Car Innovations

People called me crazy for claiming this as an innovation.  As cars and trucks became more readily available and more "used", people began to trade them in.  There was no guide for what a car would be worth after someone else owned it and if the car was being resold.  NADA also known as the National, Automotive, Dealers, Association, gave a structured and accurate guide to pricing.  It provided wholesale values, auction values, retail values and soon became available to not just dealers but consumers as well.  The guide would provide values based on region, depreciation and would at a median line to pricing vehicles.  

To continue with the innovation of radio's being added to vehicles, soon their was competition in engineering field for quality sound.  It no longer was just about the music, it was about clarity.  Alpine, Bose, to name a few went right at it to gain a hold in the auto industry, soon the feature turned it a feature on top of a feature, "how many speakers?" Does it have the Bose premium sound?"  autosmithcar.com

Look at music today, with I-pods, XM radio, all the apps you can download like Pandora and Spotify and hook in your aux cord and rock out.  At one point it was silence.  Radio became an "add" on feature.  You can see the pricing in one of the first marketing ads.  These were times when a car drive was a family event, an outing of sorts, not simply a means of travel.

Air Conditioning became a huge feature that boosted the auto industry.  Primitive to start but became one of the biggest focal points in the selling process and is still marketed today with duel climate control or rear climate control.  Everything is the same but just more! An example of how powerful the addition of AC was to marketing vehicles. autosmithcar.com

This was part of a marketing campaign when  power steering became a major feature and add on. autosmithcar.com

In 1951 the age of power steering began, making smoother driving vehicles.  The Auto industry began a massive marketing campaign, using the new innovation to increase sales.  Look at vehicles today, such a standard option its not even thought of as feature.  Back in the 1950's a saleperson would say "And guess what, it also includes power steering."  How things have changed.