4 ms·

it’s defining “electrified” as hybrid or electric which is a bit misleading but even so, that’s insane. especially that 1/4 are teslas. people don’t feel lack

it’s defining “electrified” as hybrid or electric which is a bit misleading but even so, that’s insane. especially that 1/4 are teslas. people don’t feel lack of individuality buying the same car that everyone else has?

skyyler 3y ago
Anecdotal but I've noticed that there are merely a small fraction of cars with bumper stickers these days. As a child it felt a lot more commonplace. This is wild conjecture, but maybe the average American doesn't need to project individuality via automobile anymore?
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Maybe. I know that I've never viewed a car as a personal statement of any sort. It's a tool for transportation, nothing more. For years, in the US, this made me a bit of a weirdo. But over the last decade or so, it hasn't done that. And while I still am in the minority, I find more and more people who think the same as me as time goes on.
- SkylockeScarred 3y ago
  It might be more that people are more aware of OPSEC. It's why people who own firearms don't fly Gadsens or put those bumper stickers on their cars as much anymore. It's basically a "smash this window and get a free Glock"
nostrademons 3y ago
Bay Area's always preferred to define individuality by what you do and not what you own. That's why every party conversation starts off with "So...what do you do? What are you working on?" but the billionaire who founded a trillion-dollar company might be sitting next to you in rollerblades, ripped jeans, and company schwag.
mint2 3y ago
Okay the various car commercials that advertise basic economy cars by portraying owners of all other cars as sheep or similar works. Essentially all cars are sold in the tens and hundreds of thousands to people who live in generic suburbs with HOAs that mandate beige conformity. A. Looking the same apparently is not a real issue for most people, although simultaneously fake individuality is used heavily in marketing. B. As nearly all modern commercial items are mass produced and generic, personalizing them would be done by customizing them after the fact, not by buying a similar but different mass produced item. This customization is almost never done, see point A.
- olyjohn 3y ago
  Even gearheads... we buy the car we like, then we customize them. Some of us do like more oddball cars, but it's not necessarily about showing our individuality, as much as we like the experience of those quirky, unique vehicles. Most of us even have a boring, every day daily driver that looks like everybody else's.
spoonjim 3y ago
The idea that you could achieve "individuality" by purchasing a mass-produced item just because it has 1% instead of 25% market share was a lie sold to you by the manufacturers of those items
- alkibiades 3y ago
  disagree, the 1% one is more unique and does display individuality
  - spoonjim 3y ago
    Only if your best way of expressing yourself is in what you buy
filoleg 3y ago
> especially that 1/4 are teslas. people don’t feel lack of individuality buying the same car that everyone else has? I felt it, and I intentionally did test drives for alternatives before even considering a Tesla, but it just didn't make any logical sense for me to get something different after evaluating all the factors. The factors I was considering were price, range, acceleration, how fun to drive it was, size (I didn't want a giant SUV, and I would rather get a smaller 2-seater car similar to Subaru BRZ), and the ease of charging/not having to worry about charging on trips or preplanning it. The whole autopilot/FSD thing wasn't even a factor for me, and I still ended up going with Tesla. 4 years later, I feel the lack of individuality with that car even more, and the market for new EVs from other manufacturers certainly looks much better than it did in 2019, but I still would have picked Model 3 even today tbh. Just not ever having to ever worry about preplanning my charging on any trips (or having to think about it at all ever) is amazing. And I am saying that as someone who lives in an apartment in the middle of a city, without my own dedicated garage. I would love to get a different car that is not a "everyone drives the same one" car that hits all those factors at least just as well. But even with the current state of the EV market, i feel like it will just end up in me replacing my Model 3 with a souped up Model 2 a few years down the road. P.S. I feel like the lack of individuality due to everyone getting the same car sucks, but it usually happens for a good reason. One of my favorite cars of all time to actually drive was a honda civic, and it definitely was also one of those "everyone drives the same one because it addresses a lot of important factors and is a good value for what you pay for it" types of a car (under the whole civic/accord/corolla/camry umbrella of car models). And I just ended up convincing myself that if i really cared about the lack of individuality of the car model i have that much, I would just customize it with a non-stock color or finish vinyl wrap. Which I ended up never doing, as I realized it just doesn't bother me that much yet.

skyyler 3y ago

Anecdotal but I've noticed that there are merely a small fraction of cars with bumper stickers these days. As a child it felt a lot more commonplace. This is wild conjecture, but maybe the average American doesn't need to project individuality via automobile anymore?

