What Can Kids Teach Us About Cars?

Scientific studies are all well and good, but sometimes the simplest studies can provide the most fascinating insights. Take, for example, the recent series at Autosavant entitled “ Brand Awareness? It’s Elementary” (part two here). The study was inspired by a simple question: if you ask kids to name their favorite car, what kind of results will you get? Their answers reflect not only the power of automotive brands in popular culture, but also the basic level of automotive competency of the next generation of gearheads. Somewhat shockingly, not a single kid appears to have answered “ Bumblebee.”

But before we get to results and insights, there’s one important caveat to this admittedly unscientific survey: it was conducted at a school somewhere in the metro Detroit area. But even adjusted for an understandable amount of hometown bias, the results are worth noting. Author Charles Krome visited a third-grade and a fifth-grade class, and asked each student to fill in the blank of one single, open-ended question: what is your favorite car? The results from the third-grade class were as follows:

Krome notes that Ford’s victory was no surprise. After all, it is currently the most successful of the Detroit automakers (towards which the Detroit-area schoolkids would presumably be favorably biased), and the Mustang is one of the longest-running sportscar nameplates in the business. Krome notes

I’m a bit surprised at the turn-out for GM and the Chrysler Group. It’s especially surprising that the Mustang was picked by four students and its arch-rival, the Camaro, wasn’t mentioned at all… it’s also worth noting the student who remembered the name of [Chrysler’s] innovative seating system ahead of the moniker for the vehicle itself.

Krome also notes that third graders are remarkably immune to the effects of automotive marketing, in comparison to their fifth grade counterparts. Choosing generic bodystyles like “convertible” or a brand name (as opposed to a specific nameplate) was a fairly common answer for third graders. Fifth graders, in comparison, were far more specific, as none picked generic bodystyles, and far more gave their answer in the form of a specific nameplate.

Choosing specific model years and paint colors to little-known enthusiast icons like the Ultimate Aero, the fifth graders clearly had a more specific grasp of the automotive landscape. And though the Camaro did better (taking second place), the Mustang once again won the day with 7 identifications. Intriguingly, though Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini were picked by at least one student in the entire survey, not one student mentioned a nameplate from these “boyhood hero” car brands. Speaking of which, a conspicuous absence in the survey is the Bugatti Veyron, arguably the king bedroom-poster pinup cars (I wasn’t the only kid in my fourth-grade class who knew that a McLaren F1 was the most desirable car at the time… just sayin’). On the other end of the spectrum, not a single Detroit-area schoolkid mentioned a single hybrid, electric or alt-energy-powered vehicle… although one might guess that the same question would inspire at least one “Prius” answer from a California classroom.

In any case, Krome’s quick-n-easy survey reveals an fascinating insight into the world of childhood automotive appreciation. I probably wouldn’t have guessed that the Mustang would be the top choice in both age cohorts, nor would I ever suspect that a fifth grader would mention the GMC Terrain as their favorite vehicle. On the other hand, I don’t spend all that much time with young kids… if you do, feel free to add your insights into the world of childhood automotive awareness and appreciation.