Mark Reuss Reflects on Car Culture And Love Of The Automobile
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During the recent debut of the all-new 2021 Chevrolet Suburban and 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, General Motors President Mark Reuss gave a few words on car culture and why some people simply love their vehicles. Reuss acknowledged that while a “strong emotional bond forged between our customers and [their] vehicles” was the sort of thing typically associated with performance models like the Chevrolet Corvette, a similar, yet more family-oriented connection can be found with Chevy’s SUVs as well.
“What no one knows here tonight is that my grandfather, in a small rural town in Illinois, actually drove a Suburban school bus for those kids,” Reuss said. “My wife and I drove our kids and their friends to many, many games, practices, events all over the United States in Tahoes and Suburbans. And you can’t help but forge a bond with a vehicle when you watch your kids grow up in them.”
Indeed, the emotional bond a family might feel for their vehicle isn’t your typical car culture connection, but it’s definitely one which resonates with many. Whether it’s reliably getting the kids to school every day, going on a road trip to Grandma’s, or protecting the family in a collision, even SUVs can inspire admiration.
“It’s the most emotionally significant purchase a consumer makes, and the bond is, in fact, lasting,” Reuss said. “People name their car, they don’t name their toaster, they don’t name their phone, no matter how much quality time they spend with it.”
Perhaps this slice of familial car culture comes down to the fact that cars carry us from A to B. Passengers sit in the cabins and operate the steering wheel, throttle, and brakes. And while automation is on the rise, the process of driving is still very much involved.
“They love their vehicles, if their vehicles serve them well – and ours do,” Reuss added.
How about you, dear reader? Do you feel a familial connection with your SUV? Is this one aspect of car culture you think deserves more attention? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevrolet Suburban news, Chevrolet Tahoe news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
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The automobile used to be a very part of each and every owner. Most drivers used to identify by their cars be it a Packard man, Chevy man, etc.
Today the emotions have eroded much over the last 10 years. While the majority still show some form of pride of ownership many are now seeing a vehicle only as a necessary evil to get around. Just go to a boarders book store and look at the odd Toyota or Honda with all the bumper stickers on the back protesting god knows what.
The love of the auto has gone into rapid decline.
I am a gear head and was born one and will die one. I may not name my cars but they become a part of me.
In years past in high school our cars were part of our social system. Today they have been replaced by Facebook. Cars were how we got together, they were how we played, they became our shields, they became our quiet place away from adults.
Today a kid with a cruddy fwd has no love for the car. It is no wonder kids have little interest anymore. I could buy a big block a Chevelle with 60k miles for 1/3 what a kid can buy a used a Honda for. Today that Chevelle rusted out is $18k and he can’t afford to buy it let alone restore it.
I just got back from the Auto-show and What scares me is they had tow non discript Camaros there no one was looking or cared. Is the end near? Some times I wonder. Ford had more mustangs but the same there as few people were looking at them.
I hate to say it but I expect thing for the enthusiasts will continue to decline and we the car guys will be just a minority in the market outside trucks and Jeeps.
I work in the performance industry and the focus is all moving to trucks and Wranglers.
Ford may be doing the right thing with the Btonco if they get the price reasonable.
The old formulat of a big engine in an economy cars just is not there or even possible anymore but a truck could be done. That is our last hope.
One of the most overlooked models is the Colorado Trail Runner. It is over 308 hp and has many of the trick ZR2 bolt on parts. It is the blank canvas for someone to build on. Now if they could also do a ZQ8…..
I’m with you C8.R. I love cars and the outlook is grim for people like us. What I continue to hope for is that automakers will understand there is still a market (albeit perhaps shrinking) of owners that still want to have that love for the vehicle and performance it offers. I would love to see more performance oriented CUV’s and SUV’s that can satisfy a need for power in a world where coupes and sedans are going extinct.
The automakers have nobody but themselves to blame. When I was going to school 40 years ago, the car companies did things like sponsor summer rec programs, donate cars to the auto shops at the high school, or other events that made them relevant to the student body and the community. They used to give away free things at the dealers for kids or they would have race car sets featuring Ford, Chrysler, or GM cars that could be bought at the toy store. Now, a lot of these things are irrelevant. Lee Iacocca learned the importance of marketing to young people with the Mustang. With a few exceptions, there are very few cars marketed toward the newly licensed drivers.
Families may feel as if their Suburban served them well and may apply a name to it; the beached whale comes to mind. However, I doubt any kid will ever put a poster of a Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon/Escalade on their wall and dream of owning it like they did when cars were beautiful, fast and the stuff of dreams. The notion that Mark espouses that GM’s big lumbering utes fuel the same desire is wishful thinking for a company that long-ago lost its soul and builds nothing save the C8 that elicits any passion any more.
Plus one. They build many good vehicles but the create so few dreams.
It is not just GM it is most auto companies.
The problem is the public not the automakers. The public just demands mpg, safety and affordability. They see it much like a refrigerator.
Been going on since the 2nd car hit the roads
Our family has a strong bond to Suburbans and Traverses. We got hit by a drunk driver in our Traverse and have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles in both. Our older kids might not put a poster on the wall of them, but they both own Chevys because of it and one is even going to school to become an engineer so she can work for GM. My wife even has a hard time looking at Buick’s due to her fondness of our Chevys. Mark is right, they might not have the sex appeal of a Corvette, but at the same time, no Corvette would do all the things our Suburbans and Traverses have done, including hauling 5 kids around.
I feel zero connection, emotion or joy with any SUV or cookie cutter CUV. They are simply there to fill a need to carry tall or bulky items and give the illusion of great utility even though 90% of the driving public seldom ever uses it that way. Some also like sitting up really high and the security of AWD which of course is available on many cars and even the Dodge Challenger but a car like that would create far more emotion than any Sport Ute
A lot of this has to do with marketing. In regards to GM, owning a Cadillac up until the Minilacs of the mid-1980s conveyed a certain amount of emotional appeal. Even a base Sedan Deville circa 1984 still had the Cadillac aura that the owner achieved a certain status in society, and everyone knew it was a Cadillac by its distinctiveness. Today’s Cadillac certainly does not evoke any emotions. The crossovers and sedans (with the exception of the CT6) get lost in a sea of look-alike CUVs only differentiated by nameplates. The same could be said for the Lincoln brand from the early 2000s to a few years ago.
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