From traditional to tactile; from tactile to traditional. VW reverses the concept of interiors for its new models.
The minimalist decoration of the interiors, highlighting the digital instrument panels and multimedia, and replacing physical buttons with touch commands, both on the central console, as well as on the doors and steering wheels, is one of the calling cards of the latest generation of Volkswagen cars. However, many customers of the brand have already expressed their difficulties in adapting to the change. So much so that the German company decided to reverse and return to the “analog”.
First it was Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen, admitting the return to a more functional and intuitive design for interaction with the car in a publication where he wrote that the brand would be working to create “a new simplicity in vehicle operation,” for example, by bringing back steering wheels with press buttons! “That’s what customers want from VW.”
More recently, with the presentation of the ID.2 prototype, the confirmation that touch commands, announced as innovative, failed in practice and will be replaced. Schäfer acknowledged that it “caused a lot of damage” to the brand.
In the ID.2, a line of physical buttons with lighting was introduced at the bottom of the touch screen for easier access to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning controls. In addition to these, there is a manual volume button and a large rotary control, similar to BMW’s iDrive system, to control various vehicle functions.
According to Darius Watola, the interior designer at Volkswagen, this new design strategy of the company directly responds to customer feedback.
