I thought that product evolution only happened among steam mops but that belief was changed on reading this article.

By classification fads and trends appear and disappear, and seem to affect all avenues of life, including the automobile industry. Take a look at all the shifts that have happened during the last decade in the car market. In 2002, you would probably have been surprised at how fast the new designs could go, even basic, budget cars like the Nissan Altima.

The appearance of the 240 horsepower engine hearalded in speeds a lot higher than what the 90′s had made us accustomed to. It wouldn’t end there either, because today the Volkswagen Passat, a family car, comes with 280 horsepower under the bonnet. At $30,000 you can buy yourself a little Mitsubishi which can embarass a Camaro with its performance. Just who would have thought that an ordinary car nowadays could be something so powerfully engined as the 500 horsepower Dodge Viper. Basically there are no longer any automobiles that don’t have serious power. Vehicles are continuing to get bigger, as each renovation seems to be bigger than the one before. Today’s Honda Civics tend to be bigger than the older Accords, and the new Toyota Rav4 is longer than its precursor by all of 14 inches.

None of us seems to want to acquire the same car or less, but still have to pay more money. If they’re going to have to shell out the dough, they want their automobiles bigger and better. Regrettably, much larger also means heavier, and vehicle makers will continue to make what the consumer is willing to buy. United states automobile buyers want to pay less money for their gasoline, but they don’t want to sacrifice speed to get it. They might rather pay more and wait for their hybrid car, the Prius from Toyota, which will allow them to keep going fast. This, with the same dealer having plenty of Corollas left unsold. To keep up to date, all car manufacturers are bringing hybrids to the markets, even those like Nissan Altima, which is using a system developed by Toyota, a competitor.

Vehicles with pizzaz, that’s what modern day buyers want, not the flat, boring styling popular in the 90s. There’s almost not a car these days that doesn’t come pre-loaded with power steering, power windows and locks, an impressive-sounding stereo and 6 airbags. These cost money, which probably explains the $28,000 price tag of the average new car. The SUV today seems to be bought by foolish people, so perhaps we are going back to the days when a car was a car. Possibly it was a fashion that had its day, because the worst-hit in terms of sales are the bigger SUVs. Sales of the Ford Explorer in addition to Expedition are low, while sales of little cars are getting better all the time, even the Sentra and the Neon.

Cars definitely don’t need to be as fast as they are, or so big, so the car companies should recognize this and change accordingly. Hybrids are definitely the new item, and it’s destined to be interesting to follow them over the longer term. 10 years from today we can take a glance back at all the crazy stuff that took place between now and then.

I hope Dunlop tryes will not get such a back and forth change. I love the ones on the market now.