orangefender
Silverstone
- Joined
- 25 Oct 2014
- Messages
- 141
Well it's a good time of year for some crystal ball gazing whilst I'm waiting for the wife to get ready!
I think automated cars are inevitable (I saw a car advert recently for a self parking shopping trolly) and as soon as we have stats that prove automated cars are safer (let's face it they will be) we can't have too long before we see restrictions for human only controlled cars and perhaps higher taxes.
What I expect to see is cars introduced with the option of manual or auto driving modes first. Shortly after the motorway network will be taken away from manual only driven cars, either by an outright ban or more likely lane restrictions leaving only the slow lane available for those who don't have auto drive. This will be justified on the basis of safety, speed and efficiency (not without merit I'm sure) but ultimately driven by car manufacturers and governments who see the opportunity to make people go out and buy a brand new car with the added benefit of being able to cut some public service budgets.
How all of this all impact on the value of classic cars over a twenty year horizon? I guess we'll have to wait and see. They will of course remain lovely objects in their own right but it may be more difficult to justify anything akin to today's prices if you are severely limited in where you can drive it. On the other hand, perhaps we'll see a cost effective way of retrofitting auto controls to classic cars which means they still have a future as a weekend toy. Or maybe technology advancements (3D printing say) mean replicas become more viable offering cars which offer classic styling/feel with the benefits of the latest technology.
£100k seems about right, as that will be around £40k in today's money but as I see it could easily go either way. My own view is that continued rising prices aren't a good thing except for the speculators and dealers. Yes the value of your car is going up but then so is everything else, which will just make that jump from a c2 to a turbo for example that bit harder. It seems to me that the only enthusiasts who stand to benefit are those who cash in their chips and move on.
I think automated cars are inevitable (I saw a car advert recently for a self parking shopping trolly) and as soon as we have stats that prove automated cars are safer (let's face it they will be) we can't have too long before we see restrictions for human only controlled cars and perhaps higher taxes.
What I expect to see is cars introduced with the option of manual or auto driving modes first. Shortly after the motorway network will be taken away from manual only driven cars, either by an outright ban or more likely lane restrictions leaving only the slow lane available for those who don't have auto drive. This will be justified on the basis of safety, speed and efficiency (not without merit I'm sure) but ultimately driven by car manufacturers and governments who see the opportunity to make people go out and buy a brand new car with the added benefit of being able to cut some public service budgets.
How all of this all impact on the value of classic cars over a twenty year horizon? I guess we'll have to wait and see. They will of course remain lovely objects in their own right but it may be more difficult to justify anything akin to today's prices if you are severely limited in where you can drive it. On the other hand, perhaps we'll see a cost effective way of retrofitting auto controls to classic cars which means they still have a future as a weekend toy. Or maybe technology advancements (3D printing say) mean replicas become more viable offering cars which offer classic styling/feel with the benefits of the latest technology.
£100k seems about right, as that will be around £40k in today's money but as I see it could easily go either way. My own view is that continued rising prices aren't a good thing except for the speculators and dealers. Yes the value of your car is going up but then so is everything else, which will just make that jump from a c2 to a turbo for example that bit harder. It seems to me that the only enthusiasts who stand to benefit are those who cash in their chips and move on.
:grin:
