Automotive lies and nonsense

The automotive industry performance figure fixing scandal that broke originally with Volkswagen has now hit Mitsubishi Motors, with the top management acknowledging that it rigged fuel consumption data. Unlike VW, which first blustered and sought to downplay the first emergence of evidence that it had used secret software to fool emissions tests on its diesel vehicles, the Japanese management has immediately admitted wrongdoing and apologized. The sight of top officials, including Mitsubishi president Tetsuro Aikawa bowing deeply at a press conference in which they accepted that the trickery had taken place was in stark contrast to the VW response. Fellow carmaker Nissan discovered that testers at Mitsubishi had been over-inflating the tires of vehicles whose performance was to be tested on a rolling road.  It could be argued that this tampering with what should have been definitive checks is mild compared with VW’s installation of code in the onboard computer that would adjust the engine’s performance the minute an emissions test device was attached to the exhaust pipe. But in truth, whether the rigging was as sophisticated as this or merely the simple device of over-inflating tires does not really matter, both were designed to deceive regulators and ultimately customers. The reason automotive companies might be tempted into such deception is obvious. In a hugely competitive market where fuel-efficiency and performance are key marketing tools, the need to boost the figures is overwhelming. When all is said and done, a car is a car. But the marketing men play on the aspirations of would-be customers with ever-changing body designs and an incremental increase in onboard gadgetry. A decade ago GPS navigation was among the exclusive functionalities of top-of-the-range cars. Now every vehicle with the exception of the lowest range comes with GPS.  Virtually every new body design is claimed to be the ultimate in ergonomic style. This is interesting. Thirty years ago, the Audi 80 was being sold on the basis that its body design was the most efficient possible, yet a few years later a completely different shape of Audi emerged. The study of ergonomics had not moved on but clearly the hyperbolic rubbish spouted by marketing men had. Looked at dispassionately, such claims are every bit as false as manipulated performance figures. Though there are a few motoring journalists whose reviews trash some new cars and who are regularly critical of the automotive industry, the majority of the motoring press is part of the push to “big up” new cars and echo the breathless marketing blurb of the manufacturers. After all it is advertisements from the industry that ultimately pay their salaries. In the end the only thing that needs to be taken seriously about a car is its safety and reliability. It needs to be able to stop and it needs to be able to keep going. All the other details that fill marketing brochures are secondary. Yet the automakers struggle to persuade us their cars are so much more. Their desperation is evidenced by their TV advertising. This focuses on design, lifestyle and happy young owners in exotic locations. The car itself is often almost secondary. Everything is being done to disguise the prosaic reality that this is just a tin can with four wheels for getting from points A to B.