Sedan cars/Self driving cars

[Brian Conway]

Just saw on the news tonight; some guy was arrested for drunk driving and is fighting it in court.  Seems he was asleep behind the wheel of his auto pilot Tesla.  Doing 70 mph at 3 in the AM.  Cops got him stopped by getting in front of the Tesla and slowing.  The Tesla responded by slowing down as well.  Brian

[redscj]

     His goose would be cooked in my state. Being intoxicated while in control of the keys is all that is required. Endless list of tickets given for washing their cars in the driveway, with the radio on & a beer in their hand.

[70cj428]

I would argue that "traditional car guys" have never accounted for a very large percentage of the car buying public.

The "Hard Core" muscle cars, the Bosses, CJ's, and 427 cars,  the Hemi and 440 6 packs, and the LS5/LS6/L88/Z28 were never great sellers, If you look at a bunch of Marti reports that weren't for retail orders You can see that some Muscle cars took a year or more to sell.

Unfortunately, the "Enthusiast" car sales seem way down too. I think ford sold about 81,000 Mustangs last year, In 69 they sold almost 300,000, in 70 almost 200,000 Mustangs alone. It also shows in manual transmission sales. Unless your buying a big truck, try finding any car today that has a manual transmission to buy...

[geraldt52]

I think that a big piece of the puzzle is that driving itself isn't that much fun anymore.  What does it matter if you're driving a Z06 with 505 hp if you're in a morass of cars in front, in back, and on both sides of you?  Is a stick shift any fun when you're stuck in traffic, the clutch is starting to melt, and your knee is shaking?

I'm lucky enough to live in a rural area where there's still a few places that I can have a "lonely" drive with the road all to myself, but as we necessarily become a more urban society due to over population, most of the driving that people do by necessity, as opposed to some purely recreational jaunt, is not very pleasant.  Not only are we "not in Kansas anymore", we're not in the 60s anymore.  It's not hard to understand that kids who have grown up in today's circumstances don't have any real fondness for cars and driving.  What's to be fond of?

I think that the view that a car is a "transportation appliance" is the prevailing view, for completely understandable reasons, and is unlikely to change going forward.  I cling to my old stuff and old ways almost entirely for sentimental reasons, but even I spend nearly all my miles driving a truck that's about as exciting as oatmeal, but reliable and comfortable beyond anything that was available in the 60s.  I think that "car people" will always have toys, even if those toys are actually motorcycles, but I also think that the age of the "transportation appliance" is here, and most people will be about as fond of their car as they are of their refrigerator. 

[lr68cj]

I've said it before and I'll say it again......I view this as a surrender to the Japanese. The "old" America would find a way to build a better cheaper car that would outsell the foreign invasion. Not all the blame belongs to the car companies. The government did nothing to protect the American car industry. Why? Because in the sixties and seventies the people in this country still believed in the ability to out produce the rest of the world. American cars of that era were not the best as far as "fit and finish", and the cars were poorly built. The foreign cars were better. But the automakers were forced to improve to sell cars. The concept of "free" trade allowed the foreigners to sell millions of cars to us when we were only allowed to sell thousands in their country. Higher tariffs might have slowed down the invasion, but no one was willing to do that until now. Allowing them to build factories here was another mistake. The automotive press is also guilty, telling us how much better than our cars the foreign cars were. Ever see a good review of an American car in Motor Trend? I don't remember one. But they had high praise for the imports. I still believe that American companies can overcome these problems, but I'm not seeing the willingness to do so from the management of the big three ( big 2? Can fiat/Chrysler be counted anymore?).
One thing that really Frost's my ass is seeing an American flag flying on a foreign car. The owner never sees the irony.
My worthless .02¢
Rant over

[geraldt52]

...One thing that really Frost's my ass is seeing an American flag flying on a foreign car. The owner never sees the irony...

Can't disagree with anything you said, lr68cj, but that bit is the best...