Talk It Out Tuesday Iss.1

Picture of Mazda 6e interior

Today I wanted to talk about an interesting article written by Damiaan Hage that transcribed part of their interview with Jo Stenuit (Design Director, Mazda Europe). In the article, Jo said that "Technology and the market have changed," and Mazda is now designing around head-up displays and large center displays for both the driver and passenger. Marking a big shift away from their previous approach of prioritizing physical controls and gauges that prioritized the driver.

Which on its face might not sound bad since head-up displays allow the driver to keep their eyes on the road while getting important vehicle info at the same time. However, putting a giant touch screen in the center of the dash that controls all the vehicle's functions goes directly against why the designers wanted to put a head-up display in the car to begin with! A touch screen cannot be used by the driver successfully unless they were to completely remove their eyes off the road, which is why Mazda’s old rotary controller worked so well, because it allowed you to use muscle memory and do things in the infotainment system without ever taking your eyes off the road.

This is why I was so sad when Mazda finally capitulated to the masses (and Doug DeMuro) last year and removed the rotary knob from their upcoming infotainment systems to fully commit to a touch screen-based system. Now, just 4 months into 2026, and multiple different car brands have already announced a renewed focus on physical controls, and even Ferrari has said that physical controls are much more luxurious than touch, which is why their first EV will minimize touch controls as much as possible.

I just hope Mazda, as the relatively small company they are, can make it past this misstep with enough gas left in the tank to successfully pivot away from this new touch-based direction into something that will make Mazda vehicles more unique and, more importantly, sought after in the future.