When I was 4 years old, I tried to ‘drive’ my mother’s Volkswagen Beetle. I got as far as starting it before our eagle-eyed neighbour, Uncle Mohan Singh bellowed a warning from across the street which led to my being very swiftly apprehended. While I was then given a fast track course in Sri Lankan Tamil justice, the die had been cast…my fascination for cars has followed me like a bad smell, forty years on.
Why? I stopped trying to lend logic to my auto-affliction long ago. Perhaps it was that my father liked cars, or because we spent a lot of time on the road. Maybe it was because there was always a steady stream of different cars at my grandmother’s house owing to the many siblings. In any case, the possible permutations on this one could boggle the most adroit actuary, even the ones who work at GLCs.
When I was growing up, driving a car was probably the most important rite-of-passage. It signified that you had arrived, plus you really didn’t look as cool if you told a girl that you’d ‘pedal right over’! Plus, there was no Internet so a car was ‘keeping it real’. As such we spent a lot of our time pouring through all the auto magazines and pretty much memorizing every single 0-100 time…much to the chagrin of the bookstore owner. Of course we never bought the magazines! We just read them at the shelves. This was B.C (before cellophane).
In any case, while I devoured every possible magazine on cars, I don’t ever remember wanting to work for a car company, and yet one day, I did. It was everything I had expected and some. As a bright-eyed bushy tailed young punk, it felt like you had died and gone to heaven. Power, speed, design, luxury…you get the picture. All great until it stops being great, and so I moved on.
[quote_box_center]The idea for Countersteer was born from the embers of many a late night conversation, typically at a car event in some godforsaken place…as guys who are really into cars but more importantly, as industry practitioners, we hope to bring a unique perspective.[/quote_box_center]Or so I thought. The car business is like a hot mistress who you can never quite shake, a mechanical amour fuo, if you like. So here I find myself, coming full circle, except now I’m on the other side.
As Denis might have alluded to, the idea for Countersteer was born from the embers of many a late night conversation, typically at a car event in some godforsaken place like, Malaga or the South of France (yes, I am being ironic). As guys who are really into cars but more importantly, as industry practitioners, we hope to bring a unique perspective.
A perspective that will hopefully allow us to stay honest and see through some of the merde that so often gets passed as marketing. No, I’m not saying that all car companies are greedy corporations who have sacrificed their souls at the altar of capitalism. In fact, the auto industry is probably better than most others (though not by much).
But like all big businesses, today it’s all about the numbers. The car industry is ruled not by visionary designers or clever engineers, but by weedy bean-counters (my apologies to the fat ones but what’s life without a good cliche). This means that it will always be about the bottom-line. The alternative however, is scarier. As survival became more about heft, car companies were falling like dominoes and cost was king.[quote_box_center]But like all big businesses, today it’s all about the numbers. The car industry is ruled not by visionary designers or clever engineers, but by weedy bean-counters. This means that it will always be about the bottom-line.[/quote_box_center]
But still, they try and still they stun us every now and again and I think that regardless of what the MBAs tell us, they will continue to do so for a long time. Why? Because a car will always be more than transport. It is a statement of our intent and our hopes. I know of few other inanimate mechanical creations that can evoke as much emotion.
There is an installation in a German museum that was commissioned to represent the world of cars. It looks like a clean white sail with a marble bottom. Look behind the sail though and you will see what looks like a junkyard of car parts. The rationale is that that’s how cars are. They are beautiful works of art, svelte, sexy, stylish and yet underneath that exterior resides the ugliest bits of industrial technology you can imagine.
So that’s what I hope to do. Share with you the lust and desire that are cars while always staying cognizant of the dirty underbelly that comes with it.