Are Cars Dead?
Back to the Future – 1985
As a twenty-something getting to grips with starting a life, trying to piece together something that resembles a career. Trying to figure out how to make sound financial decisions, it’s no surprise I’d try and take inspiration from the previous baby boomer generation to help with decisions going forward. However, the first mistake is assuming things haven’t changed between then and now.
talking about the demise of cars
Being a petrolhead and constantly surrounded by petrolheads of various generations I always find the conversation around the future of the automobile fascinating. On the one end you have the older generation talking about the demise of cars (usually linked with EV’s). And how young people just aren’t interested in cars as much as they were. But at the same time, you have a younger generation of petrolheads. They are extremely passionate about cars and get to experience them not just in the flesh but via various digital channels. Whether it be digital content on social media channels or even video games.
The evidence is also in the numbers. Last year millennials overtook baby boomers for the first time as new car buyers. This will likely continue at that trajectory as more millennials become financially secure enough to afford cars. Younger petrolheads are also substituting physical Car Magazines for Donut Media on Youtube. Thanks to the internet, they are able to interact with just about any other niche car community in the world. So if young people are still as engaged around cars, where is all this doomsday preaching coming from?
there are some genuine gems out there
Is it because cars just aren’t the same as they were 40 years ago? While there is an argument that there is something special about a handbuilt Italian coupe without power steering and carburetors that instills true “driver engagement”, keep in mind these feelings are reserved for a select group of old cars (ie the exotic and nice ones). There is nothing “engaging” about choosing a 1982 Toyota Corolla without aircon over a 2020 VW Polo as your daily driver. Therefore if the same lens and discretion are applied to today’s cars, there are some genuine gems out there and worthy of petrolheads praise. But ironically, the same group of old petrolheads will criticize a 2018 Lotus Evora as being agricultural and rubbish, but praise a 1980’s Porsche 911 as brilliant, and yet a modern 911 has lost some of its “soul”. I’m just as confused as you are.
Regardless, the future of the automobile is still alive and well. The need for mobility is as big as ever and the automobile is still the most versatile solution to date. The sheer amount of choice and expression is also bigger than ever as car buyers have more brands and models to choose from, not even mentioning the sheer amount of trims and options. If you ever wanted a car to be an expression of your personal style and taste, the world is your oyster as a new car buyer today.
most powerful production V8 ever made
So where is the hate stemming from? Is it the sudden craze of EV’s? Keep in mind, for roughly the same money as a Tesla Model S, you can also buy a Dodge Challenger Demon in America, which is the most powerful production V8 ever made. What a time to be alive. And across the pond, you can still buy naturally aspirated Porsches out of the box. Japan is also still producing fast Toyotas and even keeping the Nissan Z range alive. We don’t really have an issue with the fact that Porsche sells more SUVs than 911’s because the SUV sales finance cars like the brilliant Cayman GT4 RS. So why do we have an issue if EV sales might be the very thing that keeps petrolhead cars alive?
Remember when Audi entered a diesel car to win at Le Mans and everyone thought petrol is dead, only for everyone to decide a couple of years later that diesel is in fact bad for the environment? I won’t hold my breath on EV’s for that reason.
The Lotus Evora pictured above is currently for sale through Road and Race Automotive, and was also recently featured HERE!
One thought on “Roads?Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”
Comments are closed.
I’m not sure if you are the Derick that I knew from SAIRAC?
At 19 yrs old I had great fun taking engines apart, modifying them to extract more performance, and then putting them together again, not always successfully!
It was a huge thrill seeing a newly assembled engine actually fire up and spin (they often didn’t).
Driving cars in the early 70’s was even more fun, as they braked and handled so badly with their drum brakes, leaf springs, skinny tyres, live rear axles, etc. that I got plenty of safe experience at correcting slides (and over-correcting!!), locking up brakes, spinning inside rear wheels, heeling and toeing, etc.