Patel’s most recent project is the new Rogue, Nissan’s bestselling family SUV — and its interior is a strong one. Less minimalist than the all-electric Ariya, the new Rogue Hybrid features physical buttons and switches for most controls alongside a generous amount of built-in storage. Yet it avoids being a boring design — the seats are a standout, taking inspiration from puffer jackets. And there’s no Piano Black in sight.
“People want easy, intuitive controls,” Patel said. “They want wireless charging. They want surfaces that are easy to manage and clean, keep clean and clutter-free, and they want lots of places to store things. Oh, and the last thing is, they want easy access.” To that end, the new Rogue’s rear doors were engineered to open to 90° to make it easier to install a child’s car seat or help an elderly passenger into the back row — a priority less critical for an image-focused sedan, but essential for this segment.
“The target customer for this product… they have families and they have a lot of stuff. So you’ll notice that you open the door, and immediately there’s places to put stuff,” Patel said.
Utilitarian need not mean prosaic, however. As designers since the Bauhaus movement have demonstrated, “everyday” doesn’t have to mean ordinary. Patel shared that sentiment. “One of the exciting things and one of the really big challenging things of doing a car or doing design for a product that is a usable everyday product is when you can make that product beautiful,” he said. “There’s so much more that goes into our everyday usable products in terms of cost, engineering, usability, feasibility, everything. And then on top of that, we’re struggling and really trying our best to fight for every little millimeter that we can get that we feel is important to making sure that that product is appealing from a visual standpoint.”
It’s a balance that reflects a broader shift in automotive interior design — one where meeting the practical demands of real-world family life and achieving genuine visual appeal are no longer considered mutually exclusive goals.
