The local strategies of car brands have long been a fascinating subject. Japanese brands have their own luxury brands in America, German luxury brands have sometimes been clever in hiding the fact that they do sell more stripped-down models in other countries, and so on. Some decisions are especially weird, like Dodge breaking up with its truck division, or Audi going ring-free in China as AUDI.
Matt wrote about how Audi’s AUDI plan isn’t going so well. JurassicComanche25:
If Audi doesn’t have rings anymore, what am I going to hit with my Sonic?
Canopysaurus:
To paraphrase Beyoncé: AUDI, if you liked it then you shoulda put some rings on it.
As to Stellantis: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Hope we don’t get fooled again.
Rock on.
V10omous:
What’s the best automotive sub-brand, and why is it Merkur?
It’s Cadillac V by a mile.
Younger people who have grown up with Cadillac as a performance brand have no idea how hard that title had to be won, and how ridiculous the very idea seemed at the start.
Blackwings being generally acknowledged as the best driving sedans in the world 20 years after Cadillac’s sportiest offering was legitimately the FWD Seville is quite the transformation.
Mike Harrell:
Why would Audi get rid of the rings? Do they not want to cash in on the enduring brand recognition of DKW, Horch, and Wanderer?
Oh, and my favorite automotive sub-brand is Essex-Terraplane, of course.
Cody Pendant:
Autozam was a great sub brand.
I liked Scion too. Different designs.
Brian wrote about how minivans are popular again. Manwich Sandwich:
I never understood the minivan hate that many people have.
Oh you don’t want to look like a “soccer mom”? Well you STILL look like a soccer mom even with that 7 passenger CUV. You’re not fooling anyone.
Minivans are for people who just need the space and aren’t trying to fool anyone about some sort of perceived ‘toughness’ or any faux-outdoorsy lifestyle.
7 passenger CUVs are basically less practical minivans that cost more.
Brian also wrote about how SNL mocked modern car door handles. James McHenry:
It’s one thing when it’s auto rags and enthusiast websites complaining, but when Saturday Night Live starts riffing on your design choices, maybe it’s time for a rethink.
John McMillin:
“So what can I do to get you into this car today?”
Plop McDingus:
Sir, I’m in the car and I can’t get out.
Dan G.:
Just sign here, and here, and here, and the door will open.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Top graphic image: Paramount Pictures/Chevrolet
I don’t get the stereotyping of people who don’t want minivans.
I’m not trying to fool anyone.
I’m not outdoorsy, faux or not.
My current vehicle would not be described as “tough”, and I’m mentally tough enough that I don’t care what other people think of what I drive.
Despite having two kids, I don’t want a minivan, because they don’t appeal to me. Why does that need to be a problem?
I’ll take your word for it that you don’t fit the stereotype because I have yet to develop my skill for reading minds over a fiber optic connection, but I would bet every single reader here knows someone who does fit the stereotype.
I mean, I get it. I drive a 1/2 ton pickup and there may not be a worse stereotype than that. I don’t like it, but I do have to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who fit it to a T. There’s a reason I don’t spend a lot of time on truck forums.
Car fanatics don’t look down on people who drive CUVs, SUVs, and pickups that never do work, because we’re not psychopaths who hate over 70% of the population. We can and will make fun of people who hate minivans, when their reason for hating minivans is that minivans are for people who love and care about their children and want to take them places with their friends. These minivan haters are, almost without exception, people who fit that description exactly. They then buy more expensive vehicles with slightly worse capabilities, out of what I can only describe as disgust with their own lifestyle choices. It’s not unfair to say that every single person who drives a 7-passenger monocoque SUV has chosen to buy an objectively worse vehicle purely for appearances, usually at a substantial markup. Moreover, their goal of appearing to be something they aren’t is always unsuccessful, making the whole thing a comedy of self-delusion.
We’re allowed to make fun of that. It’s very silly.
