The Motorphilia Podcast

Daniel Poe, Aaron Manley Smith, Casey Brown

All things automotive for the regular Joe and the expert alike. Here we talk about facts and fictions about cars, market trends, inventions, innovations, red flags, and green lights for buying... and so much more.

Episodes

  1. 04/08/2022

    Episode 09: Planned Obsolescence

    In 1924, the American market for cars became saturated. That meant that almost everyone who could buy a car had already bought one. In order to still sell about the same number of cars, General Motors suggested that new cars should look different every year. This way, at least some car owners would buy a new car every year. This idea was not new. It had already been tried with bicycles, but people say it was Alfred P. Sloan of General Motor's idea. He often used the words dynamic obsolescence, but people who did not like the idea called it planned obsolescence. This plan changed many things in the automobile industry, product design field, and eventually the whole American economy. Smaller companies could not afford to re-style their car models every year. Henry Ford did not like the idea either. Ford was an engineer, and he liked simplicity, economies of scale, and strong design. By 1931, GM sold more cars than Ford and became the strongest company making cars. Changing the design every year meant GM had to use a body-on-frame structure rather than the lighter uni-body design used by most European automakers because uni-body is harder to change. Returning for another feature appearance is our favorite mechanic, Coye Harris of EP Autoworks. Together, we're dive into the history of planned obsolescence, what it looks like under the hood of vehicles on the road today. If you have any questions regarding this or any episode, or have any car related concerns you wish to see covered, don’t be shy, reach out to us on social media! www.motorphilia.com www.facebook.com/motorphiliatx www.instagram.com/motorphilia EQ Autoworks www.eqautoworks.com www.facebook.com/eqautoworks www.instagram.com/eq_autoworks

    37 min
5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

All things automotive for the regular Joe and the expert alike. Here we talk about facts and fictions about cars, market trends, inventions, innovations, red flags, and green lights for buying... and so much more.