Have you ever noticed that there are regional market trends for seat adjustment mechanisms? I never had, until a wise colleague some years ago pointed one out.
“Japanese and Korean cars very often have lever-style adjusters for seat recline,” he said, “whereas European and American cars [those without motorised seats, at least] tend to have those wheel-style adjusters that you have to wind all the way up and down.”
This, he assured me, is because it’s much more common in Asian countries – Japan especially – than it is elsewhere for people to sleep in their cars, and a simpler recline mechanism (literally just lift, plonk, snore) makes this a lot easier.
Makes sense: I can imagine Tokyo business types, after a ridiculously long day of work and socialising, preferring to grab some shut-eye in the front seat, rather than schlepping an hour home just to get up and turn around all the earlier to come back the following morning.
And in-car sleeping, funnily enough, might be becoming a global trend. A couple of test cars I’ve driven recently have been especially suited to it.
The first was the Hyundai Inster, a pint-sized electric hatchback in which all four seats can be folded flat to make a decent-sized sleeping area.
Which is especially funny, because the car itself can’t be much bigger than a king-sized bed. The second, about which you will be reading in an upcoming road test, is the Xpeng G6.
This is quite a derivative mid-sized electric crossover that’s plainly out to steal the lunch of the Tesla Model Y.
The fact that it offers no fewer than three ‘sleep space’ cabin layouts might be the most interesting thing about it. Because the front seats are motorised, the car at least partially converts itself.
You just whip out the front headrests, then select which ‘mode’ you want from the touchscreen.
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What about sanitary needs?, we all need to go at some time during a 24hr period, and we need food drinks etc, could get it delivered I suppose,no, sleeping in cars? nope!
I work in an industry where "fatigue management" is expected, along with extra-long shifts at unfriendly hours, and frenetic bursts of work. There are management-provided "quiet room" facilities availabe, but those are always a bit wanting in terms of comfort and hygiene.
The prospect of a comfortable private option in the employee car-park, particularly in an EV context where no motor needs to be run to manage the temperature, sounds like nirvana.