It’s also indicative of a society that has devalued the social capital of parenthood. Being a parent used to be a core position, a primary point of pride. Now, it’s one bullet point on a list. It’s a complicated situation, because it’s partially the result of parents- especially women- having greater opportunities for self-actualization through other avenues than parenthood; but on the other hand, any society where parents feel any amount of shame about their top priority being loving and caring about their children and wanting to take them places with their friends, isn’t a healthy society. This trend is a lot bigger than the decline of minivans, they’re just a weird and amusing symptom.
Excellent points, I would go even further and say parenthood is criticized by a vocal minority of people who do not have kids. Whether they believe what they say or just say it to make themselves feel better I don’t know.
Social media does not help either, I am bombarded with posts about “find yourself” or “live your best life” and almost never see any posts about the benefits of settling down and raising a family.
It’s a deeply troubling trend that children and family are treated as a lifestyle choice, but it cannot be overstated how much societal bitterness towards parenthood is an effect of financial stratification. Increasingly, only the upper-middle class are financially capable, and perhaps more importantly, financially secure enough, to have children with intent. That’s your suburban soccer mom social strata. The contempt that society has developed towards that group is, in my opinion, a pretty natural consequence of a very large number of people who are both smart enough not to have kids they can’t support, and poor enough that they can’t afford kids.
It’s not malice, it’s envy. Frankly, a large percentage of society being understandably envious of people who are financially stable enough to have children when they can’t, is a whole lot bigger issue than the soccer moms in question feeling slightly uncomfortable about it.
The people who can afford to settle down and raise a family don’t need convincing. It’s all the other people who can’t afford that lifestyle who have no choice but to seek out a different goal.
I think you may be getting cause and effect mixed up. People, left to their own devices, will default to having a family. That’s just historical fact.
Clearly I’m wrong for not wanting a van, I had no idea the fate of society depended on it, nor that it meant I don’t love my kids.
Where have I gone so wrong in life?!?
Society will be ok if
n>= 0
n = (number of vans you own /3.14259)+ number of kids – 2.89
If that’s your takeaway from my comments, I don’t know what to tell you. Get thicker skin, I guess.
LOL – Learn to recognize hyperbole.
How about this instead: Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Lol, fair enough.
I *totally* make fun of all those people. But this point, my hatred of humanity has likely reached ~95%. People generally suck, especially in large groups. If that makes me a psychopath, I’ll own that.
But I find the excuses my friend’s wives use for NOT buying the best tool for the job of schlepping sprogs around absolutely hilarious. Honey, you ain’t fooling nobody in your 3-row CUV – nobody thinks you are sporty or cool.
Why would you need a minivan with only two kids to start with absent some hobby where you need a ton of space? If you have no need of a minivan, there is no reason to have one. But if you actually need a minivan, but choose to drive a 3-row CUV that does minivan things worse while adding zero additional capability other than being “cool” (while not being in any way cool, but costing more), then I reserve the right to think you are a moron. Note that I make a distinction between 3-row CUVs, aka ruined station wagons, and actual SUVs that legitimately have offroad and towing capabilities that CUVs lack. A Suburban is a very different thing than a 3-row CUV or a minivan.
But I have friends who suddenly “needed” a 3-row CUV when their FIRST sprog was born, and they had no intention of having any more. Oh, and by “friends” I mean my friends WIVES decided they needed Canyoneros to transport 10lb bundles of joy around. Though the one friend who DOES have four kids has had a long succession of minivans. And I have another friend who despite having a wife who would not be seen dead behind the wheel of one, has himself driven almost nothing but minivans since his parents gave him the family truckster in college. Practical lad, he is, and he uses the thing the way people with pickup trucks THINK they will, but rarely actually do.
…okay maybe last time wasn’t a fluke.
Legend has it that the Finnish make this even more challenging by reversing the steering rack on one of these bricks and seeing who can make it the farthest. Please verify.