VW Brand Manager Thomas Schäfer ends the era of touch controls

VW seems to be consistently moving away from parts of the direction pursued by former CEO Herbert Diess. VW brand manager Thomas Schäfer believes the company has lost its core and wants to return to old values. This means, among other things, the return of buttons and a departure from the product designations of the current ID family.

Wrong decision: Golf 8 without buttons

Schäfer, who took over VW brand management in mid-2022, explained to the BBC magazine Top Gear during a VW event in Hamburg what insights Volkswagen has gained from its ID models. And that it was a completely wrong decision to omit buttons in the Golf 8 (test). The group has now fundamentally rethought its approach to vehicle development. "In the ‘old’ days we made a long list of requirements and features, but people didn’t feel comfortable using [the end product]. Now we think about people. Who is the car for? Who is driving it?“

In addition, the design team, led by Andreas Mindt, has the task of adhering to three principles: "stable, likeable, and the certain something." Mindt already confirmed at the beginning of 2025 that all future Volkswagen models will again feature physical controls for the most important functions.

A VW should have "a friendly face," Schäfer says. Furthermore, the door handle must be intuitive and easy to operate, for example, when approaching the car with full shopping bags. Moreover, VW wants to "introduce real buttons and real designations so that you understand the cars at first glance," he said. Regarding designations, we now have an ID.Polo instead of an ID.2. The ID.4 will become the ID.Tiguan at the end of the year.

"Real buttons" replace the "touch-sensitive nonsense on the steering wheel"

The first vehicle with this new approach is set to be the ID.Polo. While the small electric car will still have a large touchscreen in the center, the electric car will also receive "real buttons" that replace "the touch-sensitive nonsense on the steering wheel." Furthermore, there will be real switches for the heating, a volume control, and four electric window lifts.

When asked why VW's previous management opted for more touch operation, Schäfer said: There was a spirit of iPhone-ish kind of design and utilisation that you could see coming through in many companies“ [...] "It was a little difficult to get the designers off that idea." For Schäfer, two things were certain regarding the vehicle interior that were absolutely non-negotiable for him: door handles and buttons. "I don't understand why anyone would have touch-sensitive sliders."

(afl)