The Growth Market Car – a new technology demonstration vehicle from Visteon Corporation and 3M – features many unique styling elements that offer more than meets the eye, including interior components covered with 3M™ Interior Trim Films (ITF), which produce distinctive finishes and a high-quality, custom look and feel.

The Growth Market Car, part of a joint-development project targeted at consumers in global growth markets, will be unveiled at a press conference on Jan. 6 at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas at Visteon’s exhibit, located in the Central Plaza, CP20, outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. CES runs through Jan. 9.

3M’s ITF brings the luxury look and feel of highly crafted materials to the concept car’s interior door handles and the trim spear of the passenger side of the instrument panel, adding authenticity and richness without the extra cost.

“The unique touches a technology like ITF adds to a vehicle interior can help automotive designers differentiate their vehicles and offer more options to buyers,” said Doug Smith, global business development manager, 3M Automotive Division. “Interiors are becoming increasingly important as today's drivers show an unprecedented pride of ownership in their vehicles. Our technologies help create new options and styles that consumers are looking for.”

To craft creative and custom finishes that will attract car buyers in the showroom, 3M ITF designers work closely with OEM design studios. In addition to offering styling benefits, 3M ITF also offers technical benefits, since it can be applied by a dual vacuum thermoforming process, which yields a high-quality finish even on complex, contoured parts.

The films also offer easy model differentiation by allowing different finishes to be applied with the same tooling to the same base components.

About 3M

A recognized leader in research and development, 3M produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets. 3M’s core strength is applying its more than 40 distinct technology platforms – often in combination – to a wide array of customer needs. With $23 billion in sales, 3M employs 75,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

3MConnie Thompson, 651-733-89143M Public Relationshttp://3M.com/PressContactorLeslie Dagg, 248-269-1122Bianchi Public Relationsldagg@bianchipr.com