Hello everyone!
As a practitioner in the automotive media industry, my friends and I are full of passion for cars. Moreover, cars are now in the stage of electrification and intelligent transformation. New cars are emerging one after another, and various new concepts, new technologies, and new ways of playing are also constantly emerging.
Jidu Auto Concept Car
Logically speaking, today should be the happiest era for car enthusiasts, but my colleagues and I test drive hundreds of cars every year and attend countless launch conferences, but we all feel vaguely : Are our current cars becoming more and more boring?
Aesthetics are gradually becoming the same
Designs are becoming more and more similar
If we look at the speed of new car launches, it is definitely the fastest in the history of automobiles in more than 100 years. in the country alone, according to data from the Passenger Car Association, will launch 384 new cars in 2021.
Data comes from the Passenger Car Association
However, this is also the era when designs are most consistent in the history of automobiles. The unique design styles of each car company are disappearing. The latest Chevrolet may look like Honda, and then Honda will look like , modern , and modern Like Ford. A number of domestic models are becoming more and more similar. Exaggerated mouths, sharp headlights, sharp waistlines, through-type taillights, etc. have become standard features of almost every new car. If the car logos were removed, even the most experienced car fans would not be able to tell who owns the latest model.
Top: Xpeng G9 Bottom: Ideal L9
In addition, almost all car companies regard electrification as a top priority, but Mercedes-Benz said that it would redefine luxury, but was questioned by netizens. Civic .
BMW said that it would have a new design language for electric vehicles, so the double kidney grille on the front of the car takes up the entire front face.
BMW iX
Coming to the interior, the interiors of different brands, different price points, and different levels of models are also rapidly assimilating. is either because everyone’s understanding of technology and intelligence is too consistent, or simply because copied the same car. Inserting a giant Pad into the center console of has become the unanimous choice of many car companies.
In August last year, the British "Wired" magazine published an article: "This is why all electric cars look exactly the same" . In this article, it was pointed out that a large number of new companies lacking automotive development and design backgrounds are rapidly growing. Influx into the field of electric vehicles, is an important reason for the homogeneity of vehicle models.
In fact, there are many reasons for the increasing convergence of car designs, such as regulatory restrictions; the large-scale application of modularization and platforming; the pursuit of low wind resistance; and as cars enter the homes of ordinary people, the design is mainly different. No longer serve beauty, but mainly serve sales.
The drag coefficient of the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept car is 0.17
But for whatever reason, for consumers, the era of flourishing car designs is gone forever. Today's car exteriors and interiors are becoming more and more similar. See more If not, it will become more and more boring.
The character of gasoline cars
is highly similar to
For gasoline cars, modularization and platformization are now the choices of almost all car companies. The reason is also very simple. This can greatly reduce development costs and production costs.
Volkswagen has developed countless models such as Golf, Passat , Tiguan , etc. on the MQB platform. Toyota ’s new models are almost all based on the TNGA architecture. Domestic cars are also actively promoting platform-based production, Geely CMA, Great Wall's Lemon Platform, etc. are also incubating more and more models.
The engines, gearboxes, chassis, etc. of models under the same platform are highly versatile. Even if there are differences in later matching, the similarity in physical basis makes the differences caused by later adjustment and matching more and more perceptible. Small.
In addition, in addition to these mechanical similarities, what really makes the car more and more boring is that the tuning and matching are becoming more and more similar.In the field of family cars priced below RMB 300,000, our is increasingly following a similar tuning logic. is light, smooth and easy to drive, which has almost become the common goal of most family cars.
From a commercial perspective, there's really nothing wrong with this, because that's what the vast majority of consumers want. After all, any model that focuses on handling and driving will generally not sell well. But from the perspective of consumers, you will feel that cars from different car companies all drive similarly, and their personalities are becoming more and more similar.
In addition, there are more and more electronic auxiliary devices in the car. In addition to making driving easier and safer, also sacrifices a lot of driving fun.
Take overtaking as an example. All the driver needs to do is hold the steering wheel tightly and step on the accelerator. This seems to be operated by humans, but in fact it is the computer that has the final say on how many gears to downshift and when to downshift.
For another example, many off-road vehicles are now equipped with "foolish off-road mode". No matter what the road conditions are, the owner only needs to hold the steering wheel tightly. There is no need to consider whether the chassis height needs to be raised or lowered, and there is no need to consider Whether the differential lock needs to be locked or not, there is no need to consider the driving mode, just leave these to the computer. This does reduce the difficulty of driving, but it is also a lot less fun.
Electric vehicles are stuck in
Involution and stacking
Powerful, but the same
Electric vehicles are the future development direction, and sales are growing rapidly. However, although new products of electric vehicles are emerging one after another, no single brand can have outstanding highlights, thus leaving an indelible impression on people.
In the era of fuel vehicles, we talk about the luxury of Mercedes-Benz, the control of BMW, the mediocrity of Toyota, Honda's engine-free delivery, and the muscularity of American cars. But in the era of electric vehicles, the homogeneity of appearance, interior, and power has made everything less interesting.
