Achieve A Luxury Auto Interior with Plastic Printed Parts

When most people think about luxury automotive design, their minds don’t immediately go to plastic parts. However, high-quality, custom printed plastic parts play a major role in a luxury vehicle’s aesthetics, efficiency, and durability. There’s been an increase in designer interest for in-mold labeling (IML) and plastic printed parts in recent years, and at Sanwa we’re happy to lend our decades of printing and design experience to create parts that bring premium auto interiors to life.

When we create parts for automakers, customer and end-user satisfaction is our number one goal. Their expectations become ours -- to deliver a look, color, feel, texture, or impression that matches the performance and value of a high-end vehicle.

What We Expect at Sanwa

Here’s what we believe and work toward at Sanwa, and what we expect from our teams and technologies when designing and printing high-end parts for luxury vehicles:

Blacks To Be Black

Color matching can be a challenge with most environments and materials. When it comes to auto interiors, it’s exceedingly important for colors to match when a vehicle is indoors (in a garage, for example) or outdoors, day or night. Finding a printer and painter with the experience and technology to match blacks per design intent is priceless. At Sanwa, our processes are honed and calibrated to ensure the correct, desired color is produced for any and all environments.

Wood Grain To Look Like Real Wood

At Sanwa, producing wood grain panels that look like “real wood” is one of our specialties. Our goal is to be so close, that if compared side by side, it would be difficult to determine which is the plastic product and which is finished wood. Using printed plastic panels to obtain a wood-grain look has several benefits, from durability to repeatability and weight. Consistency is easier to obtain with a custom printed part, and the lightweight nature of an IML printed part allows a vehicle to be lighter, which increases all-around efficiency and performance.

Vapor Deposition and Sputtering To Look Like Real Chrome

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) and sputtering are methods for obtaining a polished, glossy, chrome-like look. At Sanwa, we call on a wide range of applications to meet complex requirements for emblems, decals and decorative enhancements. The coating allows for light and flexible molded parts, while maintaining an aesthetic edge. Additionally, PVD and sputtering can be used to achieve specialty textures, corrosion resistance, and improved wearability over time.

Blemish-Free Finishes

There are times when seams and lines can be beneficial, like when drawing a driver’s eyes to a point of focus. However, lines can also be unwanted and reveal blemishes or cut-corners. Using advanced hot and cool injection molding technology allows for weldless designs that appear flawless and finished. Our Sanwa team employs a suite of innovative tools to achieve original design intent, whether weldless or seamless.

What Makes Luxury Special

Luxury cars showcase higher-quality interior materials and features that aren't available on lower-priced models. From dashboards to decorative trims, and emblems to overlays, the high-end quality that Sanwa provides gives luxury vehicles a competitive edge. Our team focuses on quality, attention to detail, and innovation that allows us to create superior products that stand the test of time.

If you’re ready to outfit your luxury vehicle parts with world-class quality and industry-leading innovations, give us a call. Our experienced and knowledgeable team is on-hand to talk about the best methods for bringing your vision to reality, and evolving your parts to meet the expectations of today’s luxury vehicle consumer.