A look at what is on its way in/out in the car industry

Is this the future? An iPod in every car?

In December 2010, the last car equipped with a factory-installed cassette tape player rolled off Lexus’s assembly line. And at the beginning of March this year, Singapore’s cheapest petrol grade rose past the $2 per-litre mark. These two seemingly unrelated events are however indicative of a major trend – Korean cars.

While the recently concluded Geneva Motor Show would have you believe that the future is electric, or at the very least, hybrid, at the time of writing none of the Korean manufacturers seem to be gazing into the same crystal ball. A brief history; in the past five years, Hyundai and Kia have gone from inferior budget-constrained choices to quality alternatives, a hardly insignificant feat considering how difficult it is to change people’s perceptions. Clearly they had their hands too full to bother.

Electric Rolls Royce makes its debut at the Geneva Motor Show 2011

As a result, even though they score no marks for innovation or originality, their ability to incorporate the latest technology and maintain quality, all while keeping prices competitive will make 2011 the year of the Korean cars. It works beautifully on a twofold approach. While every other carmaker scrambles to add a hybrid or electric model to their lineup just to be able to say me-too, the Hyundais and the Kias will quietly continue to sell like hotcakes because they are refining, not re-inventing.

The massively popular Kia Cerato Forte

Hence despite rising fuel prices and the massively inflated COE, the future remains anything but electric for Singapore, simply because no one wants to gamble on the costly first step of changing the infrastructure. It is the singular reason for the death of the once-popular CNG fad. While a good idea on paper, only a dedicated handful could live with a lengthy drive to Jurong Island just to refuel their vehicles. In the same way, unless the price of an HDB season parking ticket comes with the personal usage of a 3-pin socket (or someone starts making insanely long extension cords for residents on the 18^{th storey), it is unlikely that many will invest a seemingly difficult short-term future, as altruistic as the eventual cause may seem. We are just going to go for the convenient, thanks.}

Therein lies the secondary appeal of today’s Korean cars, not just in Singapore, but worldwide. Just think, if our tiny city-state has trouble finding the support necessary to adopt electric technology for the masses, how much longer would it take for larger nations to move? We may marvel at the amazing new possibilities, but still end up making smart consumer choices like picking a car based on its value for money. Currently, the only things we want electric in our cars are the toys inside. And this brings us nicely to the death of the cassette tape. According to industry technology analysts, Lexus was the last holdout; every other manufacturer had long started offering CD players as standard, and for a good reason – standard equipment is where the Japanese and Korean carmakers really stand out from their equivalent European counterparts. And so in today’s digital era, we expect at the very least, a decent in-car entertainment system, better yet if it loads your iPod playlist. Trip computers, steering mounted controls and LED exterior lights are finding their way from luxury to mainstream at an astonishing rate. The new Hyundai i45 for example, checks all of these boxes, looks like a Lexus and sneaks in at just under the Camry’s price tag. It’s a nerd’s dream car that will leave enough change for more nerdy toys.

No shortage of equipment even on the Hyundai i30

So there you have it. If you are looking for a car in 2011 and want to know what is popular, look for e-this or i-that in its specifications (or in Hyundai’s case, the model’s name) and aim to pay the least you can, because unlike electric cars, this is a real possibility, at least for the moment.