How Klaus Busse Creates Excellent Interiors

This is Klaus Busse:

If you were asked to, you’d probably guess that he’s a designer.

Specifically, Busse is vice president of Interior Design for FCA North America.

Which means he leads the team that designs things like this:

This:

And this:

So which of the three is a concept?  Which are production?

The first is the Platinum trim interior for the Chrysler 300. Yes, you can buy it.

The second is the Texas Ranger Ram concept. Sorry. However, Busse points out that the laser treatment on the surface of the seat leather, the design that brings to mind a pair of boots from Tony Lama, is something that you can get on the production Laramie Limited Ram 1500.

And the final is the interior of the Jeep Renegade.

Yes, they really made interiors that are nearly concept in their execution.

In a few weeks, Busse will be celebrating his 10^th anniversary with the company now known as “FCA.”

Busse, who was born in Minden, Germany, and who received a BA in transportation design from Coventry University, started his professional design career at Mercedes-Benz in 1995. When there was the entity known as “DaimlerChrysler,” Busse moved to Michigan and took the position as manager of Interior Design for Ram Trucks.

When the entity known as “DaimlerChrysler” ceased to exist in 2007, two years after Busse was in Auburn Hills, he stayed.

Busse and his colleagues have created what are arguably some of the best—if not the best—interiors in the business.

How they do that is a large part of the discussion on this week’s “Autoline After Hours.” Busse talks about their approach to interior design and teamwork with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Drew Winter of Ward’s, and me.

Even if you’re not at all interested in interior design, it is interesting to learn the thinking behind how they’ve pretty much gone from zero to hero in a fairly short period of time, something that should be considered by anyone who is part of a team that’s hopes to excel, even if the odds don’t look particularly promising.

In addition to which, John, Drew and I discuss a variety of other subject, including the departure of Ferdinand Piech from Volkswagen Group, the impressive numbers of the forthcoming Cadillac CTS-V, and much more on the show.

And you can see it right here: