Erin Baker – The Future Is Inside

And so we trekked to Paris for the unveiling of the latest interior, where the steering wheel is small and low, the instruments are perched high above on the dashboard, there is a heads-up display as standard in what are essentially small city cars, and personalisation of interior ambience is all the rage.

We’re talking selecting your own fragrance for the car’s interior, your own lighting and deciding on whether the car’s binnacles display the rev counter or the 3D-view satnav.

Of course, some of this is old hat: driver ergonomics, of which the low steering wheel forms a large part, have always been pretty significant for whether a car (particularly a sports car) sells in large numbers or not: as a MkII MX-5 owner for many years, I can tell you why that car is the world’s best-selling two-seater sports car: it may not have the best chassis or a 5.0-litre V8 under the bonnet, but everything is where a spirited driver would wish it to be: the little short-shifting gearstick is just where your hand lands from the steering wheel, the pedals are reachable no matter how short your legs are, the buttons and stalks are within fingertip touch, and the car body fits snugly under your armpits. All that is to do with simple, effective interior design.

Add to that Wifi, Apple CarPlay, and sensor-led, semi-autonomous technology such as Adaptive Cruise Control, and you’d have the car made in Heaven. Peugeot’s i-Cockpit combines the best in old-fashioned ergonomic design with modern technology, best amplified, actually, by the amazing, clever graphics which their in-house team has drawn.

And that’s where the battle lines will be defined in the next few years: most manufacturers can now do connected-car technology, and comfy seats and well-proportioned steering wheels, but combining it all to look smart, stylish and “premium”, to use an icky marketing term, is the challenge. Peugeot has done a pretty convincing job with its i-Cockpit.