Is automotive design losing its soul? The future of experiential design

What makes a great automotive design?

Great automotive design is moving beyond the vehicle itself to the whole brand experience - how a car greets you, the tactility of a key or a door handle, the retail journey, and the community around ownership. Across Genesis, MINI and Everrati, Luke Miles and Steve Fowler explore why standing for something, using heritage bravely, and designing emotional "signature moments" matter more than screens and specification.

NewTerritory is a London brand experience design studio specialising in automotive, aviation, rail and hospitality. In this episode of In Conversation, founder Luke Miles takes to the road with Steve Fowler, EV Editor at The Independent and former editor of Autocar, What Car? and Auto Express.

‍

10 KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Automotive experience extends far beyond the car. How a brand greets you, the retail environment, the buying journey and the ownership community are all part of the experience - an area NewTerritory argues automotive hasn't yet done as well as hospitality or aviation.
2. The "brand handshake" is the first interaction. Like any relationship, a brand's first, second and third read matters - and lowering the barrier at the threshold, bringing people closer to the brand earlier, applies across automotive, aviation and retail.
3. Details carry the brand. The weight of a key, the feel and sound of a door handle, the thud as it closes, these tactile micro-moments communicate build quality and brand care before you've driven anywhere.
4. "Signature moments" create emotional connection. Genesis's welcome sequence, pulsing start button, emerging handles, a crystal sphere, is theatre that marks the brand out, provided it stays elegant rather than cheesy. Light is "the new chrome."
5. Heritage is leverage - if you have it. MINI can lean into love-it-or-hate-it design cues (rocker switches, circular dial) because the DNA is consistent across generations. Brands without that legacy risk cues feeling out of place.
6. Don't over-tailor to markets. Catering to markets with too much specificity "designed by data" can dilute what a brand stands for, a risk Fowler links to some new entrants.
7. Restomod points to a middle path. Everrati electrifies and modernises classics (Porsche, Land Rover) sympathetically, keeping the heart of the original while making it liveable - a lesson for both legacy and new brands.
8. Screens aren't always the answer. The refreshing lack of a screen in a reborn classic suggests some tiers of product could reduce technology; new models like Slate's low-cost pickup make tech "bring your own."
9. The core advice: find your difference and protect it. For legacy brands that can mean going back to their roots and being brave enough to remove technology; for new brands it means finding distinctive marks and holding them over time.
10. Community is the next frontier. Brands like NIO, with its NIO Houses, show ownership experience and community curation becoming as important as the product, a hospitality lens NewTerritory applies across sectors.

Full Transcript

LM = Luke Miles · SF = Steve Fowler.

[00:00] — Introduction

(Opening titles and music.)

[00:41] — Genesis, Battersea

SF: Luke, welcome firstly to the Genesis studio in Battersea, which is an incredible place from the outside — but I also really like this place. You've got a day with me, I'm afraid, and there are three things we're looking at which I think are quite important from a brand perspective, and finding that differentiation in automotive. So we're here now, we're going to go for a ride in a car that I think is doing a really good job from a design perspective, having a different feel to some of its rivals. Then we're going old school later on, looking at a modern interpretation of some classic stuff.

LM: Great — some of the details around classic design.

SF: But this place — one of the reasons I really like it is the attention to detail. I don't know if you noticed when you walked in, there's an aroma. Like the Shangri-La hotels and places like that, there's an own-brand smell that's the same when you go to any Genesis experience. And the fixtures and fittings have been really nicely curated by Genesis's design chief, who's an ex-Bentley guy — so that's where he got his obsession with attention to detail. Even what you see on the wall, the metallic surfaces, the flooring, the lighting, all comes from Korea.

LM: From my side, what's so interesting about this experience is the way a brand builds a relationship with you. I may not have ever considered this particular brand, and I may be meandering through this space, and then I'm welcomed in one way or another and the relationship starts to build. We have journeys with brands all the time, whether it be retail, travel or hospitality in general. So it's great to be here, and I'm looking forward to uncovering the brand and what it stands for. I'm not sure automotive does that really well yet.

SF: I think this is a good example of it. One of the things I like about this space is that it's taking cars to where people are, not where they're not — not one of those horrible out-of-town places. Lowering the barrier to what is essentially a very large purchase, making it much more accessible and putting it in line with other things you may be doing.

LM: Absolutely.

SF: You've got Boss over there, and Breitling and other upmarket brands around you. But this isn't necessarily a sales space, it's an experiential space.

LM: It's an experience. I'm sure they'll sell you a car if you really want one, but it's about building that brand relationship. I always think it's interesting to get the brand — not just the product, but the feeling of the brand — as close to the door as possible. When you enter a space like this, because it's so architecturally clean, it's actually very calm, but there's always a moment of slight nervousness as you enter. Once you're in, you're in. But the more you can reduce that barrier and bring people to the front, the better. That's true across lots of industries — we see it in aviation, in lounge spaces and airport environments, bringing people closer to the entry point, to the threshold of going from outside to in.

