Elon Musk unveiled a prototype of the flying Tesla Roadster. Which brought back an old joke: we were promised flying cars in the future, and instead we got 140 characters.
We really were promised flying cars, a spaceship in every garage and smart infrastructure where everything works for people. Instead we got weird, scary, useless bodies with huge tablets and huge monthly payments. And flying roadsters became just another way for billionaires to compare their aging penises (along with wars and resource grabs).
First, the auto industry made people fall in love with SUVs, which have neither the S, nor the U, nor the V.
We’ve proved that SUVs are no good at sport or utility stuff and that if you want a vehicle you’re better off with a horse.
The Grand Tour
Then they decided to skimp on ergonomics and give the customer a pretty tablet instead of functional buttons. Cheaper production, bigger margins. No wonder the Chinese jumped in. Nobody does LED lighting, little electric motors and screens better than them (they’d give Xzibit a run for his money). They’re also great at mass production, so making a car half the price of a European equivalent is no problem at all. That’s why BYD showrooms are popping up like mushrooms all over the world (and not only in PRC-friendly countries with nice discounts).
So what’s Musk to do so the world doesn’t doubt his Musk-ulinity? Crazy Cybertrucks (banned in the EU) and flying roadsters for millionaire geeks, of course.