3 ms·
There was an interesting article in the WSJ that talks about "contingency anxiety," and explains why car manufacturers like Land Rover add ridiculous capabiliti
by chaz 13y ago
There was an interesting article in the WSJ that talks about "contingency anxiety," and explains why car manufacturers like Land Rover add ridiculous capabilities, like fording waters 35.4" inches deep, in their Range Rover.
Car makers call it "contingency anxiety," the urge to buy a mechanically
overqualified vehicle because maybe, once in a blue moon—or a
hurricane on a high tide—the car buyer might need the extra functionality.
I think this is tapping into the same psychology. I've seen people insist on buying AWD in the Bay Area "just in case" they go skiing to Lake Tahoe, but never do.
The reality is that most Tesla owners will simply commute well within the regular range. Telsa is reducing the, "but how will we do the 4 hour drive to grandma's house for Thanksgiving" argument by providing an inconvenient -- but workable -- solution. They're betting that's enough to get a meaningful number of people over the hump.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578105270554653446.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732443980457810...
- mansigandhi 13y agoVery interesting. thanks!
- grecy 13y agoI'm heavily involved in the Overlanding community, which is all about traveling around the world in your own vehicle[1] People constantly raise the question as to why people from the United States don't do this nearly as much as people from other countries. I've come to the conclusion that it's mostly related to this "contingency anxiety" you speak of. US citizens are so concerned about covering every possible situation they spend their time buying and building, but never actually go anywhere much. The few that do go have so much stuff their vehicles are huge and extremely heavy and they wind up having all manner of serious mechanical issues. I drove Alaska->Argentina[2] in a dead-stock Jeep TJ with little more than camping gear[3] and didn't have a single issue the entire 2 years. It's amazing how US Citizens will attack the "get out and go" approach by listing the 5000 things that could possibly go wrong. Before I left, I had people telling me (among other things) I'd die in an earthquake, get bitten by an exotic critter, catch H1-N1, get AIDS from a shoddy 3rd world blood transfusion, etc. etc. So much fear of the "what if" [1] Details on Overlanding http://wikioverland.org/Overland_Frequently_Asked_Questions http://wikioverland.org/Overland_Frequently_Asked_Questions [2] My blog http://theroadchoseme.com/ http://theroadchoseme.com/ [3] The gear I took http://theroadchoseme.com/on-the-road http://theroadchoseme.com/on-the-road