Car Design?

Companies have been gearing their cars according to a variety of different innovations. These three innovations can be categorized under three headings: Customization, Navigation System and Accessories, and doing or not doing it yourself. Car deign has transformed greatly since the 80’s when cars were just unappealing boxes. Nowadays, accessories such as GPS navigation systems, window tinting, decals, and body kits are all available to improve the look of your car. Cars are being made to be either fuel efficient, have high performance, or have a mixture of both. Toyota is a good example of a company that creates cars that don’t have a lot of performance but are reliable cars that get great fuel efficiency. On the other hand Ferrari is a great example of a company whose cars having amazing performance but get horrible gas mileage due to their large engines. Volkswagen is a good example of a company that incorporates speed as well as fuel efficiency. In addition to performance and fuel efficiency another key aspect to car design is safety. Nowadays, all cars with standard features such as airbags. However, some cars come with features such as Onstar or a device that calls for help directly from your car. With features such as these as well as designing cars to be more appealing to eye, car design has dramatically improved since the automobile’s earlier days.

Customization has been a popular trend for the younger driver. With sites such as Car Domain where a user can buy all kinds of parts for their cars and get examples of what other people did with their cars, the customization trend has been growing very rapidly. Everything from audio to the entire body of a car can be customized nowadays in addition to the car’s engine. Customization has become so popular that even the older crowd is starting to get into this recent trend. Since older people generally have more money to spend, what is now hip is for them is to purchase expensive cars that are already fast and customizing them so they are even faster. Popular expensive cars that have been customized are Porsche’s, BMW’s, and Corvette’s. With events such as the Cannonball Run people from all over the country compete with their customized or not customized cars for a race across the country. The rules state that people should maintain a constant 61 mph. However, it is frequent that people break this rule and exceed the speed limit by surpassing speeds of 100 mph. Since customizing allows consumers to improve the performance, handling, and indirectly the safety of their cars, these “souped” up cars can go well over 100 mph and still feel as if the car is going 60 mph. Cars like the Subaru STi and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo are being specifically built for people that want to go fast. The STi has really nothing to it when it comes to the looks of the car, despite an aggressive exterior, but instead is completely packed with horsepower and anything that will boost performance. The Evo also does not have much of an interior but like the STi, the car is a street racers dream. At a relatively inexpensive price for the performance, these cars are extremely popular in the underground street racing world. Customizing cars is a trend that anyone can participate in, as long as you have a desire topped off with a little adrenaline.

Toys and gadgets are extremely popular in car design, most with the purpose of simplifying the consumer’s life. Among the most popular in accessories is the navigation system. Navigation systems simplify the consumer’s life by giving step by step directions to the driver on where to go. Not only this, but modern and more advanced navigation systems have the ability to plan routes based on whether or not you want to use the highway in addition to simply planning the fastest route. As well, you can search for nearby restaurants or cafés from your destination. These navigation systems sometimes also have a DVD function where you can watch DVD’s in your car. Another popular accessory in one’s car is premium audio quality systems in your car. Crutchfield is a site that has the latest in speakers and subwoofers as well as any other accessory that you could be looking for. Not only do they offer speakers and subwoofers, but you can input what kind of car you have and Crutchfield will customize the kinds of audio equipment that is eligible to fit your car. Another accessory that has been recently implemented in cars is Bluetooth. With Bluetooth built into your car, a cell phone that has Bluetooth can automatically connect to your car and any call that you receive or make can be played through your speakers. Accessories for your car is a popular customization tool that has been enjoyed by car owners of all ages and can be enjoyed by you two if you do it a little research and visits the sites that I have stated previously.

Doing it yourself has been a popular theme in the customization world. The sense of accomplishment and the savings in your wallet are just a few of the positive outcomes when you do it yourself. People have posted on the internet their cars and the way in which you install something. In the above link, a fellow car enthusiast gave step by step instructions on how to install an intake in a Nissan 350z. For those who have more money and just don’t really have time to do it themselves they can hire people to install whatever they want for them. Although, the newest in not doing it yourself is a button. A button that when pushed automatically parks the car for you. The days of stressful parallel parking are now however if you can afford the $61,000 Lexus LS460. With numerous on-board cameras and a price tag of $4,000 dollars on top of the base price, the Lexus LS460 takes the cake with the ultimate not doing it yourself accessory. Whether you choose to do it yourself or not do it yourself cars can be a whole lot of fun.

