People regularly express their discontentment with car interiors that rely on touchscreens too heavily, prompting automakers to consider bringing back physical controls. And it makes sense why drivers feel this way, as having to navigate clunky menus while on the move is both annoying and unnecessarily distracting. Moreover, a touchscreen simply can’t replicate the tactile feel of traditional toggles, buttons, and switches.
That may ultimately result in a less engaging interaction between man and machine, on top of all the practical reasons we have to dislike screen-heavy interiors. But now, it seems like more and more manufacturers are listening to buyers and deciding to give them what they want at last. Volvo is among these automakers who are finally paying attention.
Volvo Has Serious Plans To Bring Back Physical Buttons
2025 Volvo V90 Cross Country close-up view of Volvo badgeVolvo
The company had once been at the forefront of this push toward digitalized controls, but it now seems to be going the other way. Having returned as Volvo’s head of design this year, Thomas Ingenlath recently promised that buttons will make a comeback on the brand’s future models. And with 13 of those due to be released by 2030, we look forward to Ingenlath implementing his plans.
“We have to listen to our customers and really recognize that how the interaction is in the cars today is, to say it frankly, not appreciated,” he said. “The overemphasis of screens and the interaction with the screens is something that customers and journalists heavily criticize, and we have to aim for a better harmony, a better balance, between the interaction that we have with our digital device and the physical interaction.”
What Exactly Does This Mean In Practice?
Thomas IngenlathVolvo
Elaborating on his vision, Ingenlath explained that touchscreens won’t be completely replaced with “rows and rows of exchangeable buttons.” Instead, Volvo will try to find the right balance between functions which require traditional controls and those that can stay on the infotainment display.
In plain terms, the manufacturer’s goal isn’t “going away from [the] touchscreen, it’s just to use the screen for what it’s good at.” This is great news for people who’d long advocated for a more physical user experience, so we look forward to finding out how Volvo’s interior design language will change to accommodate Ingenlath’s plans.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
A key takeaway from all this is that Volvo is actually listening to its customers, something other automakers should definitely learn from. And perhaps its willingness to bring back physical controls will trigger a wider movement in that direction, which a lot of us would most certainly appreciate from both a convenience and safety standpoint.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, though, because we don’t yet know to what extent buttons are going to return on Volvo’s models. But here’s what we can say for sure: Thomas Ingenlath’s plans make us pretty excited for the brand’s future models, at least as far as interior design is concerned. And with its first concept scheduled for an early-2027 reveal, we won’t have to wait too long before we see his ideas in action.
Source: Auto Express
