I recently watched with growing interest an hour-and-a-half conversation between YouTuber and music producer Rick Beato and author, historian, and futurologist Ted Gioia. The highly entertaining conversation revolved around whether AI poses a threat to music.
Gioia is a multi-talented man. His education, experience, and wide-ranging interests make it an absolute pleasure to listen to. Gioia shows depth in the topic beyond music and sheds light on current culture.
Coolness
The biggest shortcoming he sees in current culture is the disappearance of “coolness”. And he explains it like this: since Disney took over Marvel, “the company has constantly been churning out new films and series” – but the public’s interest is steadily declining. The spectacle is increasing, but boredom is spreading. In his opinion, Marvel is no longer cool. Incidentally, this also applies to Star Wars.
What does this have to do with cars?
Quite a lot. The SUV is now the measure of all things in the car industry. If you still need to get one in your range, you’ve already lost. Unfortunately, the moving wall units rarely look “cool.” They are aerodynamic disasters, clunky, entirely unsuitable for the city, and counterproductive in saving the climate. But they were as “cool” as an iPhone or an expensive handbag for a long time.
That is changing. With every new model, with every new iteration of an SUV, CUV, or crossover, the creative variability decreases dramatically. Unlike music, the design possibilities are finite. That’s why almost all SUVs now look the same.
Electric SUVs
SUVs have been and continue to be a blessing for electromobility. Engineers can install relatively high batteries on the floor without compromising the headroom. Ultimately, however, this has made engineers lazy.
Moreover, the designers and marketing departments also follow the same line. They talk about aerodynamics that don’t exist because the cW is one thing, but the frontal area is far more critical.
The return of the “icons”
The coolness factor has diminished in recent times. There is little room left for natural creativity in and around an SUV. The design language has been exhausted, and most cabinet walls must be more proficient.
Marketing should fix it.
Recently, the trend has been to “reactivate” icons of the past. SUVs are being named after successful role models. Ford is avant-garde here: when the first electric SUV was named after the company’s successful pony car, a murmur went through car fans: how can you do that?
After all, the Mustang MACH-E has become a very sleek SUV. However, the electric car is miles away from being a sports car like the original Mustang—despite having several hundred horsepower.
Ford “Capri” electric
This was also the thinking behind the new Ford Capri Electric presentation. Let’s remember: the Capri was the sports car for the general public in the 1970s and 1980s. Affordable and with a pleasing design, the two-door model was even the star of TV series. In the British agent series “The Professionals,” the sleek sports coupé was the company car of CI5 agents Bodie and Doyle.
It should be noted that Ford cooperates with VW. In Europe, the electric MEB architecture from Wolfsburg will be used for future vehicles. This is used in most ID vehicles, such as the ID.3, 4, etc. Only crossovers and SUVs on this basis are on the market.
A CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) as the successor to a sports coupé?
That was probably why Ford marketing came up with the glorious idea of positioning the latest MEB derivative as the electric revenant of the Capri.
What worked reasonably well for the Mustang went down a storm for the Capri. The blogosphere and social media almost reacted with a kind of shitstorm. People didn’t buy Ford’s advertising message.
The designers have also failed
Looking at the “Capri” from the side, you will also see many parallels between the “SUV coupé” and the Polestar 2, an electric car from the competition. Except that the Polestar 2 has far more successful proportions.
Uncool
In fact, Ford has maneuvered itself into an uncool situation with its marketing strategy and the approval of a borderline design. One gets the impression that they have tried to present the squaring of the circle as solved. That went badly wrong.
After all, a four-door SUV is not a two-door sports coupé
Tesla has proven that coolness is also possible in electromobility. The Chinese company MG has just proven that it is possible to present ultra-cool coupés again with the Cyber GTS.
To mark its 100th anniversary, it presented a sports car study that upholds the tradition of the original British manufacturer and is ultra-cool. The marketing is entirely irrelevant – the “want to have” factor speaks for itself. And Bodie and Doyle would probably be driving MG today…
