AUTOSHOW-Hemp, coconut and bamboo for your car interior

By Marcel Michelson

DETROIT, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Natural fibres derived from hemp, coconut, bamboo or kenaf could be used in car interiors to get away from the "plastic feeling" of many cars on the road.

"What is going to be key for cars is the way the interior feels, smells, sounds and looks like," said Philippe Aumont, the product planning vice president at French car parts group Faurecia (EPED.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

He said statistics in Europe showed the majority of people buy their cars without a test drive.

"So the time they spend in the showroom is very important - the click of a button, the touch of the dashboard, the feel of the steering wheel, the sound of closing the glove compartment," he said on the sidelines of the North American International Auto Show on Tuesday.

"It is all about perceived quality."

Faurecia, majority controlled by Europe's second-biggest volume carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has comfort enhancement of interiors as one of its business priorities, alongside safety and environmental issues.

Aumont said there was a trend towards 'premiumisation' of car interiors as more and more carmakers seek to chase the premium clients because that is a fast growing market segment.

In Europe, for instance, the overall car market was flat to lower while there was a 20 percent year on year growth in the premium segment which starts with such cars as the Audi A4 from Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 3 series or the new Renault (RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Laguna and Citroen C5.