The Automotive Industry Is Not Protected From Keeping Up With Fads

By Lanny Gellis


By explanation fads and trends appear and vanish, and seem to affect all avenues of life, including the automobile industry. If you study car culture since the launch of the new millennium, you will find a number of interesting changes have taken place. Way back in 2002, you would most certainly have been surprised at how fast the new designs could go, even ordinary, budget cars like the Nissan Altima.

The 240 horse power engine elevated the speeds considerably from what there was during the 90s. And today a family car like the Volkswagen Passat contains a 280 horsepower engine. Smaller vehicles like the Mitsubishi, coming in at $30,000, are leaving Camaros standing. Packing a mercenary 500 horsepower doesn't elevate a car such as the Dodge Viper to beyond ordinary today. You might not be a speed freak, but there are basically no cars anymore that are really underpowered. Vehicles are continuing getting bigger, as each upgrade seems to be bigger than the one before. The latest Toyota RAV4 happens to be 14 inches longer than the last one, and current Honda Civics, are bigger than the Accords from the past.

Nobody wishes to shell out more for their new car, but get one that's the same size or smaller. If they're going to have to shell out the dough, they want their cars bigger and better. You will find there's downside to bigger,needless to say, and that's heavier, but car makers will keep on going bigger if that's what the public are looking for. It appears driving slower automobiles is not an acceptable option, despite car owners in America wanting to spend less on gas. They might rather spend more and look forward to their hybrid car, the Prius from Toyota, which will allow them to keep going fast. All this, with the same dealer having plenty of Corollas left unsold. Demand for hybrids is so tremendous that all auto manufacturers are racing to follow suit, even to the extent that Nissan will use the system developed by their competitor, Toyota, to bring out their Altima hybrid.

Shoppers nowadays want style and flair, and gone is the plain styling so common in the 90s. There's hardly a car presently that doesn't come designed with power steering, power windows and locks, an impressive-sounding stereo and 6 airbags. All these have a price, which probably explains the $28,000 price tag of the average new car. We are moving back to the day when a vehicle will be a car, just as the SUV is going the way of the foolish. It was a fad that has maybe run its course, as the bigger the SUV, the deeper down the sales have dropped. Sales of the Ford Explorer in addition to Expedition are reduced, while sales of little cars are getting better all the time, even the Sentra and the Neon.

Car companies cannot stand still, but someday they need to give up needing to be so fast, and also so big. We're also at the outset of the hybrid time now, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. In ten years it's going to be entertaining to look back and see what happened with all of the automotive craziness.




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