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The industry-wide transition to all-electric powertrains is affecting more than just what’s under the hood – it’s also affecting vehicle design, including interior layouts and vehicle HVAC system controls. Many automakers are moving towards fewer hard buttons in lieu of additional infotainment screen controls, including Cadillac. However, in our opinion, that’s the wrong move.
Lyriq
It wasn’t always this way. Previously, Cadillac did it right when it came to curved infotainment screens and HVAC controls – the Lyriq certainly comes to mind. Inside the Lyriq, drivers are met with a wide, horizontally oriented screen mounted across the top of the dash that stretches from the driver’s-side A-pillar to the edge of the center stack. Below the screen, immediately next to the steering wheel, you’ll find a series of hard buttons to control the HVAC system, including vent direction, temperature controls, A/C, window defrosters, and the like.
The interior of the Lyriq was refreshing when compared to the interior layouts on offer from rivals like Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Now, however, it looks like Caddy is moving in the wrong direction, ditching the hard buttons in favor of additional controls only accessible via the infotainment screen.
Escalade IQ
That includes the interior control layouts seen on the Celestiq, Escalade IQ, and the Vistiq, all of which will feature the same digital HVAC control panel / screen mounted in the front of the center console. In our opinion, this type of button-less layout kills one of Cadillac’s key competitive advantages in the EV segment – physical HVAC controls.
Of course, the move to screen-only controls is likely an imitation of Tesla’s control scheme, which is well-known for moving everything onto a screen. The lack of physical controls also helps to reduce Cadillac’s dependency on microchips.
Vistiq
Nevertheless, we’re a fan of keeping at least some physical buttons in the interior for things like the HVAC controls. Do you agree?