SPANISH car maker Cupra is using ambient lighting as a tool to help drivers after a colour psychology expert revealed how different colours directly influence feelings and impact the way we drive.

The Cupra Tavascan offers five distinctive ambient lighting modes - Liquid, Pulse, Electrified, Speed, Boreal and Custom. Each mode is carefully tuned to adjust tone and brightness, setting the mood for any journey, with drivers able to adjust the settings themselves for a custom lighting setup.

Drivers can fully customise the colour across multiple interior zones, including the top LED strip spanning the dashboard, beneath the windscreen, door panels, footwell and even the cupholders.

The lighting in the Tavascan is designed to enhance the sculptural interior design.

The strategic placement of the interior lighting surrounding the dashboard and central spine of the car, creates a ‘floating' effect that makes the LED screen appear suspended, amplifying the futuristic aesthetic Cupra is known for.

A behavioural colour and design psychology expert explains how mood is impacted by colour, and the ways the interior lighting settings in the Cupra Tavascan have a direct impact on the way a driver responds to the road.

"Colour has always played a powerful role in how we experience the world around us." Karen Haller, a behavioural colour and design psychology expert said.

"When used with intention, it can help us feel calm, energised, focused, or at ease, and those emotional states naturally influence how we behave. The same applies within a car interior where the colours around us can influence how we feel, which in turn can affect how we drive.

"Even without colour, emotions play a key role in driving behaviour. If you feel angry or anxious, you tend to drive in an angry or anxious way. Similarly, if you feel relaxed or at ease, you're likely to drive in that manner.

"The interior lighting in a car, particularly in models like the Cupra Tavascan, is designed around howdifferent wavelengths of light(rather than pigment colours) influence mood and alertness. These lighting effects work through the colour temperature and spectral composition of the light itself, which interact directly with our visual and neurological systems. Essentially, different wavelengths of light influence how we feel and behave.

"Warmer light wavelengths such as amber, red, and soft orange can promote relaxation and visual comfort, helping the driver unwind and preserving night vision by causing less pupil constriction.

"Cooler, shorter-wavelength blue light suppresses melatonin and stimulates the brain, encouraging alertness and focus similar to the effect of natural daylight, which is rich in blue wavelengths.

"Mid-spectrum greens offer visual comfort and a sense of balance, helping to steady the senses after a demanding day. By adjusting the colour temperature and brightness, drivers can create the lighting environment that best supports how they want to feel, whether relaxed, balanced, or energised.

"Being able to adjust the lighting gives the driver a sense of autonomy and control. The more influence drivers have over their environment, the more settled and in control they're likely to feel behind the wheel." *

Jorge Diez, head of design at Cupra, said about the Tavascan: "For us, the Cupra Tavascan is a piece of art that's never been seen before in automotive capacity.

"Its design is fully built with emotion and evocation at its core. The ambient lighting setup in a Tavascan is one of the key building blocks into how it comes together, using light to affect the mood and emotion of the driver. Cupra at its heart is more than a car - it's the feeling you get when you step in, switch the engine on, and let yourself become at one with the road."