Automobiles…. A piece of machinery created by mankind to ease the strain given by transport of people and commodities. By the end of January of the blooming year of 1886 where the first combustion engines were built right after the release of steam engines, Mr. Carl Benz, the former owner and founder of today’s well known Mercedes Benz Company, Filed the patent for the first ever combustion engine automobile, known as the Benz model 1.
The engine of an automobile is certainly an engineering marvel made by mankind. The making of the machinery involves complex mechanisms to work in an equal rhythmic timing to produce a significant result in the distance and speed that the machine can cover.
Automobiles range in different varieties in the present days according to the user’s preference and the varieties available right now are very vast and open to even the most minute details.
The major types these days are street cars, family cars, Off Road vehicles, heavy duty vehicles, high speed automobiles, Pleasure drive vehicles, Auto show vehicles, Refurbished antiques, stunt vehicles, rally vehicles, mountain terrain 4×4’s , hyper cars, hybrid supercars, Nascar cars, vintage classics (1940’s), etc. And they are made by various brands with their various value propositions to appeal to the buyers
One of the most loved retro cars in today’s youth are, Toyota’s Supra (both the old and the new version), Nissan skyline GTR, Nissan GT-R, Mitsubishi Evo x Lancer, Subaru Impreza WRX.
In today’s date we have many spectacular brands of cars, in which each and every brand has their own unique, style, designs, and a different approach towards their making and perspective of how cars are to be made. Each brand has one specific area where they specialize in.
Toyota specialises in engine quality and fuel economical cars that are highly cost effective but still give a remarkable performance. The brand is focused on given the cheapest yet best of cars for smooth pleasant ride. Similarly, Toyota’s Etios was ranked India’s safest car.
In the same vein, the Koenigsegg brand specialises in producing top notch cars that only focus on speed, performance, and power that these cars are in the end highly expensive to buy.
But they make up for it with their high-performance sports car that take the buyers to breakneck speeds that are truly thrilling.
Now that I’ve already gone through the topics of power, speed, types and luxury, let’s move on to one of the most mind-blowing sectors of the automobile industry, the high-techs, where vehicles contain futuristic technologies to enhance the user’s experience in commuting.
One of the most expected techs to come into the automobile world is levitation, i.e cars that can levitate and wouldnt have any more use of the convention wheels. This tech is said to be based upon the phenomena called ‘magnetic levitation’- this is the repulsion caused when like pole magnets are brought closer. The reason why this tech has not yet reached the markets is the infrastructure – i.e. all roads must be plated with electromagnets for this vehicle to move. Due to this very reason magnetic levitation or otherwise known as maglev is only used in trains as they have only very few routes and it makes commutation faster due to absence of friction and surface on surface irregularities.
Another tech that is still a work in progress is the salt water batteries, batteries that are able to produce electricity through salt water directly from the sea. The salt water is used to capture store and eventually release the stored energy as electricity.
Well one of the latest techs brought in by sports car companies to boost house power (hp) and overall performance are the hybrids, these cars are half electric and half conventionally fuelled. They combined both the power of engines and electric heavy-duty, high-speed motors to boost the hp by 20%. Such tech was recently used in the Porsche 911 spyder, where the front axle was electrically powered and the back axle was powered by an engine. This tech is now used in modern day family cars as well.
A futuristic automobile tech that is predicted to arrive in the next 5 to 10 years is the heads-up display unit instead of the conventional mechanical or led speedometers, odometers or rpm metres. These ‘heads-up’ display idea was made to help drivers focus more on the road and to reduce the need to look away while driving to reduce the casualties caused by lack of concentration in the world.
Why the aforementioned discussed about automobile sophistication and styles, consumer’s choice has been largely discovered to be based on
- Price: Consumers are typically looking for the best value for their money, and they will often compare prices from different brands before making a decision. This is true for a larger percentage of consumers.
- Fuel economy: Automobiles with good fuel economy can save consumers a lot of money each year on fuel costs, in these times of higher gasoline prices.
- Reliability: Automobiles with a good reputation for reliability are often more desirable to consumers.
- Features: popular features include a sunroof, heated seats, and a navigation system.
Brand reputation: Consumers are more likely to buy a car from a manufacturer that they trust and have a positive reputation. - Safety: Automobiles with good safety ratings are often more desirable to consumers, well the reasons are obvious.
- Personal preference: Ultimately, the decision of which automobile brand to buy is a personal one. There is no right or wrong answer, and the best brand for one consumer may not be the best brand for another.
Brands like Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, etc have been able to master the economic side and successfully combined with some level of sophistication; making them most popular auto brands of choice around the world, while brands like Pagani, Buggatti, Koenigsegg and known for their ultra-high end sophistically- they appeal to the vanity of their section of the high-end market.
Shivaathmajan Prabakaran is a Btech IT student at the Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India . He is an automobile enthusiast, a technophile and a wordsmith.