JohnFen 3y ago
Maybe. I know that I've never viewed a car as a personal statement of any sort. It's a tool for transportation, nothing more. For years, in the US, this made me a bit of a weirdo. But over the last decade or so, it hasn't done that. And while I still am in the minority, I find more and more people who think the same as me as time goes on.
SkylockeScarred 3y ago
It might be more that people are more aware of OPSEC. It's why people who own firearms don't fly Gadsens or put those bumper stickers on their cars as much anymore. It's basically a "smash this window and get a free Glock"

nostrademons 3y ago

Bay Area's always preferred to define individuality by what you do and not what you own. That's why every party conversation starts off with "So...what do you do? What are you working on?" but the billionaire who founded a trillion-dollar company might be sitting next to you in rollerblades, ripped jeans, and company schwag.

mint2 3y ago

Okay the various car commercials that advertise basic economy cars by portraying owners of all other cars as sheep or similar works. Essentially all cars are sold in the tens and hundreds of thousands to people who live in generic suburbs with HOAs that mandate beige conformity. A. Looking the same apparently is not a real issue for most people, although simultaneously fake individuality is used heavily in marketing. B. As nearly all modern commercial items are mass produced and generic, personalizing them would be done by customizing them after the fact, not by buying a similar but different mass produced item. This customization is almost never done, see point A.

olyjohn 3y ago
Even gearheads... we buy the car we like, then we customize them. Some of us do like more oddball cars, but it's not necessarily about showing our individuality, as much as we like the experience of those quirky, unique vehicles. Most of us even have a boring, every day daily driver that looks like everybody else's.

spoonjim 3y ago

The idea that you could achieve "individuality" by purchasing a mass-produced item just because it has 1% instead of 25% market share was a lie sold to you by the manufacturers of those items

alkibiades 3y ago
disagree, the 1% one is more unique and does display individuality
- spoonjim 3y ago
  Only if your best way of expressing yourself is in what you buy

filoleg 3y ago

> especially that 1/4 are teslas. people don’t feel lack of individuality buying the same car that everyone else has? I felt it, and I intentionally did test drives for alternatives before even considering a Tesla, but it just didn't make any logical sense for me to get something different after evaluating all the factors. The factors I was considering were price, range, acceleration, how fun to drive it was, size (I didn't want a giant SUV, and I would rather get a smaller 2-seater car similar to Subaru BRZ), and the ease of charging/not having to worry about charging on trips or preplanning it. The whole autopilot/FSD thing wasn't even a factor for me, and I still ended up going with Tesla. 4 years later, I feel the lack of individuality with that car even more, and the market for new EVs from other manufacturers certainly looks much better than it did in 2019, but I still would have picked Model 3 even today tbh. Just not ever having to ever worry about preplanning my charging on any trips (or having to think about it at all ever) is amazing. And I am saying that as someone who lives in an apartment in the middle of a city, without my own dedicated garage. I would love to get a different car that is not a "everyone drives the same one" car that hits all those factors at least just as well. But even with the current state of the EV market, i feel like it will just end up in me replacing my Model 3 with a souped up Model 2 a few years down the road. P.S. I feel like the lack of individuality due to everyone getting the same car sucks, but it usually happens for a good reason. One of my favorite cars of all time to actually drive was a honda civic, and it definitely was also one of those "everyone drives the same one because it addresses a lot of important factors and is a good value for what you pay for it" types of a car (under the whole civic/accord/corolla/camry umbrella of car models). And I just ended up convincing myself that if i really cared about the lack of individuality of the car model i have that much, I would just customize it with a non-stock color or finish vinyl wrap. Which I ended up never doing, as I realized it just doesn't bother me that much yet.