Look at these messages for some of the newer models of cars
Get the link? Bhp and cc and cylinders and turning radius and torque and 0 to 60 in xyz secs and etc and ect. Well, most of the cars used to be marketed around these - one way or the other. But what I see now, especially for some of the newer models of middle to high-end cars is very different. The story seems to be shifting from the mechanical details under the hood to the electronics inside the cabin. Be it GPS or Cruise control, or Audio systems, or electronically controlled comfort features, or communication features linked with inbuilt hands free technologies etc. Car makers have usually talked about features like power, handling, safety, fuel economy, cost of ownership. Then why this change? Are people not looking for superior car engines anymore? Have we hit a ceiling in development of newer car engines? Do we not have any more stories from the mechanical engineering side of building good cars? Is the future of car innovation linked with electronics than the mechanics of car building? Is hardware going to give way to software even in automotive engineering? (Mobile phone making is the other business that is witnessing this change!) At least for the developed economies of the word, it might not be inaccurate to say that people have had their fill of powerful cars and thus carmakers are focusing on other things that can turn the buyer on. This shift in focus of innovation could also be due to the fact that innovating in the electricals, electronics, and software aspects of the automobile is relatively less capital intensive (“get the microprocessor, the audio system and the GPS in – these are relatively more readily available technologies with relatively more predictable consumer response.”) Also, these are potentially more visible enhancements for the driver than the subtleties of superior car handling which are arguably already perceived to be ‘good enough’ - at least among the mid priced and premium cars. I can foresee the innovation in mid and high-end passenger cars to follow along this trend up until the time when there is a breakthrough innovation in automotive engineering that brings the focus back to under the hood changes, which can be felt inside the cabin too!
