Dodge CEO Asks ‘Do You Need a Radio’ in ‘Back-to-Basics’ Quest for Entry-Level Cars
Dodge is trying to figure out its place in the world,... “I think the biggest thing that we need to start doing is challenging the industry on what the expectations are from an entry-level base vehicle,” ... We need to push forward and maybe make people uncomfortable, but give them something they don’t realize that they want,” the chief executive continued... This theoretical realignment of what’s truly necessary in a modern car is happening, ..."
Heh.
Another way of saying that it's what WE (as car manufacturers) want, not the end consumer.
Such rubbish.
Back in the eighties and even Hyundai Accents in the early 90s came with no power steering, no radio, and manual windows and no AC with the basic model. With the automatic you got a radio, but no power steering unless you got that extra, same with AC and the highest trim you got it all included. Same as the Chevette I had in the eighties.
I think all the car manufacturers should have a small economy car for someone that just wants a basic affordable car like before.
The companies now have to have all this tech stuff whether you want it or not and you have to pay the price. Why do I need a computer to tell me the car ahead is moving with beeping! Why a push button? What was wrong with a key? So now you have the fob transmitting all the time and someone reads the signal and there goes your car.
As for dodge, they along with Ford and GM aren't even in the car business anymore and don't even make a small car for someone that just wants affordable and economical so what's this about dodge going back to basics? All they make is trucks and SUVs
OK dodge you want to know? Here's what I want, a small basic car with AC, auto, and an AM FM radio, power steering and a 12 volt power outlet...nothing else!...no screen with all kinds of functions, a key starting, no bluetooth, and an outside fender antenna, regular steel wheels, and suspension softer like cars used to be for comfort over the lousy roads and stop saying 33 and 35 lbs pressure for tires when cars used to be made for comfort tire pressure was 28 PSI. I don't need "handling and road feel" I don't care about an extra 1 mile a gallon with harder tires....I want comfort. I lower the tire pressure to what cars always used to be for a little less hard a ride but most cars now are not designed for ride comfort like they used to be. The suspensions are to stiff. You used to be able to physically bounce a car up and down from outside but now, you can't move it! Softening the tires is the only way to soften the ride. That's why you don't have the ride you used to. Even my little Chevrolet Chevette in the eighties had a comfortable ride. So did my little Hyundai Accent in the 90s and 2000s
That's what I want in a basic car. The only "tech" thing that is good for older people like me is a back up camera.
A little off-topic from radio,but I'm reminded of an article I recently saw that kind of surprised me because I didn't realize we had electric cars 30 years ago or in the 1900s:
GM EV1 Saved From Impound Is a Six-Figure Gem Nobody Could Own, GM Helps With Restoration https://www.autoevolution.com/news/youtuber-pays-104k-for-impounded-old-electric-gm-car-that-nobody-ever-owned-one-gm-steps-in-268164.html
The history of electric vehicles is not a modern invention but a recurring cycle of innovation, suppression, and ultimate triumph. In the early 1900s, electric cars were more popular than gasoline ones, prized for being quiet, easy to operate, and requiring no dangerous hand-cranking. However, the discovery of cheap oil and the rise of the Ford Model T sidelined them for nearly a century. This changed in the 1990s with the arrival of General Motors’ GM EV1, the car that proved electric propulsion could be high-tech and desirable. When GM famously reclaimed and crushed the fleet, the resulting public outcry directly inspired the creation of Tesla....
... One of these survivors, a 1996 model known as V212 (after its VIN sequence), was recently rescued from a Georgia impound auction for 104,000 dollars. It is one of the very few remaining EV1s that were not crushed. Originally a donation to Clark College, the car had been forgotten and left to deteriorate until a legal loophole allowed it to be sold with a private title. That makes it the only privately-owned EV1 not only in existence, but ever. For years, leasers fought tooth and nail to legally keep their EV1s at the end of the lease contract, but GM’s lawyers eventually won. Yet somehow, this green example made it through....
I wonder why they wouldn't let the owners keep them? They had never been sold, only leased - I wonder why?
... I think all the car manufacturers should have a small economy car for someone that just wants a basic affordable car like before. ...
That's what I want in a basic car. The only "tech" thing that is good for older people like me is a back up camera.
The original VW Bugs answered that call. I remember mechanics saying if you could fix a broke down bicycle then you could fix a broke down VW, and in many ways that was true. Didn't get much more basic than that.
When I purchased my new car recently (about a year ago), I went in and said I wanted the most stripped down, basic model they had. Even that today has air conditioning, power everything, fancy electronics. But I didn't want leather seats, seat warmers, fancy paint, etc.
Of course they tried to upsell me (they were horrified that I didn't care if there was no fob, just key entry). But I did walk out with the basic car they advertised, at the lowest price, with no added features.
I remember when that car would have been close to the top of the line model. One of my favorite cars I owned was a little 2 seater, 3 cylinder, convertible with manual transmission. In fact, manual everything, including windows, door locks, no airconditioning (it was a convertible!) - even manual raising and lowering of the top. But I took that thing through every kind of weather, including snow storms, and it had plenty of pep. When I bought it, I walked in, said I wanted that car, they said OK, and that was that.
Oh, and no radio in it, but I put in my own, upgraded Alpine (with a multi CD player in the head unit) and that thing was sensitive.