We can all imagine how people back in the day struggled to get from place to place. The history of transportation starts from having to walk on foot to get almost everywhere. Humans learned to ride their sturdier animal companions like horses and donkeys to get to farther distances a bit quicker and without getting tired as much.
Then the wheel was created. Horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, trains, and the first automobiles made use of this, ultimately paving the way to almost all vehicles we know of today. All these changes to how people traveled were done to keep up with our increasing obsession with speed and convenience. And that is when we started creating vehicles for comfort.
The Search for Comfort
Comfort is constantly being sought after by everyone. The more comfortable something is, the more expensive it costs. And that is no different for automotive. Bigger vehicles are built to fit more people, while smaller ones are built for those that only need space for one or two people. To get more speed, smaller and sleeker cars are designed. Even some of the accessories make this more evident.
Car tint is made to shield the eyes from the glare of the sunlight, radios and music players are installed to entertain the passengers, and even cup holders are built-in to hold your drinks. Comfort is now the main selling point when buying a car. It is probably the most important detail that buyers look for aside from the safety and durability that it can offer—or so we thought.
Comfort as a Status Symbol
Comfort eventually evolved into something more than just comfort. More and more people seek convenience in everything they buy, while even more people can no longer afford to buy these products that only continue to rise in value. In time, comfort became an advantage, a privilege, and a status symbol that can be found in almost everything that we own. One of the most popular objects that show one’s status is their computer device. Gadgets are some of the most expensive things today, but they do make up for it in their functions and features.
The newer the device you have, the more advanced the features you get. Similarly, automotive has followed this trend where owning faster and sleeker cars makes you seem wealthier than you really are. But the deviant fashion industry, in comparison to the others, has long shed the need for comfort but has entered the realm of extravagance and impracticality. Comfort can still be found, but beauty standards have been set so high that unrealistic expectations no longer fit in with the term “comfort.”
Automotive Luxury
Unlike in fashion, the automotive industry seamlessly blended comfort and luxury. It made use of the people’s want for speed and their want for aesthetically pleasing designs to create these popular cars that you see celebrities flaunting in their social media accounts. Mostly race cars, these vehicles are bought to impress others apart from finding some sort of comfort while driving. They are labeled luxury brands due to the name of the manufacturer as well as the high level of performance that the units can deliver.
But luxury doesn’t stop with those popular cars. We also have to consider the larger vehicles that truly put comfort into focus: luxury coaches and RVs. These vehicles make it possible to move around with basically your entire home. It is even possible to have these customized. You can build them with separate rooms and areas that can make it feel like you’re in a house and not a vehicle. And as we know, technology can further enhance this living experience with convenience and entertainment.
The Future of Automobiles
The automobile industry will continue to seek out ways to incorporate more comfort and luxury into their creations. We will continue to see new models that look more futuristic, more models that can go faster, more models that attempt to side with sustainability. We already know of vehicles that make use of the more advanced technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS), artificial intelligence, voice commands, and self-driving features. But the possibilities are endless on how much innovation can be created with the continuous progress in technological advancements.
Safety might also be a focal point in new releases, which has been made more important by the pandemic. Along with this, there is no doubt that costs will also continue to rise as vehicles become more personalized to the needs of the buyers. After looking back to the beginning of transportation, it is truly humbling to see how far we’ve come and how far we can still go in the future.