The homogeneity of appearance and interior is easy to understand, and the power of electric vehicles is also homogeneous. So how do we understand this? First of all, it must be admitted that electric vehicles rely on the inherent advantages of motors, and is far behind gasoline vehicles in terms of power. For example, the Model 3 Performance, which costs more than 300,000 yuan, can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in 3.3 seconds, and the latest million-level BMW M3 Thunder Edition only takes 3.5 seconds to reach 100 kilometers in .
But there is not only one way to express the power of . such as Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce are undoubtedly very powerful, but the feelings of car owners are completely different.
In electric vehicles, motors have constant power and constant torque power output. makes many electric vehicles so-called powerful, and has exactly the same expression. The first time you experience , you may exclaim because of the super pushing feeling, but after experiencing more, you will feel the same.
In addition, power is only the lowest threshold for control. In electric vehicles, because power is easier to obtain, and control is more challenging for manufacturers, and it requires a certain threshold for consumers to experience it, has gradually been ignored by both car companies and consumers. .
The core experience is immature
Involution and stacking are serious
In addition, I admit that from an industry perspective, although electric vehicles are still immature in various ways, these problems can only be solved through development. is just like when gasoline cars were first born, the user experience is not even as good as horse-drawn carriages, but it cannot be denied that gasoline cars should be promoted and developed.
But from the perspective of ordinary consumers, the immaturity of trams will affect our daily car experience. Although electric cars are trying hard to use various black technologies and various unnamed battery technologies, as if these are some great achievements, still cannot solve the non-existent battery life problem for oil cars.
Although in the propaganda of car companies, charging speeds are getting faster and faster, and even 800V high-voltage fast charging is becoming popular, in reality it is almost impossible to find charging piles that support 800V high-voltage fast charging.
Therefore, while we admit that electric vehicles are a future prospect, we must also admit that for ordinary people today, electric vehicles still have many limitations: is expensive, has short battery life, shrinks battery life in winter, has few charging piles, and has a low value retention rate. , Worry about spontaneous combustion, etc.
It is precisely because car companies have not made major breakthroughs in the above core experiences, and or the performance of each company is about the same. Therefore, the accumulation of intelligence in has become a new arms race among manufacturers.
The basic functions on the car can no longer satisfy the arms race, so it has become a new way to connect the car and the home to achieve remote control. Although I think there are very few car owners with smart homes in their homes.
L2-level assisted driving cannot meet the competition of car companies. Now the number of lidar has become a new target for car companies to involute. Although before the real popularization of autonomous driving, the performance difference of brought by two or four lidars is actually similar, but without 4 lidars, seems to be incapable of even talking.
Recently, the term " computing power " has frequently appeared in manufacturers' promotions, but so far no one has been able to explain clearly what differences in user experience the high computing power of can bring. I understand that the computing power of is the same as that of mobile phone manufacturers who used to score points in previous years. However, there is often no necessary connection between benchmark scores and user experience.
It is no exaggeration to say that the development path of 's current electric vehicles is very similar to that of domestic mobile phones. When the design of the cars converges, the usage experience and functions converge, and the power and driving experience converge, manufacturers are just comparing computing power and comparison. When the number of radar is larger than the screen size, the charm of cars will gradually disappear.
written at the end
Although the above reasons have convinced me, the current cars are becoming more and more boring and boring. , but I have always believed that society and any industry, will definitely continue to develop and progress. If you only see the boring side of today's cars, , it will definitely be one-sided.
DBS Superleggera Volante
First of all, if any product can only be consumed by a few people, then it is most likely to have taste and personality. But once it becomes a mass consumer product, being simple and practical and meeting the needs of the largest number of consumers becomes the first goal. At this time, the so-called fun and style of must be appropriately sacrificed.
Although we envy the car design from the 1940s to the 1960s, and we are also yearning for the so-called sense of control and sportiness, these are not what ordinary consumers are pursuing. For them, Sylphy , Lavida , Haval H6, which are durable, easy to drive and inexpensive cars, are the best choices.
Therefore, sometimes, an increasingly boring car in the eyes of car enthusiasts may be the car that ordinary consumers really need.
In addition, it is inherently biased to look at electric vehicles based on our requirements for cars in the era of gasoline cars. Although electric vehicles have various problems, the charm of electric vehicles lies in the fact that , combined with intelligence, networking, autonomous driving, etc., will create unlimited possibilities.
This is like not being able to use the parameters of a functional phone to evaluate a smartphone: whether the phone call is clear or whether the standby time is half a month.
In addition, before the emergence of smart phones, we always thought that making phone calls was the basic function of mobile phones, but for smart phones, this is obviously no longer the case. Similarly, for future electric vehicles, it may not be certain whether moving from A to B is a basic function of a vehicle.
Maybe the car of the future will be a networked space that can be moved around at will. Not only will everyone live in it, but even the organizational form of companies will be disbanded in the future. Everyone will distribute their work through the network. Everyone can work in their own car. possible.
In short, I do think that today's cars, whether gas cars or electric cars, are becoming more and more boring, but now also breeds unlimited possibilities for future cars.
Finally, do you think today’s cars are boring? What do you think the cars of the future will look like? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.
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