Have kids already begun dreaming that their next car will come from a Chinese automaker?
While Chinese cars may currently be a competent choice for many car buyers, and the country’s automakers are well on their way to becoming the next superpower in the global auto market, here is an interesting question amid all that: has China ever created a car worthy of bedroom wall poster space?
Now, for those who do not know, the context for this question comes from the bedroom wall poster car being the dream car young boys (or girls) would lust after. And this question really came to this writer’s head while watching a few videos on the Lamborghini Countach, which was the prima donna for that particular spot.
So, in perhaps refining the question then: has China ever created a car worthy of childhood fanciful lust? Well… at least in this writer’s opinion, the answer is probably no. Or, more accurately, not yet anyway.
Going straight for the big guns here and taking the example most closely resembling the Countach from China: the Yangwang U9. As accomplished as this hyper EV may be, complete with its world’s fastest production EV credentials and party tricks involving it literally jumping off the ground, it just somehow still lacks that awe and sparkle the old Lambo had to entice kids into dreaming of owning one when they grow up.
Looking elsewhere too, nothing in the current Chinese market would really make an 7-year-old froth with excitement. Xiaomi and its Nürburgring records are cool and all, but it does not exactly make a kid dream of the day when they finally make it in life and get the keys to one of their cars.
To put a finger on this issue, there is a whole sense of the Chinese auto industry being about being good enough for the price, which, to be fair, is an image these automakers have worked rather hard to cultivate. And while this is certainly good for the reasonable consumer, who are incidentally the ones actually buying these products, it does leave something lacking in the je ne sais quoi department.
So, bedroom wall poster space will likely not be occupied by a Chinese car just yet. But before anyone argues that this writer is a bit biased against the world’s biggest auto industry, here is a twist: it could be argued that none of the old guard that once ruled this space have anything quite worthy of the spot at the moment either.
Just look at Lamborghini’s lineup today and ask the child within whether any of its current cars would really fit the bill. There is certainly plenty of performance, but perhaps a little less of the drama and sheer excitement, or wildness, that made its cars of old so intoxicating.
This could be down to having too many models arrive too quickly, to the point that it is increasingly difficult to keep track of exactly what is in the Raging Bull’s lineup today. Legislation has also choked some of the flair and theatrics out of modern supercars, with more whining electric motors these days than the true symphony of an uncorked V12 at full chat.
Some of it could also be down to media exposure, with perhaps less hype surrounding these exotics than there once was, and the Countach, F40 and Diablo were not merely fast cars but cultural icons that ended up on bedroom walls and became objects of fascination for an entire generation. Today’s supercars still get plenty of attention, of course, but perhaps they simply no longer have quite the same mythical aura around them… which does, admittedly, bring up the rather painful possibility that most of the ramblings above are simply the product of a cynical mind jaded by the realities of adulthood, and perhaps even longing for simpler times when supercars could cause a tingle in one’s twinkle.
Though perhaps the third twist to this piece is to ask whether the bedroom wall space of this current generation’s kids will still be occupied by a supercar at all. Given that quite a lot of them seem to think driving is not all that necessary in a world of doorstep deliveries and e-hailing, perhaps the answer is that they will not have a car on that wall in the first place.
In fact, with the rising cost of living, what most kids may now rather morbidly dream of is perhaps something equally fantastical as a supercar: a roof over their heads and three square meals a day.
That said, morbidity aside, excuse this writer while he falls asleep to the sonorous straight-six of a Fairlady Z432, beneath a poster of a Jaguar XJ220.
