Mar

American Consumers Not As Enlightened As You Think

Posted by admin Published in Auto News

Hybrids? Pfft. Clean diesel? Who cares. Americans want cars with iPod integration, photochromic glass and capless fueling systems - whatever the hell those are.

Give folks a choice amidst a fuel-sipper with a map in the glove box and a gas guzzler with in-dash navigation and most of them are going domestic in the car that tells them how to get there, according to a “snapshot” survey by MyRide.com.

Forty percent of respondents said features like iPod connectivity and GPS navigation were a factor in choosing a car, and 16 percent said it was a “meaningful ” factor. Asked whether high tech or green tech would be most urgent when choosing their next car, 30 percent said they’d go for the gadgets - more than twice the number who said they’d go green. And 12 percent said high-tech features like Ford’s Sync are more fundamental than the price, performance, cargo room and fuel economy combined.

The pollsters don’t think citizens are dissing hybrid drivetrains and fuel-efficient cars. The way they see it, consumers take green technology for granted and place a premium on advanced communications, safety and “lifestyle” features.

“What it says is green technology has reached a consciousness level where society see it as a standard part of the automotive landscape,” said Brian Chee, editor of MyRide.com. “humans see hybrids as just another car. It’s not

considered new and trendy.”

So what are the hot technologies humans want to see?

Photochromic glass that gets darker as the light gets brighter was by far the hottest tech. society plus love Ford’s capless fueling system and want to see vehicles with hidden external lockable boxes. Most of them found temperature-controlled cup holders nearly as lame as external stereo speakers, swivel-and-go seating and scented tires. Yes, Kumho makes aromatherapy tires in orange, lavender and jasmine. We have no notion why.

Just 130 citizens responded to the online poll, so it can hardly be called scientific. But it underscores the trend underway in the industry as automakers try to duplicate Ford’s success with Sync. Ford’s sold twice as many cars with Sync as without, and the company hopes to knock another one out of the park with its Work Solutions in-dash computers.

Yet only 9 percent of respondents considered Ford the most tech-savvy automaker. That honor went to Toyota. Microsoft is the company they’d most like to see co-design a car - an notion that, as we famous in “Microsoft Wants Sync to Control Much More Than Gadgets,” isn’t at all outlandish.

Photo by Ford.

Original post by Chuck Squatriglia