Will today’s cars still be around in 40 years time?

Whilst talking to one of our customers yesterday, we came round to the topic of whether today’s cars will still be on the road in 40 years time.

We didn’t reach any conclusions, but it does seem to be less likely than it’s ever been. Cars 40 years old now are relatively straight forward mechanically and electrically – we can certainly fix them! The biggest challenge is corrosion – they generally weren’t undersealed from new and rust prevention didn’t go much further than checking they’d been painted. All but the very worst are usually repairable, albeit after some time consuming welding.

Today’s cars are very different, effective anti-rust coatings and more durable paint means lots will survive without structural problems. Mechanically they’re more complex eg abs brakes, but can be repaired. It’s the electrical and electronic side of things which I think could be a nightmare. When electronic control units fail, will anyone be able to repair them???? And there’s usually more than one………..

All in all I think that by 2050 we could find ourselves with just some non-running museum pieces from 2010. I very much hope I’m proved wrong.

On the plus side, I think cars from the 50s and 60s will be in greater demand (as well as having increased in value).

What do you think?