My Canvas on Wheels
Call it a rebellion against Henry Ford, who famously said of his Model T that you can have it "any color, so long as it's black." From the first lowriders in the 1930s to the MTV show Pimp My Ride, customizing cars is an American art form.
The Toyota Scion, the first car designed specifically for personalization, aims to let anyone create an auto masterpiece with paint-by-numbers ease. Omar Chavez of Hartsdale, N.Y., outfitted his "thunder cloud metallic" gray Scion with pinstriping, a graphic resembling torn paper stretching from the front wheel to the gas tank door, and a rear spoiler. "When I drive by, I want to hear people say, 'Hey that's Omar's car,' " he says. Chavez, 21, wasn't interested in customized cars before he bought his Toyota. Now, convinced by the ease and appeal of the process, he runs a club of Scion enthusiasts who take their modified rides to car shows.
Customizing cars has long been the purview of weekend gear-heads, street racers, and hot-rod enthusiasts, but industry numbers show it has also become big business. In 2003, retail sales of specialty automotive parts reached nearly $29 billion, according to one trade group.
Dream grilles. The Scion customers select from three basic models to start and then choose from a host of modifications on the dealers' websites. These customizations range in price, from a few hundred for fancy fog lights or an illuminated grille to a few thousand for an advanced suspension system. With a few clicks of his mouse, Lindsay Hammett of Powder Springs, Ga., chose the blue-onyx paint job and a deluxe CD player on his Scion. He took the online profile to the dealership and had the car within a few weeks.
With Scion sales on the rise, Toyota's experiment with car customization may be just the beginning, market watchers say. The trend is toward greater personalization, called "massclusivity," highly customizable products marketed to a large audience. "The masses realize that they are living in a mass-produced society and are looking for anything that will set them apart," says trend analyst Michael Tchong. "People are looking for their own identities in products, and companies are providing everyone the opportunity to do that."
This story appears in the November 21, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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