Car Marketing

Why make a car that is capable of reaching speeds of 275 km/h? Where you going to get up to such speeds driving normally?

Why make a car with a sunroof? On a bright and sunny day when you roll back the top you start to bake. After five minutes you no longer can take it so you close it again. Why?

Why make a convertible car where the whole top comes off. When the top is on and the car is parked it is also locked. With the top off,  the car is open to the world, and if it should rain while you are in a building that will be an authentic disaster. Why do we do these things?

It's all about marketing!

We keep talking about how fast the car can go from 0-60. This is important when you are trying to enter the motorway and you need to get ahead of the lorry that is thundering down on you. Then you need acceleration and it's great fun to both the car driver and the trucker to see you get ahead and be reduced to a mere dot on the horizon in 2.5 seconds. However, to do that you have to have a clear road ahead and you will be breaking the speed laws.

Otherwise, the legal limit remains at 120 km/h, so why do we need twice as much capacity? The answer is, we don't. The trouble is that some drivers who have excrement where their brains are supposed to be do try and reach such speeds along roads that are being used by other traffic. These are drivers trying to commit suicide.

The only real use I find for my sunroof is that I can park the car and leave the roof in the flipped up position which allows the heat that would normally build in the car to escape. Other than that, if I want the wind to flow through the car while moving I can simply open the window panes on the doors while staying cool.

There was a time when the idea of the convertible was very attractive. That was before we actually owned such a car and discovered for ourselves all the many problems that come along with driving around with the top down. The idea lost favour to the extent that these days you have to be someone who just wants to be different by owning one. That's fine!

While we are on the subject of marketing it's worth a look at the 4X4 phenomena. I'm willing to bet that 99.999% of all 4X4 vehicles have never been anywhere near such appropriate terrain. Most are such sparkling and delightful cars that we even hate to drive through puddles in the street, let alone the mud of the off-road territory. However, the thing they are best at is giving defense against other lesser machines, especially when carrying children, which is probably why so many mothers on the school run drive them.

Strange then that nothing is said in the marketing for these vehicles about their efficacy in protecting the vulnerable occupants. That would actually be marketing that made good sense. No matter, the mothers figured it out for themselves, which gives new meaning to, "Mother knows Best!"

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael