Hooray! Audi Will Ditch Its Screen-Heavy Interior Designs and Bring Back Buttons

The upcoming A4 E-tron and Q7 E-tron should be a welcome return to form

written by Tom Baker
edited by Steven Ewing
7/2/2026
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What's new: Audi's "Digital Stage" screen-heavy interiors aren't getting good feedback, so the company will bring back tactile buttons into its cabins soon.
Why it matters: Audi says it has realized that American, European and Chinese buyers are very different — and that its Western audiences clearly prefer an older-school cabin design.
Edmunds says: It's rare for a carmaker to swallow its pride and admit that it got something wrong — but that's what Audi appears to be doing here. We'll have to wait to see how deep the interior changes go, but the involvement of people central to Audi's heyday gives us hope that it can pull this off.

— Sonnberg, Austria

Audi's new chief technical officer, Rouven Mohr, wants to make the company's interiors great again. Mohr admits that Audi's perceived interior quality has dropped and that customers haven't warmed to the screen-heavy "Digital Stage" interior design the company introduced in late 2023. As a result, Mohr confirmed that Audi will return to its older — and better — interior design cues.

"Audi [in the] past was always leading infotainment development. We always tried to combine the latest technology from the digital world, but doing it in a very subtle, well-integrated way," Mohr said. "In the future ... we will put a lot of attention into real materials. If you see a material that looks like metal, it should be metal. We believe it's part of our DNA to also have some physical elements — buttons and turning wheels, and every one of these should have the classical Audi click and touch and feel."

Many carmakers have chucked most controls into a touchscreen simply as a measure of cost savings. But Mohr said that the now-dead theory that "global cars" — one model that could be sold in every key market — would take over.

“I think the idea of the global car, one car that fits for the world, is gone, to be honest — it's not fitting anymore in the U.S., it's not fitting anymore in China, so you need this kind of local-for-local [approach],” Mohr said.

Mohr said Audi is in a great position to develop two very different styles of cars moving forward. It will keep building minimal interiors with big screens for China, but it acknowledges that U.S. and European customers want a return to smaller, better-integrated screens and tactile switchgear.

The first production Audi to have this back-to-basics approach will be the Nuvolari supercar. More relevant to a wider swath of customers, Mohr confirmed the first mass-volume Audi models to get the new interior concept will be the Q7 E-tron and A4 E-tron EV models in 2028.

But even for models that must soldier on with the outgoing interior for a while yet, Audi has some tricks up its sleeve to improve perceived quality. The brand has lavished the new gas-powered Q7 (pictured above) with extra stitched-leather surfacing across the steering wheel airbag cover, dashboard, door tops and center console, and it makes a remarkable difference compared to the more spartan Q5.

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by Tom Baker

Tom Baker is a Europe-based automotive journalist with more than a decade of experience road testing and analyzing new vehicles. Originally from Australia, he now works as a foreign correspondent covering international first drives, motor shows and executive interviews from the heart of the global car industry. Tom combines a background in rigorous, real-world road testing with a strong interest in the business of the automotive industry, covering everything from platform strategy and electrification to market positioning and profitability.

edited by Steven Ewing

Steven Ewing is Edmunds' director of editorial content. An automotive journalist for more than half of his life, Ewing's been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and he was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. He's also contributed to publications like Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and more. Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. From testing prototype cars in the Arctic Circle to spilling a beer on a Formula 1 driver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (oops), he's always got an interesting story to tell.

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