Interior

Cast your mind back to the last time you sat in a late 1990s or early 2000s car. Chunky plastic dials, a cassette deck, maybe a faded grey dashboard prone to cracking in the sun. It was functional, sure — but compared to what’s inside a car today, it’s a different world entirely. The interior of modern cars has evolved at a staggering pace, driven by technology, sustainability, and a wholesale rethink of what the driving experience should actually feel like.

From Injection Moulding to Digital Cockpits

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, dashboards were built around injection-moulded plastic, typically a glass-fibre reinforced PC/ABS structure coated with a soft-touch polyurethane or PVC skin. Take the Audi A4 (B6/B7 generation) as a reference point — its instrument panel support beam was metal and weighed around 4,000g. The shift to a plastic composite equivalent brought that down to 2,500g, a massive saving that improved efficiency and opened up new design possibilities.

Fast forward to today, and the modern car interior has become something closer to a living space than a vehicle cabin. Massive panoramic displays, ambient lighting strips, voice-activated controls, and wireless charging pads are now standard expectations rather than luxury extras. The Kia EV3, for example, integrates a 12.3-inch cluster, a 5-inch climate display, and a 12.3-inch infotainment screen into one seamless panoramic interface — all within a compact SUV.

The Touchscreen Era — and Its Limits

The industry’s love affair with touchscreens was arguably ignited by Tesla’s Model S (2012 onwards), which replaced virtually every physical button with a single 17-inch centre display. The ripple effect across the entire industry was enormous — almost every brand followed suit, and by the early 2020s, digital dashboards had become the default.

But there’s been a backlash. Studies showed that hunting through touchscreen menus for basic functions — adjusting the fan, changing a radio station — significantly increases driver distraction and crash risk. By January 2026, Euro NCAP introduced new safety standards requiring physical controls for essential functions as a condition of a five-star safety rating. Matthew Avery, Euro NCAP’s Director of Strategic Development, put it plainly: “Manufacturers are being alerted — they need to reinstate buttons.”. Brands including Mercedes, Volkswagen, Audi, Hyundai, and Kia are already acting on this.

How Modern Car Interiors Stack Up

Element 1990s–2000s 2010s 2020s–2026
Dashboard material Injection-moulded ABS plastic with PVC skin Soft-touch polyurethane composites Recycled thermoplastics, plant-based polymers
Infotainment Single DIN cassette/CD head unit 6–8″ touchscreen (basic) 12″+ panoramic displays, OTA updates
Controls Physical dials and buttons (analogue) Hybrid touch/button layouts Touchscreen-dominant, buttons returning
Seating Fixed foam with cloth or vinyl Heated, electrically adjustable Ventilated, massaging, biometric-adjusted
Lighting Single overhead bulb Basic LED cabin lighting Full RGB ambient lighting zones
Sustainability Virgin plastics throughout Limited recycled content 92%+ recycled polyester (MINI, from 2024)

Sustainability Is Now Part of the Interior Brief

This is arguably one of the biggest shifts of all. MINI’s current model range uses knitted interior materials made from 92% recycled polyester across the dashboard, door trims, and centre console — a direct response to pressure on manufacturers to reduce CO₂ across the full vehicle lifecycle. Renault’s Electric Zoe features 8 square metres of 100% recycled cabin fabric — made from old safety belts, textile scraps, and plastic bottles — cutting CO₂ in manufacturing by over 60% compared to standard fabrics.

Polestar has taken this even further with their O₂ concept, designing the entire soft interior from a single base material — highly recyclable thermoplastic — so that foam, adhesive, upholstery, and lamination can all be recycled without energy-intensive separation.