In the Third World, Any Car Can Be a Dream Car

Big Twitter day here at Shifting Gears. Via Noah Robischon’s feed, this item from Fast Company about green cars versus dream cars. To summarize: it seems that when surveyed, many people would choose a green car (example: Prius) over a dream car (example: Porsche). In fact, many consider a green car to be their dream car.

Except in…the developing world, where the dream car sometimes wins: “The dreamers, predictably enough, come from places where an aspirational, upwardly mobile middle class is emerging. Over half of South African respondents would take the dream car, as would almost half of Indians.”

Of course, in India I wonder what constitutes a “dream car.” Given that only a small percentage of the population owns a car, while the rest makes do with bikes and scooters, its seems that any four-wheeled ride with a roof and doors would be dreamy. When Tate developed its sub-$3,000 “People’s Car,” the Nano, that’s what it was dreaming.

Actually, there’s also the issue of whether dream cars aren’t green. I can see why, say, a run-of-the-mill volume-market sedan might not be green—it’s only intended to hold up for a decade or so. But a truly fine automobile, like a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and on up into the dreamier reaches of exotics, such as Ferraris and Maseratis, could be considered utterly green in the sustainability sense. These cars tend to last for decades, to be scrupulously maintained, and to carry lasting value for collectors.

In other words, you can buy one and be done with car-buying for a good, long time. Priuses may be technologically superb from a green POV, but I doubt all that many from the current vintage will be with us in the distant future. Meanwhile, I know several Porsche owners headed for their first engine rebuild on models from the 1980s. Different strokes, ya see. That which is built to last can be green, too.