{"id":78160,"date":"2026-08-24T18:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78160\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:34:23","slug":"bmw-wants-to-attract-young-buyers-blacklists-the-switchgear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78160\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW Wants To Attract Young Buyers, Blacklists the Switchgear"},"content":{"rendered":"

While automakers like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volkswagen are going back to buttons, admitting they were wrong to ditch them, BMW is swimming against the tide and is giving up on buttons, switches, and commuters. The switchgear on board the new-generation BMWs has been blacklisted.<\/p>\n

BMW has built a reputation around its driver-focused, intuitive cockpits, as everything to be in just the right place. But for the past few years, physical controls have been making their way out of the cabin, leaving the screens responsible for what they used to be tasked with.<\/p>\n

BMW is even phasing out the physical rotary dial of the iDrive system with the next-generation models, starting with those built on the Neue Klasse architecture, and the first of the pack is the electric BMW iX3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Conventional buttons and knobs for temperature, fan speed, and airflow direction have been progressively absorbed into the large central touchscreen and voice controls. Besides, all you have to do is twirl your finger clockwise or counterclockwise to turn the volume up or down on the infotainment system.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: BMW<\/p>\n

Critical driver information is migrating to wide head-up windshield projections. The Panoramic Vision is the revolutionary, full-width HUD that projects driving data, navigation, and infotainment across the entire lower section of the windshield. The tech will also debut with next-generation Neue Klass<\/a>e EVs.<\/p>\n

BMW has also removed the bulky conventional gear shifter and replaced it with a minimalist, flush-mounted electronic toggle switch. All you need to do to go into Drive is flick this tiny toggle backward or move it forward for Reverse. The Park function is completely separated onto its own small push-button.<\/p>\n

BMW executives claim that younger buyers accustomed to smartphones and voice assistants would prefer a screen-heavy cockpit with fewer or no buttons at all. Eliminating the clusters will open up more interior space and reduce complexity.<\/p>\n

Now, the Bavarian automaker is making one radical move, ditching the switchgear. BMW Group Australia CEO Vikram Pawah explains that cars are part of what\u2019s happening in the world today, a world in which voice and touch controls are becoming more and more common among those who are 45 or below.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: BMW<\/p>\n

“They’re tapped into these technologies at a faster pace, using voice, using touch. They want things done quickly, and they’re multitasking. That’s how customers are evolving,” Pawah explained in a conversation<\/a> with CarExpert.<\/p>\n

He also disclosed that the new iX3 will hit the market with a more intelligent voice assistant that will follow commands such as “Can you move the air away from my face?” Or “I want to have a coffee that I had last week.”<\/p>\n

However, BMW promises that its interiors will never become completely buttonless like those of Tesla models. A tiny physical cluster will keep its ground on the lower center console to house the volume knob, electronic gear selector toggle, and hazard light switch. Traditional window switches and steering column indicator stalks also survive for legal compliance and safety reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While automakers like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volkswagen are going back to buttons, admitting they were wrong to ditch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20955],"tags":[6213,30272,27167,57308,57309],"class_list":["post-78160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bmw","tag-bmw","tag-bmw-ev","tag-bmw-ix","tag-bmw-neue-classe","tag-next-generation-bmw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}