NYIAS: Contrary To The Axiom, Boring, Not Sexy, Is What Sells
So when Masahiro Moro, President and CEO of Mazda North American
Operations, calmly stood next to his gorgeous new creation last week,
with little fanfare or adulation, and said these words in while
standing front of a black wall, accompanied only by the silence of the
room, I believe he did it purposefully. Here’s what he said:
“Other companies have become quite successful by not caring if their cars are boring or not.”
Mic drop. And you know what? Moro-san is absolutely right.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a good supercar story
as much as the next guy. However, times have changed. The young people
of today have a decidedly #feelthebern nature to them. They’re offended
by mere chalk drawings.
This is a generation that no longer aspires to wealth — they despise it
(that is, until they acquire some of their own in the future). They
don’t dream of owning a Ferrari, they dream of keeping people from being
able to afford one. And as America chooses its path toward two extreme
sides of the same coin in the upcoming election, one can’t help but
think that the supercar will continue to lose relevance. Either
increased wealth inequality will make the supercar a target for the new
Bolsheviks, or a villainous upper class will be made to pay for their
sins by relinquishing their possessions.
But until then, it cannot be denied that the mid-sized sedans and
smallish CUVs continue to dominate the marketplace. And the brands that
lead the way? Toyota and Honda? They don’t even have flashy,
expensive halo cars. You can talk all you want about Acura and Lexus,
but you’ve gotta drive a hundred miles or more to see a Lexus store in
the majority of flyover-country states. You’ll never see an NSX
on a dealer lot, unless the dealer principal himself buys one. No, it’s
the Camry, Accord, Corolla, RAV4, Civic, and CR-V that rule the day.
(TheTruthAboutCars.com)
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