by From Richard Smith If the bulk of CO2 emissions from cars are produced before the car leaves the showroom then, obviously, the best way to suppress vehicle emissions is to produce as few cars as we need and make them last as long as possible. But of course that runs directly counter to the needs of the capitalist auto industry which must seek to maximize sales by driving repetitive consumption, the faster the cycle the higher the profits. Ever since the 1920s, the auto industry has been based on designed-in and advertising-driven obsolescence as the industry ritually pushed “new” but trivially different models each year. Detroit’s Holy Grail was to get you to trade in your “old” car every year. They used to focus on style – grills and tailfins – and of course they’ve always pushed the
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from Richard Smith
If the bulk of CO2 emissions from cars are produced before the car leaves the showroom then, obviously, the best way to suppress vehicle emissions is to produce as few cars as we need and make them last as long as possible. But of course that runs directly counter to the needs of the capitalist auto industry which must seek to maximize sales by driving repetitive consumption, the faster the cycle the higher the profits. Ever since the 1920s, the auto industry has been based on designed-in and advertising-driven obsolescence as the industry ritually pushed “new” but trivially different models each year. Detroit’s Holy Grail was to get you to trade in your “old” car every year. They used to focus on style – grills and tailfins – and of course they’ve always pushed the biggest “fully loaded” models like the ponderous Cadillac Escalades and Lincoln Navigator barges one sees all over my home town New York City – “big car big profit, small car, small profit”. Today they’ve ramped up the technology larding their cars with high-tech features and gadgets: hybrid or all-electric motors, driver assist, AppleCarPlay, rear cameras, even interior cameras, dangerously distracting infotainment systems (Unsafe at any speed!), radar, automatic braking, computerized suspensions, heated (and massaging) seats, heated steering wheels, mood lighting, and more. Much of this high-tech is rapidly obsolesced, can’t be upgraded, or is prohibitively expensive or impossible to repair.[1] Rapid tech obsolescence and the high cost of high-tech repairs is driving consumers to lease cars short-term instead of buying them, and short-term use is accelerating disposal of perfectly good but “obsolete” vehicles. That brand new 2018 Fiat 500e electric car with its 84 mile range will be obsolete in a year or two as new models boast figures well into the triple digits. Like your perfectly functional iPhone 5 that Apple refuses to upgrade because they’d rather you to buy the latest model, chances are it will become e-car waste, junked long before it’s worn out. The replacement battery for a Tesla S costs $44,000, more than half the base cost of the car ($75,000). How many people are going to buy a second-hand Tesla that needs a $44,000 battery?
[1] I recently had to replace a headlight on my 2004 Volvo station wagon. That lightbulb, which of course today comes with built-in electronics, cost me $1450. The car has a Bluebook value of around $4,000 so replacing both headlights would cost almost as much as the car is worth – for lightbulbs! And for all the electronics, it’s not apparent to me that those headlights illuminate the road any better than the standard $35 sealed-beam bulbs on my old VW Beetle.
https://p.feedblitz.com/t3.asp?/973841/5804514/6455707_/www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue87/Smith87.pdf