Tesla is a good example of how hard a car company must work to stay in consumers’ good graces. They have a stellar product, yet at the same time their vehicles are getting older, Nerad explains. 

They must have a plan on when their existing fleet of cars will be replaced. Usually, the marketplace will allow a five-to-six-year cadence. “It’s hard to go beyond that. You must remain fresh, keep reinventing yourself. That is harder and harder to do but it’s good for consumers.” This is where smaller auto makers come in. It is possible that in the following years fledgling companies would be bought up by the larger brands and their technology installed as part of the auto evolution, Nerad says. 

Companies like Stellantis has set aside (USD) $6.5 Billion a year for electrical and technology research. Jack Nerad Laurance Yap, creative director of Pfaff Automotive Partners says, “more than ever, cars are technological objects as much as they are mechanical objects.” So that begs the question; has the discussion about which engine performs better from 0-60 mph reached its end? Are we done assessing the difference between the muscle-bound American sports car versus the European sports coupe with smaller displacement engines? Not yet. 

 “It seems in some ways Europeans are crossing paths,” Nerad says. “We are seeing V-8 engines coming out of European sports cars and small cylinders in American cars like the turbo charged V-6 engines.” “Europeans have become really aggressive about expensive and high-performance vehicles.”