Nature Is Healing: Audi Is Pivoting Back To Better Interior Materials And More Buttons

The Audi Nuvolari isn't just a limited-run supercar that can go real fast and rev real high — it also serves as a preview of what Audi's next-generation interiors will look and feel like. And chances are, if you're a regular Jalopnik reader, this is good news because that means a shift back to higher-quality materials, more physical controls, and less emphasis on screens.

Speaking to Australia's GoAuto, Audi chief technical officer Rouven Mohr said, "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."

Music to the ears of most folks who have been inside some recent Audis such as the new-gen A5 and Q5, which debuted with capacitive touch controls on the steering wheel (these have already been replaced with scroll wheels for 2026 after customer backlash) and cabins that very much revolve around a set of huge screens. Some of the hard, shiny plastic pieces aren't terrible compared to what some of its rivals are doing in 2026, but still feel like a step down from the ones you'd find in older Audis.

Mohr, who became CTO in March after holding the same job at Lamborghini, says future Audi interiors will take on the company's new "Radical Next" design language that debuted in last year's Concept C and can be seen in the production Nuvolari it heavily resembles. The inside of Audi's new supercar looks very attractive and reasonable indeed. Touchscreen bezel notwithstanding, there isn't a single lick of piano black plastic to scratch up, the displays that are there cleanly sidestep the "tacked on iPad" look, and check out all those buttons on the steering wheel.

Audi

Audi is far from the only automaker pivoting away from touch-sensitive everything back to physical controls. As of this writing, the list of car brands in the midst of a touch-control walkback also include Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Ferrari, and Audi parent company Volkswagen.

Of course, implementing change in a big corporation like Audi is more like turning a cruise ship than an F1 car, and the shift won't happen overnight. The recently unveiled Q7 still rocks the screen-heavy interior, but Mohr says it'll be one of its last new models to do so. Expect those button-filled, new-new Audi interiors to roll out gradually over the next couple of years, with the production Concept C and 2028's redesigned A4 likely to be the first ones to follow the Nuvolari.