Editorial: Stop Being Such A Tease

I’ve recevied a few emails lately from people asking me why I’m not reporting on the latest slew of teaser pics released by automakers of their upcoming models. Well, the answer is simple: I think it’s stupid.

Admittedly, when a teaser does get released I do naively take a look. I then get an overwhelming urge to smash my head against the monitor when I finally see the picture. It’s usually the most useless picture and is never ever worth my time to look at it in the in end. Auto makers love showing head lights, tail lights, grille shots, exhaust shots, wing mirror shots – you name it. Anything except, apparently, the entire car. It’s gotten to the point where one teaser just won’t do. Toyota  has been doing it with their new Camry and Infiniti now has six teaser pics of their new JX crossover out. Ford was probably the worst when the new Mustang was being revealed as they released teaser pics for about a decade.

But when automakers tease new models, it makes it way less interesting when the full model is revealed. The hype is gone. In fact, it becomes even more of a non-story than the teaser pics themselves. Usually you can piece together what a car is going to look like if you’ve got six or more teaser pics to examine.

Besides, what other industry operates in such a manner? Does Apple release a pic of just  the power button of the new iPhone? Does Pepsi show just the bottle cap of their newly designed bottle? Do music artists preview one quarter of their new album cover? No, because it makes about as much sense as planking.

If you’re reading this, then it is assumed that you are an auto enthusiast to some measure which means you at least have some sort of appreciation for cars. Think of how irritating it would be if the industry of another of your interests acted in such a manner. If you are also an avid art lover, how would you react if you saw your favourite artist’s new creation in five pieces before seeing the whole thing? That essentially ruins the experience, does it not? And let’s face it, most cars are works of art in their own respect. They deserve to be treated as such.

So to all automakers – stop it. If the car isn’t ready to be shown in it’s full guise, then I will happily wait until it is.

1 Response to "Editorial: Stop Being Such A Tease"

  1. Here, here!

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