Is Social Media Ruining The Supercar?

First of all, I'd like to apologise in advance for not perhaps posting this in the right tribe; I'm still getting to grips with this site and I'm sorry if I seem a bit of a novice! If this belongs somewhere else, then please do let me know where to post for future reference!

Nevertheless, on with the article.

I vividly remember waking up one cold morning in 2008 feeling as much anticipation as most football fans in an England match. Why? Because I was heading to a major motor show in London and was due to witness some new car reveals that nobody had ever heard of or seen until the silky covers were gracefully lifted off by a couple of gorgeous women in branded dresses.

Seeing cars get revealed back then was like watching Chewbacca talk in English - everyone wanted to see it and the sight was mesmerising! The cars I saw specifically were the Jaguar XKR-S (4.2), the McLaren SLR Stirling Moss and Aston's gorgeous DBS Volante (I believe those were the cars anyway... it was a while).

I can even imagine what seeing new cars must've been like in the '60s and '70s: there must've been these strange new shapes under covers and brummies with their brown jackets and tartan trousers were probably crowding around and had no idea what was about to become new. Even bog-standard cars such as the Hilman Imp or the MK2 Ford Cortina must've really excited the public at the time. Suddenly, Austin Cambridges were to be replaced by these new, sharply-designed machines with exciting engines with twin-carbs. It must've been fantastic being a petrolhead without the internet!

How cool must've it been seeing a 275 GTB for the first time? Especially without leaks and renders!

How cool must've it been seeing a 275 GTB for the first time? Especially without leaks and renders!

This neatly brings me onto the topic of cars on social media: because you may believe that seeing spy shots of prototypes or Autocar's renders might make being a petrolhead more anticipating, but is that necessarily the case?

I happen to believe that sites like Instagram, Snapchat etc. are drastically raising people's expectations of cars (especially supercars) so much, that once it eventually comes around to the reveal, suddenly people could be a little underwhelmed.

I listened to a podcast on the YouTube channel 'Behind The Glass', and the two hosts were constantly commenting on just how underwhelming the Geneva Motorshow was this year. And that made me realise: literally every car that was revealed there such as the 488 Pista, 991.2 GT3 RS, McLaren Senna and various others were already leaked on social media - so everyone with Castrol oil running through their veins already knew what they looked like before the official launches.

It saddens me to see the world is less impressed with supercars like this, but I keep telling myself to leave the past behind me and appreciate that things change.

Even gorgeous cars like the DBS were exposed far too early!

Even gorgeous cars like the DBS were exposed far too early!

Here's an example: Aston Martin were repeatedly working on the new DBS Superleggera from November of last year, and the spy shots effectively showed a matte black DB11 with fat nostrils and a grille bigger than John Prescott. I imagined this was a camouflage of what was soon to come.

My Instagram feed was full of these spy shots of the car, and eventually when it lost covers in June of this year, it looked.... just as we all expected it to.

It could just be that Aston Martin are awful at camo work, but as beautiful as it was, I was nowhere near as amazed than when Aston unveiled... err...the old DBS. Because social media was less of an influence back then, the reveal was more of a surprise to the general public, thus making the whole thing feel (*deep breath*) special! I don't think those vibes exist these days.

Not convinced with me? Well, let's look at another example:

Bear with me here!

Bear with me here!

You probably know what the car is above; the Apollo I.E. You also probably know what sort of engine is has - a Ferrari V12. And of course you will know what it looks like - because it's... well... striking!

Thing is though, it may look like a Star Trek fighter for the road, but is anyone else bored of it?

It's such a weird conundrum, because we're obviously supposed to look at it and go; "WOW! LOOK AT THAT!!" But honestly, I'm just like; "meh." And I think I know why:

The I.E was the darling of the social media scene back in March of this year - every YouTuber, Instagram spotter and general supercar page were endlessly posting content of it - almost to the point where it started to become boring. I certainly had enough of seeing it, and I feel ashamed about that.

Is this enough evidence that perhaps social media is ruining the supercar? There are probably a tonne of other examples, but that's pretty much what I'm thinking.

What are your thoughts?

What are your thoughts?

So, there we are- my first blog on DriveTribe - a short one, admittedly. But I wanted to see how things go. I've written articles for nearly two years on Car Throttle and others, but decided to try here and see how things go.

I hope you enjoyed reading and get in the comments with your thoughts!

Thank you :)

Aaron.