Do you care about the engine?
Would you still buy a Chevy truck, if it has Toyota designed engine made in China? How about a Mustang with a Kia V6 sourced from Mexico?
Stellantis must feel differently as they have brought back their 5.7 / 6.4 Hemi V8.
From the article... Since internal combustion engines were adopted as the de facto mode of propulsion for automobiles, they became one of their most defining characteristics. Sonorous Italians, ultra-high revving Japanese, or “no replacement for displacement” Americans: those stereotypes exist simply because said engines became synonymous not just with certain models, but brands (and even countries) as a whole.
Today, we live in a world that has experienced a rapid technological advancement in a relatively short time, and cars are no exception. In fact, they have become just another commodity to the new generation of buyers who, if at least one exec is to be believed, simply don’t care what’s under the hood of their ride.
That executive is none other than Ford Vice Chair John Lawler, so his opinion has a certain gravity. “I don’t think that consumers really think about powertrains the way they did 30 years ago”, he said on May 28 during Bernstein’s strategic decisions conference, according to Autonews.
He is probably right. The shift to electrification has transformed the way new car buyers view their purchases, and it’s not just electric vehicles, but hybrids that have contributed to that. Blame the effort to reduce CO2 emissions if you have to, but there’s no hiding from the truth; nowadays, cars fall under the “white goods” category, and romantics be damned.
“Where [combustion engines] defined what a vehicle was – the horsepower, the displacement, the torque and everything about the vehicle – I think a lot of that is gone,” Lawler explained.
Sure, in certain niches combustion is still king, but the vast majority of customers don’t give a damn whether their car comes with an ICE, hybrid or all-electric powertrain as long as it’s priced withing their reach and has the features and range they desire. And while petrolheads may bemoan that reality, automakers welcome it with open arms.
That’s because it opens up hitherto unavailable possibilities. Since engines are no longer a defining trait, each brand is free to choose from a much wider array of units. What’s more, it doesn’t even have to make them itself which, much to shareholders’ joy, will lower costs and increase profit – plus it can benefit the end user, who won’t have to pay the premium needed to cover the R&D each maker’s department spent in creating each engine.
Parts sharing is nothing new, and neither is engine sharing, even if carmakers don’t exactly advertise the fact that an Audi’s V10, for instance, is basically the same as a Lamborghini‘s despite the latter having a significantly higher price tag.
www.carscoops.com
Would you still buy a Chevy truck, if it has Toyota designed engine made in China? How about a Mustang with a Kia V6 sourced from Mexico?
Stellantis must feel differently as they have brought back their 5.7 / 6.4 Hemi V8.
From the article... Since internal combustion engines were adopted as the de facto mode of propulsion for automobiles, they became one of their most defining characteristics. Sonorous Italians, ultra-high revving Japanese, or “no replacement for displacement” Americans: those stereotypes exist simply because said engines became synonymous not just with certain models, but brands (and even countries) as a whole.
Today, we live in a world that has experienced a rapid technological advancement in a relatively short time, and cars are no exception. In fact, they have become just another commodity to the new generation of buyers who, if at least one exec is to be believed, simply don’t care what’s under the hood of their ride.
That executive is none other than Ford Vice Chair John Lawler, so his opinion has a certain gravity. “I don’t think that consumers really think about powertrains the way they did 30 years ago”, he said on May 28 during Bernstein’s strategic decisions conference, according to Autonews.
He is probably right. The shift to electrification has transformed the way new car buyers view their purchases, and it’s not just electric vehicles, but hybrids that have contributed to that. Blame the effort to reduce CO2 emissions if you have to, but there’s no hiding from the truth; nowadays, cars fall under the “white goods” category, and romantics be damned.
“Where [combustion engines] defined what a vehicle was – the horsepower, the displacement, the torque and everything about the vehicle – I think a lot of that is gone,” Lawler explained.
Sure, in certain niches combustion is still king, but the vast majority of customers don’t give a damn whether their car comes with an ICE, hybrid or all-electric powertrain as long as it’s priced withing their reach and has the features and range they desire. And while petrolheads may bemoan that reality, automakers welcome it with open arms.
That’s because it opens up hitherto unavailable possibilities. Since engines are no longer a defining trait, each brand is free to choose from a much wider array of units. What’s more, it doesn’t even have to make them itself which, much to shareholders’ joy, will lower costs and increase profit – plus it can benefit the end user, who won’t have to pay the premium needed to cover the R&D each maker’s department spent in creating each engine.
Parts sharing is nothing new, and neither is engine sharing, even if carmakers don’t exactly advertise the fact that an Audi’s V10, for instance, is basically the same as a Lamborghini‘s despite the latter having a significantly higher price tag.
Ford Exec Declares Engines No Longer Matter, Enter Outsourcing And China | Carscoops
Gone are the times when a car was defined, in a large part, by its engine; nowadays, consumers have a different set of priorities
www.carscoops.com
