sowrong · HackerTrans

Manual transmission is but an example. The idea is that ownership rates declined before the downturn unrelated to the economy. What is declining, is the value proposition that the current set of new cars offers compared to older cars and, that many would-be car buyers just aren't finding what they want in a car. Imagine the cell phone market before the iPhone, that is the state of the car market today.

sowrong

13 anni fadiscuss

fair enough. should have stated "there just aren't enough cars on the market that match what consumers want". Some people want a car like the Model S, true enough. That's because Elon Musk has the vision to produce what (some) consumers want - an electric car. There's a market for the Model S. I'm sure there are lot of other types of cars that would have waiting lists, were they available. Give the owner back more control over options, add-ons, individuality, there's surely another tranche of people for that. others likely too.

sowrong

13 anni fadiscuss

if the make and model of the car of your interest is not available at all in manual transmission, then yes, absolutely yes, it's simply not available anywhere.

Henry Ford famously said "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black" and that's the problem today. An entire market of buyers is being ignored.

If you accept that only grey color cars are being made and wonder why people aren't buying grey cars, nothing can help you.

sowrong

13 anni fadiscuss

"certain vehicles no longer offer a manual transmission"

Exactly right.

sowrong

13 anni fadiscuss

don't get hung up on this linked article alone (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/the-modular...) , but modular cars - cars as platform for add-ons based on need - should have arrived long ago. They haven't materialized yet.

sowrong

13 anni fadiscuss

this article is wrongheaded in many, many ways. The crux of the problem is that cars are designed and produced ahead of what is actually wanted and desired without concern whether there is actually an impedence mismatch with what consumers want in a car. For example, modular design in cars no longer exists. You can't find a car anywhere that can be transformed with add-ons between a commuter car to a weekender car to a car for hauling things to a car for being sporty. The same is true with manual transmission, you can't find it on the market ANYWHERE. For tinkerers, you can't get information about your car's computer chips or any kind of API that could serve a buyer's use, not someone elses. Not only that, you pay a lot of money for a car, and then find out that it's easily hackable, by anyone except the rightful owner. People love cars, and definitely prefer them to public transformation, which is unreliable at best, but there just aren't any cars on the market that match what consumers want.

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