Forget about the M Lounge in the back of the XM. The M carbon bucket front seats you’ll find in the M2, M3, and M4 also pale in comparison to this. It’s called the BMW M Visionary Materials Seat and it just won an award. During the 2024 Center for Automotive Research Seminar, this eco-friendly seat claimed the Enlighten Award in the Sustainable Process category.
Compared to a regular carbon bucket seat found in a variety of M cars, this one has a 90% lower carbon footprint. Its eco credentials are represented by plant-based materials and the use of robotically-wound fiber composite seat support structures. Many of the bits and bobs that went into manufacturing the seat originate from recycled materials.
BMW grouped materials by type so that it would be easier to recycle the seat at the end of the car’s life cycle. But wait, there’s more. Well, less, actually. Finishing steps were minimized to preserve energy and to rely less on available resources. The company also came up with a new technology that eliminated chemical post-treatment.
While the M Visionary Seat project is owned by the M division, the product was designed by the Designworks subsidiary. The latter was also in charge of picking out the colors and materials, with input from BMW’s design team. Natural fibers, leather alternatives, fiber composites, and algae-based polymers were used to make the conceptual seat.
As a whole, the M Visionary Seat is less complex than your typical front seat found in today’s M cars. However, it’s not going into production anytime soon. That said, lessons learned from the project will help BMW engineer seats less harmful to our already fragile nature. The German luxury brand intends to rely more on secondary raw materials to improve circularity. It’s an ongoing effort highlighted back in 2021 by the i Vision Circular. The quirky hatchback was touted as being entirely recyclable.
Source: BMW
