanfeng Visteon's versatile interior styling transforms vehicle into personal mobile space and complements "green" lifestyle

BEIJING, China, April 23, 2010 —Yanfeng Visteon Automotive Trim Systems (YFV), a joint venture between Visteon Corporation and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation's automotive components group, Huayu Automotive Systems, showcases its unique interior and exterior styling capability on its concept electric car, the Q-e, at Auto China 2010 in Beijing.

Designed for the young urbanite electric vehicle (EV) user, the Q-e's styling offers a spacious and flexible personal space and advanced cockpit electronics interface (ACE-I) using environmentally friendly applications. YFV will display the Q-e at Huayu Automotive Systems' booth in Hall W5, W502 from April 23 to May 2.

"Q-e represents our unique vision of what a compact electric car's interior and exterior can look like and the dual purpose they can achieve," said Shizuki Kajiyama, YFV design studio director. "As an extension of the home, Q-e allows drivers and passengers to experience a multi-faceted 'home' experience in an environmentally friendly car."

The interior and exterior design of the Q-e is in harmony with the modern Chinese urban environment. The Q-e's roof echoes traditional angular Chinese roofs. For a stable and durable look, the sides of the car are styled with highly structural lines. As an eco-friendly city commuter, its front and roof glass are embedded with 18 solar panels to generate additional "green" energy for the vehicle.

In contrast to the defined exterior styling, the interior features fluid lines for an organic look enhanced by a large glass area – providing passengers with a soft yet protective feel. Bold splashes of yellow bring to mind the modern Chinese home, while symbolizing dynamic energy (qi) flow.

To appeal to younger consumers, the color and style of Q-e's front and rear bumper modules can be easily personalized to match individual tastes and lifestyles.

Bringing multimedia and connectivity inside the vehicle, Q-e features a new concept of advanced cockpit electronics interface system, the ACE-I, which integrates a wide range of vehicle controls in a user-friendly, single screen display. Enabled by highly intuitive and sophisticated human machine interface (HMI), the system allows for personalized driver interaction with vehicle controls including navigation, video, audio, driver information, climate controls, MP3 players, Apple's iPod® devices and e-book Readers, and games, etc. Drivers choose to interact by voice, buttons or touch-sensitive commands.

The center-stack control panel can transform itself into two reconfigurable game control pads. Q-e incorporates two 19-inch flip-up screens for drivers and passengers to enjoy games, movies and the Internet when the car is parked, creating a home-theater feeling. The flip-up screens are stored inside the instrument panel when not in use.

Another highlight of Q-e's interior is the in-mold-structural slim seat, the "Ye." The slim seat not only saves interior space but also provides a flat bed mode for resting, a bent forward mode for gaming, and a normal mode for driving. Its styling espouses a simple organic shape inspired by trees and branches – all contributing to the "green" philosophy and aesthetics of the Q-e.

The development of Q-e is a collaborative initiative between YFV and various subsidiaries and partners.

"With the Q-e, we are very pleased to showcase our creative capability and the depth and breadth of our subsidiaries' product and technology offering," said Bob Pyle, general manager of YFV. "The unique styling of the Q-e also shows a deep understanding of the China market's consumers and trends."

Yanfeng Visteon Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between Visteon Corporation and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation's automotive components group, Huayu Automotive Systems. As a leading automotive supplier, YFV designs and manufactures interior, exterior, seating, electronics and safety systems for automakers in China and abroad. Headquartered in Shanghai, YFV has approximately 14,000 employees in more than 70 facilities across China and overseas.

Visteon Corporation is a leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers. With corporate offices in Van Buren Township, Mich. (U.S.); Shanghai, China; and Chelmsford, UK; the company has facilities in 25 countries and employs approximately 29,500 people.

source: Yanfeng Visteon