UK scientist: Young women can fight global warming by realizing Ferraris don't make a guy sexy
How can young women fight global warming? According to a chief scientist for the British government, Professor Sir David King, they can help out by no longer thinking guys that drive Ferraris are sexy. I will let Sir King speak for himself:I was asked at a lecture by a young woman about what she could do and I told her to stop admiring young men in Ferraris. ... What I was saying is that you have got to admire people who are conserving energy and not those willfully using it. ... As soon as you come to the individual, however, they will buy a Ferrari, not because it is cheap to run or has low carbon dioxide emissions, but because young women think it is sexy to see men driving Ferraris. That is the area where a culture change is needed.
So, what do you think of Sir King's comments?
Editor's UPDATE: We've been doing some thinking (and reading your comments) and agree that there are plenty of cars that are both sexy and green. How about the Tesla Roadster as the premiere example? I mean, take a look at this beauty.
Gallery: Riding in the Tesla Roadster
Then, take these amazing electric conversions, an all-electric Mustang and Shelby Cobra 427. Tell me they're not zero-emission babe magnets.
Gallery: EVS23: All Electric Shelby Cobra 427
Or, how about the BMW Hydrogen 7? There are certainly going to be some people who strenuously disagree either with the idea that this car is sexy or that it's in any way green, but I'm sure it can't hurt and look and decide for yourself, right?
Gallery: AFVI Ride & Drive Hygroden 7
Lastly, what about the Aptera as a vision of the way green cars will bring a new kind of sexy back?
Gallery: Aptera
Also, these two posts certainly bear on this conversation:
[Source: Telegraph]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
tchamp 11:31AM (12/17/2007)
Well, I'm married, and I'd drive a Ferrari (or any other sports/muscle car) if I could afford to. Not because women would be more interested in me, but because they are FUN TO DRIVE!
Signed:
- Sorry Excuse for an EcoGeek
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kert 11:47AM (12/17/2007)
Yeh, but they should still fall over for anyone driving a Wrightspeed X1, Tesla Roadster, Venturi Fetish or something like that !
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GreyFlcn 11:56AM (12/17/2007)
Frankly, this is exactly where the Tesla comes into play.
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kert 11:48AM (12/17/2007)
Or to improve the old bumper sticker:
"f*ck the fuel economy, im not using any and this thing still goes like bat out of hell!"
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Yggdrasilly 12:01PM (12/17/2007)
"I say, you ladies shouldn't fall all over these chaps with money and power and derring-do. You should be more willing to go out with respectable, temperate, steady fellows, men who are...oh, I don't know: civil servants, perhaps. Or professors. Or ideally both.
"I mean, we'll never forget your birthday, because we have absolutely nothing else on our social calendars. And we'll never stay out late drinking with our mates because we think beer tastes awful and anyway, the last time we were in a pub some jackanapes put his fag out in our sherry. I think he was trying to pick a fight..I mean, we might think he was...er...
"Look, dammit, I'm up here at the podium lecturing you lot about some very serious scientific stuff on behalf of Her Majesty's Government. That should count for something, shouldn't it? I mean, couldn't we just go out for coffee? It's not like it was lunch. Here, I'll give you my number....what do you mean you don't have a phone? Well then I'll just pop by...what do you mean you don't live anywhere? Oh come on, *please*..."
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priusguy 12:26PM (12/17/2007)
It doesn't have to be a Ferrari... The problem is that the women are gold-diggers. Ferrari, Rolls Royce, it doesn't really matter. Gold diggers are gold diggers.
Real Car Prices from Real People
http://www.pricehub.com
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amg 12:25PM (12/17/2007)
That's supposing that men only buy Ferraris to impress women, but I think we all know that men also buy Ferraris to impress other men (not necessarily in a sexual kind of way, of course, at least not on the surface). Hopefully Tesla will give us something that is environmentally friendly and can impress members of both the mainstream genders.
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BlackbirdHighway 1:03PM (12/17/2007)
Where I live, if you want to impress women, you drive a truck, the bigger the better.
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gsolman6 1:12PM (12/17/2007)
"Where I live, if you want to impress women, you drive a truck, the bigger the better."
That is the bigger issue since there are millions of them and only thousands of Ferraris. Too bad there aren't more sensible women who admire cars for low costs of ownership and being environmentally friendly. Maybe by the time they hit their 30s I hope.
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Mik_Cal 1:28PM (12/17/2007)
He has a point. Though having a Ferrari does express good taste in wasteful vehicles. Maybe he should have said SUV or...even...perish the thought...Range Rover!!
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Will Sterling 1:46PM (12/17/2007)
The problem with his comment is that he is saying a woman's most important role is to influence men's purchasing decisions. As if what a man does holds more importance than women.
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EJ 1:47PM (12/17/2007)
Funny enough, I read in a recent Prius road test in some auto magazine or blog that the (car enthusiast) staffers were disturbed at how much female attention, and even a phone number or two, the Prius got. Of course, a huge amount of energy is consumed just creating a new vehicle, so if we're entering an era of true sustainability, perhaps women should start finding guys who drive 10 year old hoopties sexy? *crosses fingers*
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Golden Boy 1:48PM (12/17/2007)
Yggdrasilly hit the nail on the head! Hilarious.
But I think the Ferrari guy in the pic wasted his money if all he can reel in are those three snaggletooth broads.
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werepants 2:05PM (12/17/2007)
The thing is, natural selection favors the gluttonous, in a sense. Women want guys with financial security (it might not be the most important, but could you seriously imagine a woman looking for a poor guy to date?)
