Back to Luxury

Another way to say “cheap” is to say common – as in everyone has it or could, if they wanted. A Snickers bar at the Dollar Store is cheap – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Snickers is a fine candy bar. But it’s cheap and that makes it nothing special.

LCD touchscreens are nothing special. And they are cheap – which is why every new vehicle now has them, including high-end (and high cost) luxury vehicles. The latter were the first to have them, about 10 or so years ago. And – at first – they seemed not-cheap because almost no other vehicles had them. This made them seem special – in the same way that hand-made truffles that cost several times each the cost of a whole Snicker’s bar are special.

But that changed rather quickly – because LCD touchscreens are (like Snicker’s bars) inherently cheap in that there is nothing special about them. It got cheaper to manufacture them and – just like that – practically every new vehicle has them.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the 2025 Kia K4  – which is Kia’s least expensive model. Specifically, I wrote about how surprised I was – when I got behind the wheel for the first time – to see what looked almost exactly like the full-panel LCD display I first saw circa 2015 in a then-new Mercedes S-Class sedan, which was (and still is) Mercedes’ top-of-the-line model. It sold (and still does) for $100k-plus to start.

The Kia sells for about $22k to start.

It – like the Snicker’s bar – is in no way objectionable. But it is not especially special because almost anyone can afford one. Unlike a new Mercedes S-Class. But do the people who can afford a new Mercedes S-Class care – do they feel gypped – that what they’re looking at when they get behind the wheel is not much different than what they guy who gets behind the wheel of his brand-new Kia gets?

Mercedes – and BMW and Audi and Lexus – may not see problem. Bugatti does. Take a look at what you get if you can afford a new Tourbillon. Very few can. But that is only part of what makes it special. Take a look at the jeweled, chronograph style instrument cluster – which is not cheap and so very special indeed. Jeweled, chronograph-style instruments cannot by stamped out in the millions by automated factories in China. They cannot be made of spray painted plastic “chrome,” either. They are made of metal and alloy and polished to a brilliant luster. They can probably be repaired, if that ever becomes necessary and are likely to last for decades for just that reason.

More important, they will remain special – a form of art – forever. The dashes luxury cars made more than 100 years ago still draw eyes (and awe) because they are still special because they were never cheap.

The dashes of old Ferraris and other sports cars retain their aesthetic power. They come alive when you turn the ignition on and that adds to the feeling that the car has come alive. A touchscreen glowing and digital readouts changing has the same cheap look that a smartphone does and makes you feel like you got gypped if you paid five times as much for yours as the guy whose display looks pretty much the same as yours.

Maybe Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus will take a hint from Bugatti and bring back what’s special – so that their cars wont be merely expensive.

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