Sports Car : first question… against our camp: does it make sense to be concerned with passion when you are an automobile manufacturer?
“Oh yes, certainly! If we are not able to communicate passion, we will not attract our customers. The industrialist is the one who serves the object which communicates passion and which seduces customers.”
There is still a global trend, particularly among politicians, where the car is becoming an “object of mobility”, that is to say a refrigerator on wheels. There is no longer a passionate dimension there…
“I think that policies that are aligned with this idea are going to crash into the wall of reality, for a fairly simple reason. If you look at the history of human beings, they have always sought to be mobile .
The purpose of a company like Stellantis is to offer our customers freedom of movement that is safe, clean and affordable, but also emotionally attractive.
The object that allows us to enjoy freedom of movement is also an expression of self, in one way or another. I'm not worried from that point of view. Deciding between a mobility object that provokes no emotion and one that provokes great emotion, the choice is quickly made.”
With electrification, what will remain emotional in the cars of years to come, if we put design aside?
“There are three dimensions. The first is that when you drive an electric vehicle, you have access to a level of silence, of vibrational calm, of zen, which is incomparably higher than that of a combustion engine.
Everyone who has driven an electric vehicle for long enough tells you that they do not want to return to a thermal vehicle, because they find it noisy and vibrating. Afterwards, there is a second dimension which is agility.
That which gives you the instantaneous availability of engine torque. It is infinitely superior to that of a thermal vehicle, both from the point of view of measurement and that of subjective perception.
Then the third dimension is that as long as we have batteries as heavy as we fit under the floor of the car, we will lower the center of gravity very significantly. In this way, you have control over the roll of the car which gives you an impression of road holding which is further improved.”
Certainly, but how are we different and how can we instill passion with this base which is somewhat the same for everyone?
“You have car manufacturers who have made super-attractive, emotional cars and which, I was going to say “by chance”, have an electric engine, which, possibly, you can choose as an alternative to your gasoline or hybrid engine.
So it's a beautiful car, which expresses everything it should express in terms of emotion. And then you have those – I’m thinking of a major German competitor – who have made electric cars out of obligation.
And you know what? It shows! The consequence is that they do not communicate emotion. And when you're not communicating emotion, you're not selling them as much as you'd like.
Now let's take the engines. I can easily differentiate torque and power using electricity. It's very simple. All it takes is a slightly bigger engine and good software.
You can even offer, during the life of the vehicle, a power “upgrade”. The scope for differentiation is not restricted by electric technology, on the contrary it is facilitated.”
A question bothers us Sports Car. What is the future of the sports car? Because no one needs a sports car and its use is, for the moment, hardly compatible with electric, not to mention the lack of sound.
“That's a great question. There is the societal dimension and that of the automobile product. I will answer you first on the latter. You will soon have the opportunity to test our new Dodge Charger. Some time ago, I was picked up at the airport with a copy in the final stages of validation.
There was a taxiway. Between the time I got in the car and the time I left the airport, I hadn't yet determined whether it was a thermal or an electric car. I had clearly seen that the car was a rocket. I was told it was electric. You will be amazed. We dealt with the question of sound.
I, who have been in this profession for forty-three years, who am mentally ill from motorsport, I didn't know if it was a thermal car or an electric one! It's just incredible. They did an absolutely wonderful job. This is a first element. You will tell me: 'It's not a natural noise.'
We can have this debate. But after all, the nobility of creating a noise that appeals to you is no different from creating an engine that sounds beautiful.
Instead of looking at the consequence, which is that a beautiful engine has a beautiful noise, we have the latter directly associated with the operation of the electric traction chain. I was won over. But you will form your own opinion. Furthermore, we cultivate the rebellious dimension of the Dodge brand. What does that mean?
It means that we are tired of being constantly constrained by a number of limitations imposed on us by society. We can clearly see that there will be, at some point, a major questioning of what this life is in the Western world where, if I make it simple and ridiculous, everything is forbidden.
We are already seeing a backlash on this, for example on the complexity of the technology. In our surveys, customers are starting to reject the complexity of anything infotainment on screens, that linked to an excessive number of buttons.
I think that behind this rejection of complexity, there is the rejection of the impossibility of living in freedom. The Western world, from my point of view, and this is just me, is in the process of regressing on freedom. What scares me about all this is that my children find it normal not to have this freedom.
Which raises questions about my reasoning. But I still think that we are in the process of regressing. Is there no point in a sports car? Yes, it's for fun. Then, we can say that this pleasure is dangerous. It depends under what conditions. But there are many things that are dangerous in life. The first is to live. It ends in death! And is there any point in a life without pleasure?
So this social debate on the fundamental freedom which is to allow citizens to enjoy themselves will happen. Obviously, we must not do this in an irresponsible manner towards others, towards the planet.
But how long can we continue to saturate our living space with countless laws and regulations, of which we are not even aware, but which we are supposed to respect?
We can clearly see that the breathing area is shrinking. In this shrinking of living space, there is: “What’s the point of a sports car? » It’s about having fun! And that’s the essence of life.”
Find our interview with Carlos Tavares in the Sports Car n°754 you 25/10/2024.
