You could call it the Tesla Effect. I’m talking about the shift across the industry to replace traditional physical controls for functions like temperature selection with virtual buttons on a touchscreen. Designers loved the new techy setups, but as Hyundai discovered, American buyers did not.

 

The Korean carmaker has admitted that it made a mistake by going all-in on touchscreens, as many brands have done over the past decade.

 

“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried out putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” HDNA Vice President Ha Hak-soo told Korea JoonAng Daily.