Not so long ago I firmly believed that the last of the high-revving, naturally-aspirated sports, super and luxury cars would be revered long into history as the pinnacle of human achievement with the internal combustion engine, in road terms at least.
These vehicles, I believed, would be studied with misty-eyed awe. Those who were lucky enough to have driven them would be afforded a hushed silence and rapt attention as they recounted bumping off the rev limiter, unassisted steering in hand. Those who had the wherewithal to collect and treasure them would be made for life, owning a slice of automotive history that would surely always be prized.
Today, though, I’m not so sure that they won’t be seen as some stain on a consumption-obsessed society that we’d rather forget, rather like the fur coats referred to in the headline, or perhaps even the stuffed heads of animals that were once hung on walls as prized possessions, or bear or tiger skins that were removed, head included, and used as rugs. History is full of many such examples of treasured goods that simply lost their allure.
Yes, I know there are people who need fur in order to sustain life - as well some might require the internal combustion engine in the remotest parts of the world long into the future - but today they sit in a mostly respected minority. However, anyone who prizes any of these animal-based trophies, once the quintessential displays of opulence, wealth and sophistication, are mainly looked upon with disdain by the modern world.
Could the cars we admire today go the same way? And what could that mean for the wider car industry into the future?
After listening to the great and the good of the car industry speaking at the recent Frankfurt motor show, I’m persuaded to believe that the is a truth to the fur analogy, and that anyone who preserves a machine such as a Ferrari 458 Italia for future oil-boring blasts may well be looked upon in the same way as a blood-thirsty hunter who simply must have a photo of themselves next to a lion they have just shot. I also wonder if that comes to pass it may only be the tip of the iceberg as far as concerns for car enthusiasts, and the car industry as a whole, is concerned.
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Considered, insightful, and prophetic
There is a careful construction and eloquence to this article which to me suggests the author took pains over its creation. To me that seems entirely praiseworthy. Maybe it paints things in black and white, and the author is consciously taking a position which he knows may be controversial, especially on a car magazine website.
Times they are a changing, and even though today I read this article, and thought it is spot on, who knows what the future will bring when there is such rapid upheaval?
Stil, also this week I have been reading and watching videos about the first hands on impressions of the Porsche Taycan. I'd have to blow a significant chunk of my savings, or a lottery win, to buy one, but what a beautiful machine. Hope for the future! Maybe within the next ten years that's the kind of engineering excellence we may expect to find in mass market premium EVs priced around the level of today's 3 Series. I hope so.
Let's get a grip on ourselves
Let's get a grip on ourselves. "News" is so easily accessible and spreads so rapidly now that, given so many people with opinions -- and often very little knowledge -- it is very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Almost everyone writing or speaking about this has an agenda, some noble, some not, some well-informed, some spectacularly ignorant. Most of the "news" on both sides is the extreme view -- "the world is ending in 10 years" vs. "this is all nonsense." It's extremely difficult to find actual facts rather than opinion masquerading as fact. The difference is extremely important. As usual, the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle. The extremes, on both sides, harm their own credibility as well the credibility of everyone involved. Let us not forget that a "zero emissions" car isn't -- what matters is "cradle to grave" -- from drilling, mining, manufacturing, disposal, recycling. The electric car is hardly zero emissions, certainly not yet. Neither, obviously, are oil-powered cars. This issue MUST be addressed intelligently, but most of what is going on is propaganda from people and entities with agendas. The level of group-think is frightening. The notion that the "science is settled" is preposterous -- it's ongoing, often conflicting, and constantly turing up new information and discoveries, as well as overturning old ones. This has to be done carefully and properly, and everyone involved in an important and influential manner has to be open to opposing perspectives that are credible -- that's the only way we may determine what actually needs to be done.
"I've seen cyclists attacking
"I've seen cyclists attacking car drivers when the cyclist has been completely in the wrong, but because they are not damaging the environment (at least from exhaust emissions), seem to think they can get away with doing anything they like on pain of dishing out an environment-justified kicking to those that take issue with the way they are dangerously conducting themselves on the road (or pavement)."
Do they?