One of the things we talk about a lot is this idea of the brand handshake. That moment where you first interact with a brand, much like any relationship — there's that first, second and third read. I often talk about how formal it might be versus how informal, a hug or an embrace, and of course those things change over time in any relationship. But we were talking about the key earlier — how important it is as an item.

SF: I've got a car key for the car we're going to go in. It's just too big, for starters — really uncomfortable in your pocket. I know you can put it on your phone. I spoke to Audi's boss, and one of the things I took up with him was the quality of an Audi key, which is the first thing you touch, put on the table — it's rubbish. But Genesis: the key not only matches my coat, but matches the car. It's quite a nice thing to play with.

LM: That's important. It's the details. It's about what the door handle feels like when you pull it — whether some thought has gone into the weight in the door handle, the noise, how the door closes, whether it bounces back or gives a nice thud. All those things are really important.

I always think driving is a very unique experience. We were talking earlier about this hermetic, climate-controlled, quiet environment that's yours — which is very rare. There aren't many places you can be like that. The act of driving, sometimes you go into a bit of a flow state, where you're on the road but able to consider things — your thinking time. So what's lovely is that this starts to communicate that sense of build quality, and of that hermetic environment you're going to step into and be part of. It's been great to discuss the exterior — maybe we could go into the car and see how it feels.

SF: Yeah, there's more theatre to have a look at. Watch the door handles and the lights as we get in.

(In the car.)

LM: What's interesting is these little micro-gestures when you enter the vehicle — how it greets you, how it brings you in and hosts you, in the way we were talking about earlier.

SF: You've seen the light show when you start it up, the handles come out to welcome you — but there's more theatre in here. First, you get a pulsing start-stop button, which gives you a clue of what's to come. But I want you to focus not on the screen or the welcome sound, but on this crystal sphere in the middle here.

LM: Interesting. They don't have to do that.

SF: No. But they have, and that's something that marks them out as being different.

LM: Absolutely.

SF: I love any form of automotive theatre — getting it right, not making it too long a process or cheesy. With lights, light is the new chrome. You used to have chrome on cars; the way manufacturers and designers are playing with light I think is in danger of going a bit too far — illuminated badges and stuff. But in here, as we said, this is where you spend your time.

LM: This is where we talk a lot about the idea of emotional signatures — the signature moments you have. These things stand out, and if they're performing on a nice functional level, there's a level of emotion to the interior, a level of connectivity, and the fact that it's actually doing something useful. It's almost opening the experience up to you as a driver or passenger.

SF: There's another thing I like in here — the detail, the radiuses on some of these little bits, the metallic finishes. It's what we'd call a glove box, but in this I guess we call it a glove drawer, which just pulls out rather than dropping down on your legs, which it does in so many cars.

LM: It's interesting, it has a domestic quality to it. I even noticed the seat is almost being pulled out for you, as when you sit down to eat. There's a movement to the seat to allow you to enter and exit the vehicle more cleanly. These things are really elegant. We talked earlier about the audible quality of the interior, the build, and how important it is that these things not only look great but, beyond the surface, feel like they've been put together well. I use my ring to test — tapping all these surfaces to see what the quality is like, because that's what the consumer's going to do. Interesting to see this particular interior. Shall we go on to check out another?

SF: I've got something very different to this, but very good in its own way, and I'd really welcome your view on it. Let's go to the car park.

[09:24] — MINI

SF: Welcome to a MINI. There's a distinct reason I wanted to get you into a MINI, which hopefully you'll appreciate. I think MINI — or BMW — has done such a great job of keeping the brand going and consistent, updating a car with so many fabulous traditional MINI features. You've got rocker switches, a circular screen which is now an OLED screen of the latest tech, but also other little details — the materials.

LM: What I like about it is that they've managed to build on very strong heritage. As we were talking about earlier, there's a need to not reinvent the wheel every time, and to maintain some of these details so you build the identity over a number of generations of product.

SF: It certainly feels that way. The materiality is really powerful. The volume dial on this is up a bit more than some of the other products we've been looking at — you may not like it, or you may fall in love with it.

LM: There is a love-it-or-hate-it.

SF: Love it or hate it, exactly. There always has been with MINI.

LM: Exactly — which allows them to be quite brave, because they realise that's the legacy they have, so they can lean into it. It's a youthful brand, isn't it. The DNA they've rebuilt is consistent through this as a brand experience. This circular dial is a really nice representation of something that sits in the memory from yesteryear.

SF: And we can flick through the various experiences here, down to timeless — a little jingle plays, and you get the retro dials and everything, which is great. But the other thing I love about this car is it just drives how you'd think a MINI would drive. It's tactile.

LM: It's one thing holding on to the visual aspect of the interior and linking that back, but with a new car, to give it that sense of urgency and adhesion to the road is a really lovely thing. Even as an EV, it's difficult to inject excitement other than through pace. But that noise — it's not an engine noise, and I like that they haven't tried to develop a fake engine noise.

SF: No, it's more authentic to the actual vehicle itself.

LM: Exactly. And this knitted fabric technical material — I'm a real fan of this. It's almost like luggage, it's got a really lovely quality, and you see the surfaces in a more elegant way. And it passes the old ring test.

SF: The ring test is critical.

LM: The ring test is critical. It sounds good. What they've done cleverly is they've got a cheap plastic underneath and just wrapped it, so it feels premium, it feels cool.

LM: The truth of it is, if you have legacy, you can wield it, can't you? If you have something to get hold of historically, you can use that as a number of cues. If you don't have that, then some of this stuff may feel out of place — say, in the Genesis we were in earlier.

SF: Oh, absolutely. And it doesn't work. So you have to have that narrative. But it works in a MINI.

LM: It works in a MINI. But in terms of the design of the actual vehicle, the experience — if you cater to markets with too much specificity, you can actually reduce what you stand for.

SF: And I wonder if that's what's happening with some of the new entrants, the new brands from the Far East — they're not trying to develop their own themes and styles, and being too much of a recipe card almost.

LM: Designed by data.

SF: Well, here we are — this is MINI.

[14:21] — Everrati

SF: We've done MINI — this is an example of how MINI have reinvented the MINI themes. We're now at Everrati, a fantastic business that's taking classic cars and electrifying them, keeping them on the road for longer. Let's go have a look.

SF: Luke, I wanted to bring you here to Everrati because I'm a big fan of old cars. But sometimes they're just not very nice to drive and live with. What Everrati have done is reimagine these cars with modern bits and pieces — proper headlights — and breathe new life into them.

LM: Breathe new life into them.

SF: They're still very much a Porsche, still very much a Land Rover — but electrified and just easier to live with.

LM: So the rejuvenation of this product is not only the drivetrain, but the interior, all the systems within it. It's more comfortable. They're coming out as one of today's luxury cars would, rather than as it was 60 years ago — where the paint quality would never have looked that good on an original car, or frankly probably not even on that 911. This idea of old meets new, legacy meets new technology, and how they're dealing with it, is a very exciting proposition. They've done it very sympathetically — if you look at some of the switchgear, which we can go through in the Porsche, they've updated the audio system, for example. Porsches of that ilk would not have had a great audio system by today's standards, but they're able to put a top-notch system in, potentially even with Apple CarPlay. But it still looks the same, and you've still got the fabulous dials that have been updated, and the switchgear, beautiful details.

SF: They still exist — but now they work.

LM: The thing about this for me will be — we talked about the audible experience of the interior, but the audible experience of it being switched on is a critical moment with the original.

SF: And you're not going to get that.

LM: You're not going to get that. You might get something different, like MINI has done with the sound in that car — not trying to mimic something, but reinventing it. I wonder how much, in the mind's eye, the experience of this vehicle is the audible piece versus the aesthetics of a wonderful interior. It's a very interesting balance.

SF: I think you'll get a lot of people who'd never even consider one of these cars because it's electric, it's not original. But for enough people, for Everrati to make a sustainable business case, you're going to get people who just want to use them every day, and the look and the feel is probably more important than the sound.

LM: They often become, in their original state, very protected items — you're not going to use them every day as they were once used. So if you're breathing new life into it and allowing it to be used as more of a runaround, more frequently, that's actually quite a lovely thing.

SF: I think you've also got to analyse what a car enthusiast is. There are different types of car enthusiasts, and there's a lot of snobbery around it — what one person says is authentic, another disagrees with. But for some people, they might not be traditional car enthusiasts, and it might just purely be down to this beautiful piece of automotive design.

LM: The sculptural quality of it. You just want to look at it.

SF: But if you can use it as well, and it's not going to cause the hassle that frankly old cars do — why not? These are fantastic pieces of automotive engineering, great pieces of design, but living with them day to day can be a headache. It's going to take some enthusiasm to oversee the problems. But if it's something that's going to start first time every time, with proper lights so you can see coming down the road, and it's not going to throw you over the bumps as much as the old one — then surely there's a place for that, away from the automotive snobbery.

LM: Ultimately, if somebody wants this sort of car, they're entitled to it.

SF: Absolutely. And the thing I like about this is it's been sympathetically reborn.

LM: With the heart of the original car, and the cleverness with which they've updated the switchgear and put technology in in a sympathetic way, so you get all the modern accoutrements you might want from a car like this. There's a fair bit that both legacy car makers and new car makers can take from this.

