Manufacturers foist ugly cars on consumers

... who are either clueless or gullible 

 

Jeeps were always pretty ugly, but this
new model takes the cake.

Update: Dec.18, 2023. And so it continues. We’ve Hit a Grim Milestone We Haven’t Seen Since 1981. Why Can’t We Do Anything About It? 

 

The problems described when I wrote this article more than 10 years ago have only gotten worse due to the obsession with corporate profits and aggressive marketing. These vehicles have only gotten bigger and the technology even more distracting. Now they comprise more than 80 percent of vehicle sales.Needless to say my snark-o-meter is off the charts.

 

Update! Feb. 23. Jeep's new Cherokee might take the cake here. It's described in this article as "lumpier, angrier." You decide.

Car manufacturers are going out of their way to design ugly cars.

I didn’t think they could top themselves after SUVs became all the rage, but the marketing behind them blinded consumers into thinking they were buying a safe family vehicle that would take the kids to soccer practice, the wife to the mall, and the husband to the hunting lodge in the mountains. Or convince their neighbors that they were members of the Secret Service. SUVs and their newer kissing cousins, the crossovers, are a lame concept that sucks people into believing they’re the only thing to drive if they have 1.3 kids and a dog.

No, SUVs were not safe, until the tip-over rate led to stabilizer systems. They’re a must for winter weather? Sure, if you want to play cowboy and scare the living daylights out of mere mortals around you. And ice is ice: an SUV will skid as much as a sedan if there’s no traction to be had.

Grammar and Your Writing: Don’t Ignore the Basics

--> Back in the day, magazines, newsletters, and newspapers, and, if you were very lucky, books, were the primary outlets for your written words. An editor sat as judge and jury over every query and article submitted for publication, which meant that a writer crafted each adjective, period, and comma in order to please him or her, and thus, become published.

Fast forward to today. Editors and proofreaders along with their attendant publications are dropping like flies. Blogs are the new way of communicating. They’re easy to set up. Write something, post it, and bam! Instant gratification. Right?

Not so fast.