As someone who makes a living evaluating and commenting on the business of automobiles, I’ve always felt that how the things smell is an underreported aspect that the media should pay more attention to. Yeah, it may be hard to convey smells through a video, let alone text, but the same could arguably be said about driving dynamics, and no car reviewer worth their salt is turning their nose up at covering that.
The reality, however, is that interior smells can account for a whole lot of how a car is perceived, and automakers know this. Luxury brands like BMW, in fact, have dedicated teams and facilities that make sure the insides of those factory-fresh Bimmers smell just right, and Audi is known to do something similar. According to BMW Blog, the Bavarian brand has operated an “odor laboratory” in its hometown of Munich, Germany, since 1999, and in 2014, it opened a second one in Shenyang, China.
Nose team duties
The BMW staff who work in these odor labs are apparently known as the “nose team” and spend their days sniffing interior plastics, leathers, fabrics, and adhesives to minimize bad odors and ensure optimal air quality inside new vehicles. Each new interior apparently must go through a three-stage validation process: one that focuses on materials themselves, one for individual components like dashboards, door cards, and seats, then one final assessment that accounts for the entire assembled car. In the earlier stages, parts are placed inside emission and climatic chambers and exposed to high temps to simulate, say, a BMW being parked outside in the summer sun.
Some “nose team” decisions have apparently included steel speaker grilles instead of comparatively smelly plastic, and animal-derived proteins are apparently avoided since natural leathers tend to give off a worse scent as they age. A brand new luxury car’s leather may smell great, but older luxury rides often smell like somebody’s old couch (and not in a good way). That new BMW smell is purely the product of all the materials inside intermingling, with no artificial perfumes or tricks used.
It has to smell healthy, too
Of course, you don’t have to be into cars to know what a new car is supposed to smell like. Little Trees literally makes air fresheners that mimic that “new car smell.” What you’re actually smelling as you drive away from the dealership is a cocktail of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) being released by the materials inside the cabin. By definition, not all VOCs are harmful or carcinogenic. However, a 2023 study by researchers at Harvard and the Beijing Institute of Technology found that some of the ones responsible for that distinctive new car scent could be linked to increased cancer risk. The study identified formaldehyde and acetaldehyde as among the potentially hazardous compounds released. A separate 2021 study by UC Riverside came to a similar conclusion.
BMW’s odor labs seem to take the health factor of interior emissions just as seriously as making the inside of that new 3 Series pleasing to sniff. In the interest of healthier interiors, one material choice made by BMW’s “nose team” is new microfibers that are said to minimize these VOCs, aldehydes, and fogging substances.
All that sounds great if you’re in the market for a BMW, but the company’s work at these odor labs could benefit the wider industry. Apparently, BMW says it shares findings with other automakers.
“We are doing this job with emissions inside a car and materials for more than 25 years,” said interior air quality and evaporative emissions manager Andreas Wehrmeier. “So we take a leading role and gladly share our knowledge with others to bring everybody forward so that every car in the world is safe, and not just a BMW.”
