Often, people prefer using their car for commuting because it’s the most private time they get in an otherwise hectic day. So, it makes sense that a comfortable, durable and perhaps even a little luxurious quality for the car interior would be a nice touch.

Without intending to be facetious, this appears to be something that Detroit has only discovered in the past few years. We can still remember – and not with fondness – the “carved from a single block of plastic” interior that adorned our ’02 Mustang.

In all fairness, we’ve also encountered some pretty strange ideas and materials from other places around the world as well – some quite recently.

At Chrysler, interiors became a priority with the new Fiat management and, according to Klaus Busse, head of interior design for Chrysler, “Customers are still attracted to the exterior but now the interior seals the deal.”

Busse was speaking at the Ward’s Auto Interiors Conference, presented annually by the industry trade publication Ward’s Auto World, where in-depth presentations, technical papers and awards deal solely with automotive interiors.

Ralph Gilles, head of Chrysler design called Chrysler’s previous interiors a “festival of polypropylene,” admitting that, “We hid our interiors in the past because we weren’t as proud of them.”

Implementing their changes began with the 2009 Ram pickup truck and showed more recognition this year with Awards at the conference for both the Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit SUV and Dodge Charger.