Cars are probably one of the most prominent ways in western culture to assert one's financial status, and the bottom line is that being cheap/fiscally responsible isn't generally sexy, even if it is smart. some of this is starting to change - small cars like Scions, the fit, the yaris and the mini have definite appeal. still, though, you might call someone with a car like that trendy, hip, or cool, but they would never be called macho or masculine or hardcore or anything.
who's fault is it? maybe marketing, but probably mostly human nature that has adapted to see excess amounts of material goods as more beneficial to survival than purchasing logically and with restraint.
not fair to the smart/puny/poor, but it never has been. your best bet if you want to drive a vehicle dripping in masculinity that gets 60 MPG?
a motorcycle...
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kert 2:53PM (12/17/2007)
Yeah, a motorcycle like KillaCycle or Vectrix ;)
Or the Electric Ninja:
http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1024
Look, there is one point fundamentally wrong with his statement: he is implying, again, like everything eco-friendly has to be ugly, uncool and slow.
This is absolutely not the case. In fact, the fundamental reason why i like electric propulsion is its potential for crazy performance at amazing simplicity, and we have numerous examples demonstrating that. The fact that it produces way less emissions than even a Prius to haul my ass around is a definite perk, of course.
Just today came the news of electric dragster doing a 8.10 quarter mile. How neat is that ?
Tesla Roadster is exactly what the doctor ordered in this regard. Its cool, sexy, fast and as clean as it gets, especially when coupled with their solar roofs.
Prof. David King has missed the news, apparently. And a few other things ...
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Karl-Uwe Strunzen 7:57PM (12/17/2007)
This fellow may be a Sir but I believe he isn't much of a scientist. As pointed out by several comments already, at around 5000 cars sold worldwide, he's got his numbers wrong. This means that in the UK a few dozen Ferraris would have been sold this year, right? These are the kind of figures we're talkng about just for prototyping, just enough to transfer some of the titbits developed in F1 to street cars.
How many SUV vehicles were sold in the UK this year? When Greenpeace UK made their anti-SUV commercial and the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, came out and called SUV-owners "idiots" it's not because these emit any less than a Ferrari. It's just that Ferraris are so rare that there are plenty of people who have never seen one. The same, I'm afraid, can't be said for SUVs.
There is a point perhaps about women's preferences when it comes to SUVs (or trucks ???). Greenpeace produced the ad because of the perception people (including women) have of SUVs. As it turns out, in Europe a lot of the greener cars actually cost less than some of the worst cars. Perhaps this needs to be changed a little....
A more positive point about women and cars - if I look on the streets at some of the smaller, more efficient and greener cars on the streets of Europe, my impression is that women are more likely to be driving these. With the SUVs however there doesn't seem to be much of a difference....
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CamryFan 8:19AM (12/18/2007)
You make a good point Karl. I also wonder why this scientist singled out Ferrari. As said above Ferrari's are very rare, I have see 2 to 3 Ferrari in the flesh. SUV's should be a target because they are unnecessary for the school run and achieve poor fuel economy ratings.
Hybird's should be looked at closer before buying as well. The Chevy Tahoe ( or something). 6.0 liter V8 but adding hybrid makes everything ok.
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porschedevotee 2:36PM (12/18/2007)
As a woman, I'm rather offended by his comment. He's laying the blame at our feet for people buying inefficient, gas-guzzling vehicles, never considering the possibilities that:
1. Some people buy sports cars because (oh shock!) they LIKE them! Besides, I personally am much more likely to buy one myself (um... eventually) than fawn over someone else in one. Being a woman shouldn't prevent me from buying a Ferrari.
2. Green IS already cool. I saw a Tesla in the street about a month ago, and went and drooled all over it with gads of other people for about half an hour.
3. Even if men bought Ferraris solely to impress women and his comment SOMEHOW managed to sway the ladies away from being impressed by them, taking every single Ferrari off the road would have a pretty minimal impact. I mean, how many people use one as a daily driver?
4. Aston Martin's Vanquish actually gets worse MPG. Oh wait, but then he's attacking a home-built product... never mind.
I had some other stuff to be pissed about, but I'll just let it go and not be bitchy. But I'd like to thank Will Sterling for his insightful comment and unthank priusguy for his. I'm going to assume he's talking about a small number of women being gold-diggers and not ALL of them. Besides, a woman so financially-obsessed should go out and find a way to make her own money, so she isn't tied down to one guy in hopes of scraping out a few dollars here and there. :)
Two more quick things:
1. Motorcycles are badass!
2. Click the top picture with the three women and watch the video clip. Hilarious.
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karen 6:20AM (12/19/2007)
this would be alot more believable if the picture actually showed atractive girls refusing to get into the car... not sure why a man would buy a ferrari to pick up those three fat mingers.....anyway don't recent reports show that even hybrid cars are not that environmentaly friendly
and by the way, its extremely unfair that women are being blamed for men buying sports cars, most of them are obsessed with having the newest models because they are in competition with their male friends...
I do agree that gas guzzlers to need to be phased out for more environmentally sound transport, but this needs to be also improved. I read in the metro that tube passengers inhale about ten times the amount of toxins as above ground travellers, I take the tube rather than driving to work even though I have a reserved space because it seems better for the environment but is in fact worse for my own health.
How about improving public transport before getting on the high wagon and criticising other forms of transport.. that mean you, red Ken.
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Camille Mauro 6:37AM (12/19/2007)
I want to bang my head against the wall with these articles. For generations, even before the Industrial Revolution, the Earth has been warming up. The use of coal in the engines of trains is just as bad as cars, buses, and trucks on the road now. Girls, this is the 21st century. You don't need to be admiring some guy's car when you can get one of your own! I doubt highly though that girls admiring a guy's Ferrari is contributing to global warming! Yeesh!
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