When everyone is driving powerful long range electric cars, what will car makers use to market them, to sell them to the new generation?
Remember when it was engine size – like the Wolseley 24/ 80 (2.4 L engine producing 80 British horse power) or the Ford Fairmont with the 4.2L six).
These details were badged on the side of the car. Brand loyalty will only last so long. After that I believe what will sell a car will be sexiness and connectivity. And I don’t mean a scantily clad man or woman draped across the bonnet.
The Tesla Model 3 already looks sexy (a model would be superfluous) and is always connected. As such, it is streets ahead of the competition, although they are catching up fast, thank goodness.
The teenage boy who lives across the road exclaims – “my, that is such a good looking car!” Driveway bling! Your eyes are drawn to the curves and to the chrome (much preferred to the chrome delete of newer models).
When I look at my red Tesla Model 3 sitting in the sunlight I can’t help but think I see a lip protruding – I wonder if Tess (the name for my EV) would “kiss me with those red lips”? (Bram Stoker) though she is obviously not a vampire but a bringer of life.
And then there is the smell or lack of it. Every day we see diesel trucks spewing black carcinogenic smoke along the highways. But Tess serenely moves with no exhaust or smells. Not just outside, but inside.
Elon Musk has thoughtfully set the air-conditioning to run for 20 minutes after we exit the vehicle so next time I enter I do not meet the evidence my previous exertions or emissions. Fart mode is fun but we only get the sound.
I do like the smell of two stroke petrol and freshly mown grass, but I am not sorry to leave behind the miasma of an underground carpark or the noxious fragrances of the servo. Smell is one of the greatest memory triggers, what memories do we build with Tess?
So how will we market the cars of the future? Perhaps as a life enhancer, a thing of beauty and art with which to spend our time. A little like the art deco cars of the thirties.
David Waterworth is a researcher and writer, a retired teacher who divides his time between looking after his grandchildren and trying to make sure they have a planet to live on. He owns 50 shares of Tesla.
David Waterworth is a researcher and writer, a retired school teacher who continues to provoke thought through his writing. He divides his time between looking after his grandchildren and trying to make sure they have a planet to live on. He is long on Tesla.