Volkswagen now admits that it was wrong to let touchscreens and panels take the place of buttons in the group's cars. The new ID.2 corrects that.
Even Volkswagen now acknowledges that touchscreens in cars are a cheaper solution, but that customers hate them.
In a new interview, the Germans' design chief, Andreas Mindt, states that future Volkswagen models will have buttons for all the most important functions. The first car in which the change will be seen is the upcoming ID.2.
Volkswagen regrets that with its decision to eliminate as many physical buttons as possible.
At the end of 2022, Volkswagen equipped most of the cars in its model range with touch controls on the steering wheel. A decision for which the Germans immediately received heavy criticism.
After the presentation of the ID.2all concept car in 2023, Volkswagen acknowledged the mistake and promised to change the design. In fact, things got so bad that the first head of design was fired. Read more about it here.
His successor, Andreas Mindt, now chooses to elaborate on why Volkswagen could not live with customer dissatisfaction.
In an interview with Autocar , he says that upcoming Volkswagen models will have physical buttons for the five most central functions: volume, seat heating, ventilation and hazard warning lights.
This way, VW customers don't have to navigate menus on a computer screen to find the most basic functions.
Mindt emphasized that the design change will apply to every car we build from now on. The design director openly admitted that the previous strategy was not optimal.
– We understand that, says Mindt, referring to the overwhelming criticism from customers.
-We will never, ever make that mistake again. We will have physical buttons on the steering wheel. No more guessing.
"There's feedback, it's real, and people like it. Honestly, it's a car. It's not a phone: it's a car."
The production-ready version of the ID.Every1 concept car, which is expected to become the ID.1 in 2027, will, like the ID.2, have a lot of physical buttons, the Germans promise.
Volkswagen will thus remove the haptic touch panels that are currently used to control everything from volume to zoom in the navigation and the air conditioning temperature in the ID. models. These are found in several Volkswagen Group models, including the updated Golf Mk.8.5
Although the focus is on physical buttons, Mindt emphasized that the touchscreen will still be present.
– There are many functions to deliver in certain areas, so the screen will be large, and you will find a lot of HMI content further into the system.
– But the five most important things will always be on the first physical layer. That's very important, says the design manager.
