Comment by RugnirViking
12 hours ago
this is absolutely it. the only recipe to make a car that becomes iconic is make it different/recognisable then sell a lot of it, for cheap (really cheap. No, cheaper. Cheaper than that) to students/artists. nostalgia will do the rest
These days cars are more reliable and so students/artists are much more likely to buy a used car.
In the 1970s getting 100,000 miles on a car gave you bragging rights - you would invite your friends to see it turn over, driving away in a cloud of blue smoke (engine oil burns blue), and carefully avoid puddles since they would splash water through the holes in the floor.
These days cars go a lot longer before they fail and so people with limited money buy used cars.
People with enough money to afford new also buy used cars. Why take the depreciation hit when someone else can do it, and you can still get 10+ years out of the car.
Just because you could afford new doesn't mean you will of course.
There's more to it than "sell a bunch"
The best selling car of the 90s was consistently a Taurus and yet everyone who grew up riding around in one or learned to drive in one or had one as a first car in the 00s is nostalgic for whatever Toyota product their rich AF friend's stock broker/surgeon dad was driving around then.
There are iconic expensive cars e.g. Jaguar E-type, Aston Martin DB5 and very expensive e.g. Rolls Royce Shadow.