Volkswagen Doesn’t Want Its Cars to Look Too ‘Aggressive’

Most modern sports car designs are pretty aggressive. Angry eyes, massive grilles, and spoilers and fender flares aplenty. But Volkswagen doesn’t necessarily want its cars to be that aggressive. In an interview with Top Gear, Volkswagen’s head of design, Andy Mindt, said there’s nothing wrong with designs being a little friendlier.

“I believe most people don’t want to be the coolest or appear aggressive in public,” he said. “They want to have a suit and a good outside appearance while being happy and optimistic. What is the need to be aggressive? Our core is like this: be the nice guys.”

For the most part, VW’s designs have been pretty friendly as of late. The ID.Buzz has VWs signature angry eyes, but a likable retro aesthetic otherwise. Most of VW’s SUVs are pretty friendly too, and the GLI and GTI—even with their downturned headlights and big-ish grilles—don’t look all that angry amongst the competitive set.

Mindt also went on to say that the company is doing a lot of work on its next-generation interiors. Cabins will reportedly get even better by “kicking out” cheap trim pieces and spending more money on high-quality materials.

“We’re going to try and kick out cheap plastic materials and put the money instead into fabrics and improving quality,” he said, “which helps save money and means we can use it elsewhere.”

VW just recently debuted the 2025 Golf R and the 2025 Jetta GLI here in the US, but plans to roll out even more products in the next few years. Arguably the most anticipated new VW will be an electric GTI, which the company says will be “more exciting” to drive than the gas version.