[pcurve]

"Which is to say, do they know that touch interfaces are bad and do it anyway because it saves money? Or do they go through life thinking they're actually making a usable product?"

It's likely the former. Industrial designers are trained on ergonomics so they know the benefits of physical switches.

However, at least in the case of BMW / Mini, they're forced use touchscreens by their management primarily because:

1. Not only it saves money

2. It also enables subscription models for certain features like heated seats and steering wheel. No heated seats? Just remove the UI buttons.

Unless consumers push back (like VW customers did), they will continue to cut costs.