Kia’s Imagine concept car uses 21 smartphones to mock dash screens

The Geneva Motor Show car expo in Switzerland is no stranger to some bizarre and funky designs for future cars. This year, Kia’s Imagine all-electric concept car may take the cake, just based on its interior design.

The Imagine car looks like your typical futuristic, hyper-realistic electric sedan based on an existing car model (in this case the Kia’s hybrid Niro). Here it was this week at the show:

But then you take a look inside, and you know the car is poking fun at the industry. Behind the driver’s wheel and extending along the dashboard are 21 smartphone screens jaggedly arranged.

In a press release, Kia shared that it’s well aware of the “wry sense of [humor]” that went into the design. The designer said the screens are a “humorous and irreverent riposte to the on-going competition between some automotive manufacturers to see who can produce the car with the biggest screen.”

Byton’s M-Byte electric SUV debuted at CES last year and will arrive in China later this year with its 48-inch front screen and other screens throughout the car, even on the steering wheel. The Tesla Model 3 interior is also focused around the center console screen, where everything from climate control to the radio is controlled.

The release calls the “screen-wall” of phones in the Kia “a fresh and witty approach on how to move away from traditional fixed screens.” That has to be a dig at the Tesla tablet. 

But even if it’s mocking the in-screen fascination in the current lineup of electric vehicles, the phone screens are still supposed to function and provide information to drivers like the speedometer, navigation, climate control, and music. 

As this is a concept car, don’t expect to see a phone-lined dashboard anytime soon. Still, it could inspire the next generation of car designers.