Exactly what I thought myself after reading the article, it is totally logical (business-wise) to have an established market they can easily capture once their cars gets rolling.
Mercedes, Porsche, Volvo, BMW, Audi all serve this market. (Though I would _assume_ that the Model 3 is where most of the volume is these days, and that's a little closer to the mass-market)
Yes. Making cars “smart” and marketing them as such allows makers to cut corners ob everything else. Like Apple’s “we added 567 emojis in this release”.
I believe their point is thaat if the automotive industry has any control at all, then they'll lean toward the segment that has a moat to protect them from competition. So buying advertising to make it seem normal or desirable to have a truck for example.
It doesn't make them more practical, just more common.
Or maybe it's the fact that incumbent manufacturers of internal combustion cars spend billions on advertising and publications are protecting their source of income.
In my opinion, the market for the auto industry is divided into two major groups, there's the group that views cars as a means to an end whether this end is an upgrade in status or getting from point A to B, and the group that actually likes to drive and buys cars for the pleasure of it.
I think even in the younger generation this division exists. Granted the latter group is a minority but it accounts for(or will account for when they can afford to) sales in the sports car sector and activity in the tuning sector.
But is this such a change from past? The words in the adverts may have changed from freedom to self driving and electric but has the landscape really changed? I don't think so. There's always a market segment that looks at what cars bring and not the cars themselves. It's up to the auto industry to figure out how to meet today's needs.
Personally though i will still line up for that Aston Martin, i am the other kind.
reply