RE: Feature: Tokyo Motor Show 2011

[vintageracer01]

WHERE ARE THE TIMES WHEN CARS WERE EXCITING ?????????????????????????????????????

AARRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH...







Where should all this end...?

[Twincam16]

Bodo said:

Twincam16 said:

What I suspect young people really want in a car is something simple, small, cheap to run, fun to drive, that actually looks cool rather than like their grandmother's runabout, and more to the point, that they can afford to buy. When you're under 25 and on your first job, you can't afford to spend what amounts to half your salary on a base-model supermini.

What they want is a sports car or a camper van; what they need is a super mini, and what they can afford is not a new car. And guess what? It's been like this for the last fifty years, since young people started considering owning a car.

True, but look at the Dacia Logan - it's entirely possible to make a brand new car that retails for £3500 - or to put it another way, second-hand car money.

I have it on good authority that any given mass-production car designer could do a simple car for young people, with pretty much any body style - sports coupe, camper van, whatever - for a similar amount of money, but they don't, simply because the marketing department say you can sell the same thing covered in spangly bells and whistles to older, richer people for more money.

You can see why (profit), but surely all it takes is for one manufacturer to be bold and they could suddenly have an entire market sector to themselves.

[Bodo]

Twincam16 said:

Bodo said:

Twincam16 said:

What I suspect young people really want in a car is something simple, small, cheap to run, fun to drive, that actually looks cool rather than like their grandmother's runabout, and more to the point, that they can afford to buy. When you're under 25 and on your first job, you can't afford to spend what amounts to half your salary on a base-model supermini.

What they want is a sports car or a camper van; what they need is a super mini, and what they can afford is not a new car. And guess what? It's been like this for the last fifty years, since young people started considering owning a car.

True, but look at the Dacia Logan - it's entirely possible to make a brand new car that retails for £3500 - or to put it another way, second-hand car money.

I have it on good authority that any given mass-production car designer could do a simple car for young people, with pretty much any body style - sports coupe, camper van, whatever - for a similar amount of money, but they don't, simply because the marketing department say you can sell the same thing covered in spangly bells and whistles to older, richer people for more money.

You can see why (profit), but surely all it takes is for one manufacturer to be bold and they could suddenly have an entire market sector to themselves.

If you dare a peek on the Chinese market, you'll see the cars made for people that earn a tenth of what we earn. They're small. They're nasty. And they don't appeal to anyone except those who desperately want a new car. Think Tata Nano, but built to look like a sedan. And they're profitable.

[Mr Gear]

Bodo said:

f you dare a peek on the Chinese market, you'll see the cars made for people that earn a tenth of what we earn. They're small. They're nasty. And they don't appeal to anyone except those who desperately want a new car. Think Tata Nano, but built to look like a sedan. And they're profitable.

If that sort of thing appeared in the UK, any magazine reviewing it would tell you to simply buy something better that is second-hand.

Which is probably the advice I'd take myself.