Many car brands goal is to use more sustainable materials in the car interior. While doing this brands wants to maintain or increase their perceived quality towards the costumer. There for it is important to find out how new materials are perceived by the costumer and how it might relate to sustainability. It has become increasingly important to the costumer that the products they buy are sustainable. There for it is relevant for the car industry to find out how it can make the interior appear more sustainable and if this will improve the quality of the interior.

Using 12 material samples that were evaluated by 23 participants of the study. Findings of what aspects of a material based on its: Gloss, Value, Saturation & Orderliness make it appear sustainable and premium. 

Validating these results and further testing indicate how different materials can be optimized to increase their perception of quality and sustainability. It is also shown which material properties seem to have the biggest correlation with sustainability and quality.

The study shows that there is a strong correlation between how random a material texture appears and how sustainable or premium the material is perceived. Also, that less gloss and darker materials should be used to improve perception of quality.

It was discovered that a large part of the perception of materials comes from the association with that or similar materials.