Quote:
Originally Posted by Conan46
It is worth considering, what if cars were like some smartphones with built in obsolescence every few years. That would be a nightmare. Soon we would all be living on top of junked cars.
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Actually, Wikipedia says that cars are a prime example of planned obsolescence.
Quote:
In the United States, automotive design reached a turning point in 1924 when the American national automobile market began reaching saturation. To maintain unit sales, General Motors head Alfred P. Sloan Jr. suggested annual model-year design changes to convince car owners that they needed to buy a new replacement each year, an idea borrowed from the bicycle industry, though the concept is often misattributed to Sloan. Critics called his strategy "planned obsolescence". Sloan preferred the term "dynamic obsolescence".
This strategy had far-reaching effects on the auto business, the field of product design, and eventually the American economy. The smaller players could not maintain the pace and expense of yearly re-styling. Henry Ford did not like the model-year change because he clung to an engineer's notions of simplicity, economies of scale, and design integrity.
GM surpassed Ford's sales in 1931 and became the dominant company in the industry thereafter.
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Light bulbs too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence