Gorden Wagener, the design chief at Mercedes-Benz, let his low opinions of rivals' interiors be known at the Munich motor show.
As the curtains were lifted and numerous automakers showed off their newest wares at the recent Munich motor show, the head of design at Mercedes-Benz was quick to cut down his competitors.
In an interview with Top Gear, Gorden Wagener, chief design officer at Mercedes-Benz, was asked to share his thoughts on fellow German car makers, BMW and Audi, and their motor show debuts.
But rather than any kind of polite dismissal of rival works, Wagener took aim at the BMW iX3 and Audi Concept C, referring to the interior designs as distracting and dated.
While Mercedes-Benz unveiled its electric mid-size SUV, the GLC with EQ Technology, BMW squared off with the first of its new-generation ‘Neue Klasse’ models, the iX3.
Among its design highlights is an interior that forgoes a traditional instrument cluster, replacing it instead with a 43.3-inch Panoramic iDrive display that spans almost the full width of the dashboard, beneath the windscreen.
“They showed the concept a couple of years ago with the information across the bottom of the windscreen. I have to say I'm not a big fan of that because it's so far away, it’s hard to read.” Wagener said.
“Everything will appear smaller, so it’s distracting, and you need a device to operate it because it’s too far away to be touch-sensitive, so you have to put a touchscreen in there, which they did.”
Wagener closed out his thoughts on the iX3 interior by saying, “They think it’s progressive and they must love it otherwise they wouldn’t have done it, but I’m not convinced by it.”
Wagener was equally unenthusiastic about the Audi Concept C coupe and its minimalist use of touchscreen or display surfaces.
“That interior looks like it was designed in 1995. It is a little bit too known, and there is too little tech,” he told Top Gear.
“I am a big fan of hyper-analogue things, but you cannot ignore a screen. When you have a small screen, you automatically send the message ‘congratulations, you are sitting in a small car’.”
Wagener's comments are perhaps unsurprising when you consider the GLC with EQ Technology, shown by Mercedes-Benz alongside the iX3 and Concept C, will be available with a monstrous 39.1-inch Hyperscreen display that occupies almost the entire vertical surface of the dashboard.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Are you a fan of the Mercedes-Benz Hyperscreen, do you prefer the Panoramic iDrive layout, or were Audi’s efforts to minimise screens a move in the right direction?
Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.
