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Who picks car colors and materials? Designers like Hannah Custance

As automotive journalists, we're often asked "how did you get that job?" People usually didn't even know you could do such a thing. In this 7 Questions series, we're highlighting other jobs in the automotive industry that you might not have heard about before. What do they do, how'd they get to do it and other questions about their particular corner of the car world. Slowly but surely, the automotive landscape is becoming more colorful. Look beyond the unrelentingly conservative palette of white, black and gray most buyers opt for and you'll see the increased use of exterior trim types beyond the usual chrome. There's gloss black, of course, but also other metallic finishes like gold or copper. Those can be found inside, too, where there's also an increase in colorful leathers and trims, innovative fabrics, new wood types and finishes, and greater creativity in general. So where is this change coming from? The answer is designers like Hannah Custance, the color and materials design manager for Jaguar Land Rover. Her team's latest effort is also its magnum opus, the 2022 Range Rover. Although saddled with the expectations that comes with one of the automotive industry's classic nameplates, the all-new Range Rover is also a celebration of cutting edge manufacturing and fashion-forward materials selection. We sat down with Hannah at the L.A. Auto Show to find out more about color and materials designers, how she ended up in the industry, and advice she might have for young designers out there. It has been condensed for brevity. Autoblog: What does a color and materials design manager to do?Hannah Custance: I basically look after a team of designers who design finishes for every A surface on the car. So, that could be exterior finishes. It could be interior trim materials, soft materials, hard materials, chromes, metals, woods, ceramic – that's one of the new ones – anything you can kind of touch and see is color material design. Autoblog: How early in the design process does your team become involved.Hannah: Right at the very start. In fact, we look at materials that don't have a product assigned to them or a car assigned to them. So, it takes actually a very long time for us to get materials approved and fully validated. We have to find suppliers that are willing to work in automotive and our test standards are incredibly high, some of the highest in the industry.

Jaguar planning all-electric E-Pace crossover

Jaguar hasn't quite finished rolling out the new F-Pace (pictured above), and already reports are circulating of another crossover model to join it in the near future. According to Automobile, it'll be called the E-Pace. Here's the kicker: it'll be all-electric. The E-Pace would take advantage of ultra-efficient aerodynamics in order to drop its drag coefficient to just 0.28 g, thereby increasing efficiency. It'd also be the first fully electric model from Jaguar, and would likely be even smaller than the sporty new F-Pace. Through-the-road all-wheel drive would give it poor weather traction, and the electric motors would provide plenty of low-end punch. The model would go up against the Tesla Model X and a potential production version of the Audi E-Tron Quattro concept revealed in Frankfurt. Rather than handle production in-house, the E-Pace could emerge as the mysterious upcoming model which Jaguar Land Rover is planning to have Magna Steyr build on its behalf. The factory in Graz, Austria has long built the G-Class for Mercedes-Benz, continues to assemble the Mini Countryman, and has also handled models like the Aston Martin Rapide and BMW X3. Automobile figures that Jaguar would need to make at least 20,000 units each year to make the model profitable. For comparison's sake, Tesla is projected to move about 33,000 Model S units in 2015. Even if the E-Pace falls short of this target, the project could be worthwhile for JLR purely for publicity purposes and to help cut its average fleet emissions. Related Video:

2024 Jaguar F-Pace makes more style standard equipment

Jaguar has overhauled its F-Pace offer for global markets, moving the rest of the world to the 2024 model year before the end of 2022. For countries that get the F-Pace P400e PHEV, the good news is the lithium-ion battery's been given an extra cell module to increase capacity to 19.2 kWh. That takes pure electric range from 33 miles to 40 miles on the WLTP cycle. Jaguar says this trim accounts for more than 10% of F-Pace sales globally, a healthy tally considering North America accounts for perhaps a third of global sales and Jaguar doesn't offer its flagship PHEV here yet. In countries that favor electrified vehicles like the Netherlands, Jaguar says uptake can reach 98%. The rest of the F-Pace range has been reworked so that every model gets the R-Dynamic trim package, eliminating the base F-Pace and F-Pace S. In full-featured markets, the trim step from bottom to top goes, R-Dynamic S on 19-inch wheels, R-Dynamic SE on 20-inch wheels, R-Dynamic HSE on 21-inch wheels, 400 SPORT and SVR both on 22-inch wheels, plus a choice of six engines. If this change is applied to our market, we'll be left with the F-Pace R-Dynamic S and F-Pace SVR, and two engines. New standard equipment means better spec for some versions, a TFT digital gauge cluster and the Pivi Pro infotainment system part of the purchase price. The infotainment comes with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, what3words navigation and Alexa integration. The R-Dynamic SE comes with wireless charging, the R-Dynamic HSE now comes with an Ebony Suedecloth headliner standard. If opting for the Black Pack on models that don't come with it, more external bits are drenched in the dark gloss: grille and grille surround, side mirror caps, fender vents, window surrounds, rear valance and rear badges. Detail changes include wheel center caps going monochrome black and silver instead of red and silver, and the R-Dynamic badge going monochrome black and gray instead of red and green. The 2024 F-Pace can be ordered now outside of North America. Jaguar should let us know soon what goodness we'll be getting. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Design Walk-Around | Autoblog Short Cuts