They listened. Customers complained. Too much glass.
“Customers are very outspoken… They say, ‘We want buttons.'”
Michael Lohscheller
Polestar CEO Michael Lohschelle says it straight. The company heard the noise. Owners didn’t care about the minimalist aesthetic, not really, when they just wanted to change a setting without squinting at a digital display. So, yes. They are bringing buttons back.
This isn’t just a whim. It’s a correction.
The Pivot Starts Small
The Polestar 3 gets the first retrofit. Next year. Expect physical upgrades there.
Currently, the steering wheel has touch-sensitive zones. You have to swipe carefully. Miss, and nothing happens. That’s about to change. The plan involves replacing those slippery zones with actual tactile controls. You know, the kind with resistance. The kind you can feel while wearing winter gloves or while your hands are full of coffee.
Philipp Römers, the head of design, hinted at this earlier. He promised upcoming models would feature more physical knobs. He was right. Now it’s official policy.
Safety Isn’t Pretty
There’s another layer here. Regulation.
It’s not just about preference. It’s about law, or close to it. The European New Car Assessment Programme, commonly known as Euro NCAP, tightened the rules.
You can’t get five stars anymore if you bury critical controls behind software layers. Turn signals. Windshield wipers. Hazard lights. The horn. Emergency calls.
These things need to be physical. If they aren’t, you lose the safety rating. It’s a simple trade-off. Convenience of space versus actual safety. China’s Ministry of Industry and Info Technology is pushing similar standards. Since Polestar sells a lot of cars there, they can’t ignore the mandate.
So, what do we do now?
Motor1 calls this a welcome shift. No more digging through sub-menus to lower your wiper speed. Physical buttons are faster. Safer. Less annoying.
The industry is finally waking up. Maybe we were too seduced by the blank screens. Maybe not. The Polestar 3 changes in 2025. The rest follow.
For now, keep an eye out for the tactile updates. They’re coming, one click at a time.
