Is It This Generation? Or This Generation Of Cars?

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There are people that claim my generation has lost its love for the automobile. They are totally wrong. My generation loves cars. But we love doing things ourselves, and are very informed. We are the first generation that truly grew up with the internet. We look up everything. We already know the million different ways you can configure your new Porsche. Alcantara this, Alcantara that, leather wrapped vents, blacked out trim.

We’ve spent our lives communicating with simple text conversations. Short. Brief. To the point. Anything longer must be manipulative. We demand transparency and question everything. Especially when it requires a sales pitch to understand.

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We know it’s easy to pretend you are something you are not on the internet. The auto companies could have done as they pleased. All they had to do was be real and take some risks with heir marketing campaigns. They could have bonded with our generation the way Red Bull, GoPro, or Dos Equis have with their digital marketing campaigns. Yet with all their cash, the automotive community adopted a very bland, almost monotone way of preaching to us in their usual manner. Go look at the top 10 auto manufacture twitter accounts. You will see they all follow the same format. First you get a few passionate words, then a picture of their latest launched vehicle followed by pictures of beautiful leather interiors. Then you get another pretty vehicle picture. On the off days they might throw a vintage racing photo in, showing how awesome they are, or should I say were!

Why do the car companies continue to remind us of their rich racing history? It is true that some of these stories were extremely badass and that a lot of brands earned credibility through motor sports. Toyota and Subaru for example. They legitimized themselves by dominating the World Rally Championship(WRC) for many years. Or Honda for building the motors that powered Senna to all his championship wins. BMW continues to praise its e30 M3 “ the most successful touring car of all time.” Audi also used the WRC to showcase their Quattro all wheel drive system. Decades later we still keep hearing about it, do we really need to? Why can’t you just do something cool…now?

Then you add in the shitty language and half baked marketing ideas and now its seriously uncool to associate yourself with an auto brand. Your Ferrari Puma racing shoes make you look like a tool. Did you really fall for fake engine noises in the speakers? Maybe you buy those racing gloves for your Saturday morning drive to cars and coffee. The exception might be the Ford jacket that’s nearly identical to the one his dad wore when he followed for Ford Racing in the 1960’s and 70’s.

We need more badass ideas and willingness to take risks. I don’t mean installing a potentially faulty ignition switch in 2.6 million cars and seeing if you can get away with it. I mean making real investments in motor sports, design, and engineering. This is the soul of the automotive world. Remember when Ford took on Ferrari at LeMans and won? Hat That’s was nearly 50 years ago.

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Will a significant investment in these areas allow a meaningful message to my generation

What if a company fully backed a crowed sourced car? The company can provide technical support, engine, and drive train. It would be up to us to determine what engine size, what ratios, what diff, styling, ect. The key would be to stand behind it though. Maybe then people would see them as something they can believe in and want to work toward owning.

Manufactures just don’t have passion anymore and we don’t want to associate ourselves with that. You want to sell more cars? You better start pouring your heart out. Make us part of your story, take us for a ride, make us cry when you loose a race, make us storm a track when you win!

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