How the car manufacturers and marketers screwed themseves

and yet, here we are, driving these new hi-tech vehicles. who is getting screwed?

 

Most car dealers are happy with the idea of the majority of their customers being unable to afford new cars, as long as it doesn’t prevent them from wanting new cars. That way the dealers can sell loans and get referral fees from banks for doing so. And people who otherwise could not afford new cars can have them. It puts them in debt, but the dealers, car manufacturers, and banks all make more, so they don’t care.

For the over 50 crowd, car manufacturers promote ever larger vehicles and advertise luxury and safety. Parents and grandparents then feel comfortable paying higher and higher amounts for bigger and more complicated vehicles. And the tech features are aimed at pacifying children.

While it can certainly be argued that encouraging car buyers to take on increasing amounts of debt for depreciating assets is going to hurt the market in the long run, the car manufacturers are quite happy with the current business model for now.

 

The electronic dreck has accelerated exponentially in the last couple of decades, a combination of increased regulations and manufacturers trying to save money (what else is new) by adopting electronics to replace the more expensive design and implementation of tactile, eyes-on-the-road controls. Then the marketing departments are tasked with convincing potential buyers, that all this is improvement. The owner's manuals keep getting thicker, and the cars are bricked sooner.

One thiing in particular that seems dangerous is the use of single button/toggle/icon that must be tapped repeatedly to cycle through a list of functions. This takes protracted, undivided attention, on something other than where your car is headed...

The longer you've been around the easier it is to see this. It's always been thus.

 

I agree 100% and SHAME on Toyota for following the crowd by "offering" subscription services on way too many things, now.

No, Toyota, I'm NOT paying you $15 to $25 a month for remote start or navigation or Toyota Voice Assist.

We had a Toyota Assist free trial in my wife's new 2024 Corolla a few years ago and, let me tell you, she made a rock seem smart....absolutely worthless.

I do love my SiriusXM radio, though, and have found if you chat with them, they have GREAT discounts available....just say "I want to cancel" and they'll tell you the latest deal going. (I'm paying around $15 a month for three vehicles.)

 

As long as manufacturers can spend a dollar and charge 10, they’re going to continue doing so.
Electronics are keeping manufacturing costs down, and repair costs up