On March 25, 2026, Volkswagen's CEO, Thomas Schäfer, expressed in an interview his bafflement at why consumers had embraced the touch slider design in cars. He announced that this design would be scrapped, with a complete shift back to physical buttons. Since 2019, Volkswagen has been gradually phasing out physical buttons in models like the eighth-generation Golf and ID.3, replacing them with touch controls. However, this move has faced backlash from users, who find it inconvenient to operate at night and prone to accidental touches. Volkswagen has now pledged that all upcoming new models will be fitted with physical buttons. For instance, the soon-to-be-released ID. Polo already boasts physical buttons and knobs on its center console. Moreover, the mid-cycle updates of the ID.3 and ID.4 will also see a return to traditional physical buttons on the steering wheel, with touch sliders being gradually phased out in the next generation of models.