Fads Have An Impact On The Automobile Industry Too

The automobile industry is just as much controlled by the vagaries of fads and trends as any other. If you examine car culture since the beginning of the new millenium, you will find a number of interesting changes have taken place. The Nissan Altima, an incredibly simple car if ever, would probably have surprised you back in 2002 with its speediness if you test-drove one.

The arrival of the 240 horsepower engine heralded in speeds considerably higher than what the 90′s had made us accustomed to. It wouldn’t quit there either, because today the Volkswagen Passat, a family car, comes with 280 horsepower under the bonnet. Camaros are being left for dead by smaller Mitsubishis that run you $30,000. A Dodge Viper having its 500-horsepower is now quite as average a car. You’d be hard-pressed nowadays to get a car that was under-powered. Each new car model is apparently bigger than its predecessor. A brand new 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 would like to shell out more for their new car, but buy one that’s the same size or smaller. Individuals want much larger and better cars if they are going to be paying more. There is a 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. The American community want to spend less money on fuel, but it seems they won’t tolerate going slower in the process. They are still more than willing to pay a premium price, and wait in line to get a hybrid from Toyota Prius. All of this, thanks to the same seller having loads of Corollas left unsold. In the rush by all car makers to keep up, 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.

Automobiles with pizazz, that’s what present-day buyers want, not the flat, insipid styling popular in the 90s. Power steering, automatic windows, airbags and robust sound systems as being standard features are now par for the course. All of these have a price, which probably is the reason for the $28,000 price tag of the average new car. The SUV today seems to be bought by silly people, so perhaps we are going back to the days when a car was a car. Maybe it was a fashion that had its day, because the worst-hit in terms of sales are the bigger SUVs. Better than ever are the sales and profits of smaller cars, even the Neon and Sentra, while the Ford Explorer and Expedition are receiving very few sales.

Automakers have to move with the times and move away from the stereotype of big and fast. We’re at the outset of the hybrid period now, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. In ten years it will be fun to look back and find out what happened with all of the automotive craziness.

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