November 19, 2019
The days of cheap and cheerful cars
The days of cheap and cheerful cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla may
be numbered as technology firms Google and Apple muscle into the auto industry
and may change the way people own and dri Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman in
a still from the Amazon series Transparent. The days of cheap and cheerful cars
like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla may be numbered as technology firms
Google and Apple muscle into the auto industry and may change the way people own
and drive cars.
That’s the warning from Ken Okuyama, high-end Japanese designer
of the Ferrari F60 Enzo and Porsche Boxster, who says game-changing self-drive
technology could threaten Japan’s position as a major car producer."If they
don’t watch out, they risk becoming just suppliers to those (tech) companies,â€
Mr Okuyama told Reuters in an interview at his industrial design studio in the
Japanese capital ahead of this Tokyo Motor Show.
Mr Okuyama, who made his mark at
Italy’s fabled Pininfarina studio and also redesigned the Chevrolet Camaro and
Corvette, says taking on Google and Apple will be the ultimate test for Toyota
and other mainstream automakers.As writing code becomes as vital to car making
as engineering, Japanese automakers are under pressure to show they can compete
with the tech giants.Google’s fleet of self-driving cars includes a modified
version of Toyota’s Lexus sport utility vehicles, in addition to the pod-like,
driverless Google Car prototype, both of which are being road-tested in the
United States. Apple could roll out a self-driving vehicle in 2019.Honda, which
on Tuesday said it was developing a new automatic setting to be used in
congested traffic, ec
motors Suppliers and technology to pre-programme cars to drive
automatically, acknowledged the potential threat from tech firms in the
future.
At this point, whether Google or Apple can come up with a car is
unclear,†said Koichi Fukuo, president of research and development at Honda.
"But they are spending aggressively to recruit people to achieve that and in
that sense.we can’t rule out the possibility they may eventually become a
competitor,†added Mr Fukuo.Market to split As cars become more automated,
Okuyama predicts the auto market over time may split into two camps: vehicles
that simply fulfil public transportation needs such as self-driving taxis
serviced by ride-hailing applications; and super-luxury cars that will be trophy
items for the wealthy.As a result, he says, car ownership will decline,
decreasing demand for affordable, traditional cars like Honda’s hugely popular
Civic models.
Automakers have used existing technology and road infrastructure
to create cars which have an emotional connection with drivers. This is how they
have been adding value to their products,†Okuyama said."But cars have become
commodity products, and, as such, they have to become more functional and even
more affordable,†he said, foreseeing a future where stripped down, minimalist
‘commodity’ cars would share the roads with luxury vehicles.While this market
polarisation could be years away, Mr Okuyama says Japanese automakers must focus
even more on finding ways for cars to benefit from advanced technologies — an
area where they have lagged for years."Self-driving cars will eventually become
commonplace... as a result, carmakers will have to sell not only the hardware,
but also the overall system to run the cars,†he said.
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