The Automobile Industry Is Not Immune From Keeping Up With Fads

The Car Industry Is Not Protected From Pursuing Fads

Products appear and disappear, such as fads or trends, and this happens in the automobile industry as much as anywhere else. Check out all the transformations that have happened over the past decade in the car market. Back in 2002, you would most certainly have been surprised at how fast the new cars could go, even ordinary, budget cars like the Nissan Altima.

It came with a 240 horsepower engine, which caused it to be capable of doing speeds way faster compared to what we knew in the nineties. And already a family car like the Volkswagen Passat boasts a 280 horse power engine. Camaros are being left for dead by smaller Mitsubishis that run you $30,000. A Dodge Viper using its 500-horsepower is now quite as average a car.

Speed Fanatic of Not

You may not be a speed fanatic, but there are fundamentally no cars anymore that are really underpowered. Every new car model is definitely bigger than its predecessor. The current Honda Civics are generally bigger than the older Accords, and the new Toyota Rav4 is longer than its forerunner by all of 14 inches.

No one seems to want to get hold of the same car or less, but still have to pay more money. When it is likely to cost more, then it needs to be not only better but also bigger. Bigger, sad to say, comes packaged with heavier, but the car makers won't stop because of that, as long as consumers keep buying. U.S. car buyers want to pay less cash for their gasoline, but they don't want to sacrifice speed to get it.

Paying more to retain the privilege of speed is preferable, which is why there is such a long line of people waiting for their hybrid, the Toyota Prius. Even though Corollas remain without a buyer on the horizon in the same dealer's showroom. Interest in 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.

New Design

The bland design of the 90s has disappeared, as consumers want cars with personality. There's hardly a car presently that doesn't come equipped with power steering, power windows and locks, an impressive-sounding stereo and 6 airbags. These are not free, which probably explains the $28,000 price tag of the average new car.

But sales of SUV's are generally drying up, which could imply a return to saner days, with smaller cars, and perhaps simpler. Maybe it was a trend that had its day, since the worst-hit in terms of sales are the bigger SUVs. Wonderful are the gross sales of smaller cars, even the Neon and Sentra, while the Ford Explorer and Expedition are receiving very few sales.

Cars definitely don't have to be as fast as they are, or so big, so the car companies should acknowledge this and change accordingly. We live at the outset of the hybrid time now, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. It's going to be fun to look back in several years time, and see all the crazy fads that came and went.