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Ruben Fidalgo
January 10, 2023
In recent times, European brands have not stopped launching concept cars that are inspired by their most iconic models. In reality, the only competitive advantage over the Asian ordas is precisely its historical legacy.
There are many fans who deny electric cars. names like washing machines with wheels, household appliances, etc. They are common to refer to the new models that are presented. In my opinion, an electric car can be as exciting and fun to drive and use as a combustion one. The death of this hobby for enjoying the means of transport and not only the trip or the destination will come with the autonomous car.
The main problem with the electric car for traditional manufacturers is that the new brands (which emerge mainly in Asia and which proliferate like mushrooms in autumn) have at their disposal in a very simple way a technology that was previously much more complex. Designing a combustion engine and integrating it into a vehicle was much more complex and required much more experience, so that barely half a dozen large companies controlled the design and development of these mechanics. At present precisely China is the great giant that has the technology and knowledge for essential elements such as batteries and electric motorsso there they already have an advantage over the European industry.
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Currently, practically the only thing left for traditional brands to be able to differentiate themselves from the new competition is precisely that, that they have tradition. To put ourselves in the situation we must assume that China has gone from having just half a dozen car manufacturers 20 years ago to having more than sixty brands today. Today, China manufactures more cars than Japan, Europe and the United States combined… and China is not the only problem… Korea is also pressing very hard and brands like Hyundai and Kia are releasing products that in many cases humiliate Europeans and Americans.
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European brands know this and have realized that nostalgia can be a good tool to revive and stand up to what they have not been able to prevent or have underestimated. Reissuing emblematic models such as the R5, the 2CV, the Ford Mustang… are things that those from the East simply cannot do. Would a neo Hyundai Pony or a Galloper Santamo be successful? What model from the past could DFSK reissue that hardly has a history?
Lancia is the most recent example of this response from old Europe, trying to revive a brand evoking models like the Lancia Stratos, or the Delta… and the fans reaffirming this idea with wonders like the Lancia Delta Evo-e or the latest updated reproductions of the mythical Lancia 037.
Classic cars are in fashion and it is a trend that interests the brands themselves. From France comes news of initiatives such as the remanufacturing of the Citroën 2CV in an electric version, or the retrofits on the Renault Twingo, the Mini… Even the brands themselves promote this electric resurrection of their classics, such as Jaguar with the E-Type or Aston Martin with its most famous DB, for which it offers the possibility of electrifying them.
Why manufacturers resurrect the classics as electric
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It is no coincidence that in recent times electric concept cars that recall the classics with designs clearly inspired by cars that have become true symbols for brands have not stopped coming out. This nostalgia is very calculated and really is nothing more than a defense mechanism, a way to differentiate and try to compete and show that they are better than the barrage of new models that are sweeping from Asia.
Until now, European, American and Japanese manufacturers had the upper hand in the motor world. They were the ones who really knew how to make cars, but with the advent of electrification, manufacturing a car has become much easier and new brands are constantly emerging, not only in countries that traditionally already manufactured combustion cars, as is the case with Tesla, also arrive from new places, especially from China.
Objectively, the tenacity and stubbornness of cultures like the Korean one have made brands like Hyundai, which just twenty years ago limited itself to remanufacturing discontinued Mitsubishi models and with obsolete technologies, today are standing up face to face with the best manufacturers in the world. world. Every year some twenty brands that manufacture electric cars are born in China that can stand up to those that are being developed in Europe… in what is the only thing that a brand with tradition will never have a rival?… well precisely in that, in the tradition.
Renault pulls from nostalgia and resurrects concept cars inspired by the R-5 or the 4Latas, Jaguar rescues E-Types and XK to transform them into electric, from across the pond come electric “Muscle Cars” inspired by icons like the Charger… simply because their toughest rivals today can’t do it. Is Hyundai going to captivate the fans with a concept car inspired by the Pony of the eighties or Kia in a Sportage from 30 years ago? How are Geely going to get an electric concept car that makes us remember the times? glorious from a brand that has been around for just a couple of years?.
The nostalgia of these models actually hides the inability of most traditional brands to stand up and continue to be superior to their new inexperienced rivals.
The war of the electric classics: a double-edged sword
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The risk that traditional car manufacturers assume is that these beardless brands can play the same game and shoot where it hurts the most.. Throughout the history of the automobile there have been true wonders on wheels whose parents have disappeared in time. Recently in Spain we are very excited about the resurrection of the Hispano Suiza brandin this case from the hand of the legitimate family, but… why couldn’t a Chinese manufacturer be able to buy the rights to reproduce a Talbot Lago Teardrop as an electric car and laugh at the threats of R-5, Volkswagen T1, etc. ?.
As a European it would pain me to see a Borgward Isabella Coupé resurrected in a country other than Germany, a Talbot Lago outside of France, an Iso Rivolta outside of Italy or a Jensen 541 outside of the United Kingdom, but as a fan of classics, if a new utility Electric comes from China and looks more like a NSU Sport Prinz than a Citroën Ami, welcome.
