The IQ of the group is the lowest IQ of a member of the group divided by the number of people in the group.

(Original source unknown; þ Chiefly Musing)

Nathan at Chiefly Musing suggests that car manufacturers should produce modular cars:

So we need a new car company that launches a frame, and maybe a few basic body styles. But on that frame, you can add any one of 8 different engines, depending on whether you want power, or smoothness, or economy, or towing…and what size frame you want, of course. You should be able to decide what level of sound reduction you want, with the understanding that more noise reduction makes a car heavier and more expensive, but more luxurious. If the engine mounts are the same, and the seat mounts are the same, and the dash mounts are the same, etc, etc, etc, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to order whatever car you want, a la carte. They should be able to make a mini-Escalade for you, or a huge Matrix, or an extra-wide Malibu, or a super-powerful Cobalt, or a tall Neon, or a quiet/smooth Focus.

When I first read this, I was reminded of a vague memory of the Nightwing comic. As I recall, Nightwing (Dick Grayson, former Robin and adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne) had a car which had several different bodies that could be attached to the frame. He might drive into his garage driving a sporty convertible, then drive out with a four-door sedan. I know that’s not exactly what Nathan had in mind, but, still, that’s the image that came to mind.

Traditionally, most people don’t get the car they’re looking for. Instead, we go to a car lot, maybe with something in mind, maybe not. You look at what they’ve got, and you’ll often settle for what they’ve got there. There’ve always been a few people who had a firm idea of what they wanted and would have the dealer check with contacts at other dealers and have a car shipped, but still, buyers were mostly choosing from the stock as it existed.

Some manufacturers have made small moves away from this. Before I got seduced by a single test drive (I’m so weak), I had planned to order a MINI directly with all the options I wanted*. I don’t see any real reason why a car company couldn’t move from the “Build your own” options they have on their website now to allowing a larger variety of choices (preferably choices that could be changed later by anyone with a reasonable amount of mechanical prowess).

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if something like this didn’t pop up on the market in the near future, either as a new “custom” line from existing car companies (something like Toyota’s Scion line) or a newcomer.

I’d think something like this would appeal to a wide range of people, and more easily customizable cars would appeal to people in the same way that personalizations on any other product. I can’t help drawing an analogy with blogs. People who already mod their cars are like the people who happily get into the code of the blog software to do what they want, and the people who’d use the modular car concept for customization would be like those of us who prefer to download themes or plugins to customize our blogs (even if we can do it the hard way).

The only problem I can see is that I’m not sure about the legality of it. If it’s too easy to change (even if it’s not as easily changed as the Nightwing example above), a getaway (or simply stolen) car could completely change its appearance in no time. I don’t have a real problem with that, but I could see some law enforcement officials crying foul over it.

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* Given that I wasn’t putting a lot of thought into the options I was choosing beyond “hey, that looks neat”, I’m glad I didn’t, honestly. This car had a few options I didn’t want, and it didn’t have some that I did want, but I’m very happy with it like it is. It’s a lot… classier… than I think it would’ve been otherwise. The only thing I’d definitely change about this car if I could is that I’d like a manual transmission. Even the GPS system, I’m happy without. I can get one that’ll work just as well for a few hundred bucks, if I ever need it.