SF: Maybe the new car makers can just find their originality —

LM: Correct. And build on it.

SF: And build on it. As you said, it might take time — but not ripping things off like this. There are little things. We've spoken about some of the new brands, and of all of them, the one with a degree of difference is JU, because it produces cars that look like little Range Rovers. At least that gives it a point of difference.

LM: And the bravery element isn't just about being brave with what you produce initially — it's about being brave enough to not make significant changes, and to protect some of those pieces of the identity that could become legacy given the right amount of time. I also think there are a lot of legacy brands — when I looked inside there, as I said, the lack of screen was actually really refreshing. There's something to be taken from that. Of course it has its place, but maybe there are certain tiers of product where it could be reduced, and some brands could, with new products, go back to something slightly more historic.

SF: There's a new brand in the US called Slate, producing a low-cost pickup truck, and it's almost like tech is optional. You've got wind-up windows — you can have powered windows if you want, and screens, bring your own.

LM: Absolutely right.

SF: I do think that's something that maybe should be played on a bit more. We all carry our tech with us, so why not just transfer it to the car? We have big screens — do we really need a 15-inch screen?

LM: It's the balance of old and new.

SF: So Luke, we've had three very different experiences today. What's your thinking in terms of what this can show legacy brands, but also the myriad new brands, to build loyalty and emotion and relationships with customers?

LM: As we went through the day and looked at these different vehicle types, there's definitely a cross-learning from the newer brands to the legacy and vice versa. The thing that stands out most is standing for something and building an identity around the values of the brand and the quality you want to deliver — and being brave around that. The newer brands need to find those little marks and symbols, whether exterior, interior or technology, that they can hold on to and protect over time — and of course it takes time. But with the legacy brands, there's a moment where you feel, especially looking inside here, that maybe they can be more brave, remove some of the technology, go back to their roots and embrace it again. So there's a cross-learning from both directions.

SF: How does that apply to the experience? We were at the Genesis studio at the start, but it all has to meld together somehow — whether the Everrati thing, this is just a traditional workshop. How do the car and the experience come together?

LM: For me, the vehicle is just a part of the brand. The experience of entering that showroom, the space around you, how you're greeted, that whole journey, this heartbeat you have through it and how you're feeling emotionally, is critical. And we know that once you've bought the car and driven off, there are going to be peripheral experiences around that that need to be dealt with carefully. So it's equally important — not just the product. There's a centre of gravity naturally around these things because they're high price point and a big decision. But a lot of these brands, even in how they deal with community, the way you go through the purchase journey, needs the same attention to detail — and that's where it can fall over sometimes. We spoke about the Chinese brand NIO, with its NIO Houses and its curation of the community. That's going to become more important, and it's an exciting space where you can build beyond the product. We're seeing that across lots of industries — this sense of hospitality, which I always go back to, that has loads of different lenses to it, whether the product or the buying experience.

SF: So if these brands were people, you'd say find your "you" and stick to it?

LM: Stick to it. Find the thing that's differentiating, that has value to the customer, and stick to it and protect it. Sometimes that means going back in time, and sometimes it means finding something fresh and hanging on to it.

SF: Well, I've learned a lot.

LM: Likewise. Really appreciate it.

SF: Thank you very much. Have a wander — I'll take the driver's seat.

‍

FAQs

What is automotive experience design? Automotive experience design considers the entire brand relationship around a car - the retail environment, the buying journey, the welcome sequence, tactile details and the ownership community - not just the vehicle. NewTerritory, a London automotive brand experience studio, argues this whole-experience view is where the industry is heading, drawing on lenses from hospitality and aviation.

What is the "brand handshake" in car design? The brand handshake is the first moment a customer interacts with a brand - the showroom threshold, the key in the hand, the feel and sound of a door handle. Like a relationship's first, second and third read, it sets the tone; NewTerritory emphasises lowering the barrier and bringing people closer to the brand at that first point of contact.

How can heritage car brands modernise without losing identity? By treating heritage as leverage rather than reinventing everything. MINI maintains recognisable cues, rocker switches, a circular dial, across generations, building identity over time. The discussion also points to restomod specialists like Everrati, who electrify classic Porsches and Land Rovers sympathetically, keeping the original's character while making it liveable.

Do cars still need large touchscreens?Not always. The conversation highlights that reducing screens can feel refreshing, and that some new models, such as Slate's low-cost pickup, make technology optional on the basis that owners bring their own devices. The emphasis is on balancing old and new rather than defaulting to a large screen.

Why does community matter in automotive branding?Because the experience now extends well beyond the product. Brands like NIO, with its NIO Houses, curate ownership communities, and NewTerritory sees this hospitality-led approach,  designing the buying journey and peripheral experiences with the same care as the car, as an increasingly important source of loyalty and differentiation.

‍

‍

‍

‍