If you are a car enthusiast or not car design is apparent in all cars of the world. Whether it be gearing towards consumers who like to customize their cars or having accessories in your car, car design is everywhere. Car’s is one of the few areas where anyone has the opportunity to get involved. This could be why car companies spend so much time on creating new cars and designing them. If there was no car design, all of the hip aspects of cars such as customization, street racing, luxury in a car, etc. would basically not exist. Design is normally associated with interior design or architectural design, but when it comes to cars design is written all over them.

http://www.cardomain.com
http://www.crutchfield.com
http://www.subaru.com
http://www.mitsubishimotors.com
http://www.thegreatamericanrun.com
http://www.lexus.com
http://www.cscout.com/blog/data/sonypic.jpg

Voice Activated Information System

This is a video of a voice activated information system. This information system can be activated by voice as well as it can tell you anything from stock prices of various companies, scores of sports games, and weather in various cities of the world. This device further shows the advancement in accessories for your car.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=og4ExjlreI4&mode=related&search

Teckademics

This video is a clip of the hit drag racing series called Teckademics. It shows how popular street racing has become that even wealthy older people are starting to get into it. They are also customizing cars that are already fast and participating on events such as Cannonball. Cannonball is a race across the country in where you go as fast as you want and try not get caught by the cops. They are customizing cars such as Porsche's, Corvette's, and Ferrari's or Lamborghini's.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r3ZvX2AZz-Y

Lexus LS 460

This is the commercial that shows how the new LS parks itself. It shows how accurate the car is by immediately stopping when it is about to touch the champagne glasses. In addition, it shows that you can completely let go of the steering wheel as the car parallel parks itself. It shows how we are becoming reliant on computers and straying away from the do it yourself mentality that has existed in our society for ages.

http://www.lexus.com/models/LS/features/pricing.html

STi Vs. EVO

The Subaru STi and the Mitisubishi Evo are two types of cars that are purely made for racing. They are both four door sport sedans that have aggressive features on the exterior of the cars and have little to no appeal in terms of the interior. They are literally purely made for racing. They are both light, have big engines, and are geared towards the consumer that loves to race, go fast, and doesn't want to spend a lot of money doing it. The Evo is priced at around 30 thousand to start and the STi is priced at 34 thousand to start. Since both of these cars are relatively inexpensive, they have a great appeal to the racing inspired consumer. Both of these cars can go from 0-60 in under 5 seconds and to the consumer that loves to customize their cars, they can make these cars keep up with Ferrari's and cars that are well over 100 thousand dollars without having to spend alot of money to customize it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioNjbsjAZ8k

Interviews

19 year old male:

Q: What do you look for in a car when you want to purchase one?
A: Good looking exterior and interior, high performance, and popularity of the car.

Q: What are some of the car brands that you like the most?
A: Lamborghini, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, and Ferrari

19 year old female:

Q: What do you look for in a car when you want to purchase one?
A: Car has to look pretty and has to have an interior where everything is easy to find.

Q: What are some of the car brands that you like the most?
A: Range Rover, Acura, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Hyundai

46 year old Male:

Q: What do you look for in a car when you want to purchase one?
A: Good looking car, gets great gas mileage, and is within a reasonable price range.

Q: What are some of the car brands that you like the most?
A: Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Toyota

44 year old Female:

Q: What do you look for in a car when you want to purchase one?
A: Gas Mileage, Not to expensive, Sleek.

Q: What are some of the car brands that you like the most?
A: Toyota, BMW, Range Rover, and Mercedes Benz.


These interviews show that in different age groups what kind of car and what the consumer is looking for in a car is different. For example, cars like the Scion Tc are geared towards the new driver consumer because they have the option to customize it as well as it improve its performance at an inexpensive price. While the older consumer is mainly concerned with the price of the car as well as whether or not it gets good gas mileage.