Will the Aston Martin DB 7 or DB 9 still be driving in 30 years' time?
06/08/2011
A hotly debated issue in classic car circles (and the reason for depicting a comparatively new car here) is the running capability and maintainability of relatively modern vehicles in the future.
Electronics in particular often come up in discussions as a factor of uncertainty. In a recent conversation with Dr. Ulrich Bez from Aston Martin, we raised precisely this issue. He was actually quite relaxed and said that perhaps we should be more concerned about manufacturing methods and metallurgy issues than electronics. And he made the interesting point that modern cars are much more modular in design and that modern machines and manufacturing methods will still be able to re-produce parts for a gearbox, for example, years down the line.
Ever faster computer processors will also make it possible in future to replace entire electronic modules with programmable standard components and simulate/emulate the old logic.
So perhaps there is hope for today's vehicles to achieve classic car status one day. The likelihood is, however, that high-priced makes have a better chance of living a long life than everyday cars such as a Renault Clio or an Audi A6.
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