The automotive industry is equally as much controlled by the vagaries of fads and trends as any other. If you examine car culture since the start of the new millenium, you will find a number of interesting changes have taken place. The Nissan Altima, an incredibly ordinary car if ever, might have surprised you back in 2002 with its speediness if you test-drove one.
The arrival of the 240 horsepower engine hearalded in speeds a great deal higher than what the 90′s had made us accustomed to. It did not quit there either, since today the Volkswagen Passat, a family car, comes with 280 horsepower under the bonnet. For $30,000 you can buy yourself a little Mitsubishi that will embarass a Camaro with its performance. Packing a mean 500 horsepower does not elevate a car such as the Dodge Viper to beyond ordinary today. You’ll be hard-pressed nowadays to get a car that was under-powered. It seems as if bigger is regarded as better with cars, because every new release is bigger than the previous one. The moment the new Toyota Rav4 premiered, it had grown by 14 inches, and if you check out Hondas, the current Civics are larger than the older model Accords. You want to know more about ford extended warranty, but the other important side of the coin is that you have to get up and move on it. We all know how much people like to complain about things, and that is one thing that really hardly ever gets anything done.
We do not really know why most people do not advance themselves, but that seems to be the common thing to do, or not do. The phenomenon of inertia is something that plays out in the lives of so many millions of people, and it has to be dealt with in your life.
It is not hard at all, really, to use this information if you become aware and commit to it. We are about halfway there, so let’s press ahead and discover some more.
Nobody wants to pay more for their new car, but get one that’s the same size or smaller. Folks want much larger and better cars when they’re going to be paying more. You will find a issue with 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. The American community wish to spend less money on fuel, but it seems they won’t tolerate going slower in the process. They’d rather spend more and look forward to their hybrid car, the Prius from Toyota, which will allow them to keep going fast. And Corollas, offered off the exact same dealer’s showroom floor, continue to be unsold. In the dash by all vehicle makers to keep up to date, even pride has taken a back seat, as in the case of Nissan with their Altima, which uses the same system as Toyota, their competitor.
Vehicles with pizzaz, that’s what modern day buyers want, not the flat, blah styling popular in the 90s. There’s hardly a car nowadays that doesn’t come equipped with power steering, power windows and locks, an impressive-sounding stereo and 6 airbags. All of these cost money, which probably explains the $28,000 price tag of the average new car. However sales of SUV’s are generally drying up, which could imply a return to saner days, with smaller cars, and perhaps simpler. The biggest drop in sales has been amongst the bigger SUVs, so maybe it was just a fad whose time has come to an end. Consumers seem to have changed to smaller cars, with the Ford Explorer and Expedition out in the cold while the little cars get more and more of the action, even the Neon and Sentra.
Cars definitely don’t require being as fast as they are, or so big, so the car companies should recognize this and change accordingly. Hybrids might possibly be the new item, and it’s destined to be interesting to follow them over the longer term. It’s going to be fun to look back in several years time, and see all the outrageous fads that came and went.