How buying a car helped me change my thinking at work

When my family and I returned home from a three-year expat assignment in Taiwan, we were in the market for a new family car.

Now, one thing you should know about me is that I love cars and new car tech. So of course I spent weeks doing research, poring over websites, and watching crash tests to assemble a very thorough car-buying decision analysis to aid in our search.

Armed with spreadsheets full of performance, safety, and economic data, my wife Laura and I visited the dealership to test drive the vehicle at the top of my list. The key word here is “my,” because I realized while shopping that I’d missed two buying criteria that can’t necessarily be measured and recorded into neat data columns: 1.) The car’s interior design and 2.) My wife’s opinion.

After about five seconds of sitting in the vehicle at the top of my list, Laura said no. The interior was complex, confusing, and cluttered. She hated it and refused to go on the test drive despite all the analysis telling me that we should.

Defeated, I walked around the dealership lot with her, which luckily was a multi-make dealer with a few other car brands to choose from. I quickly identified the second-ranked vehicle on my list. After jumping in, my wife was quick to say, “let’s get this one.”

No test drive.

No consultation with my DA (sadly).

Decision made based on the car’s smooth leather accents, large display, and simple-yet-smart details throughout the cabin.

She just knew.

Evoking this kind of emotion from potential buyers is precisely what automakers strive to do. In the past they did this with the exterior design, vehicle performance stats, and safety systems. Today, that thinking has shifted and become augmented. It’s the auto interior design that sells the car, with its large, vivid displays and intelligent technology integration. It’s up to auto designers and engineers to deliver connected experiences while considering sustainability and value for the consumer. And it's exciting to be part of a business at Corning that is supporting this shift.

I can think of a few automakers that do this very well:

Mercedes-Benz

Call me biased, but the Mercedes-Benz EQS is visually stunning inside and out. The MBUX Hyperscreen features three large displays in a design style we call pillar-to-pillar, and its seamless integration into the interior makes this first-of-its-kind design seem like it’s always been part of the Mercedes experience.

Volvo

Volvo and its Scandinavian design language is unmatched. The brand strives for tranquility, which is reflected in its simple-yet-sophisticated interior design focused on decluttering the cockpit in a human-centric approach. Displays and technology in the vehicle make the experience better, harmonizing human and technology, rather than making it more cumbersome and complicated.

Tesla

Tesla is a disruptor – while they pushed the envelope with the idea of an all-EV fleet, they also pushed what’s possible with connected experiences and having your smartphone interactivity follow you into the car. They were the first to integrate a larger center stack display. And their newest release of the Model S builds on that tradition featuring unprecedented personalized driving features with its in-vehicle tech, multiple displays, and simple design.

It’s been nearly four years since my family and I moved back to the U.S., and Laura and I are still happy with the vehicle we purchased based on how it made us (read: her) feel. It took some time for me to accept that we’d made a decision based on aesthetics vs. the numbers, but sometimes emotion is just greater than the data. And today I'm a stronger leader in my business because of this experience.