Max Bottaro

A product’s life span is usually marked by small incremental improvements until it is finally ousted by a product that is so plainly superior that it becomes obsolete. A textbook example of this product lifespan cycle is the airplane. When propeller airplanes first came out, they were dangerous and relatively slow. Over the years, incremental improvements on the engines and design yielded greater power and more reliability. Then the Jet airplane was introduced into the market. At first it was a poor alternative to the traditional propeller airplane- it was incredibly dangerous and unreliable.

Still, the Jet airplane was no incremental improvement on the old way of things- it was a bold and daring new product; one that would ultimately revolutionize the way we travel. Over the years, it become incrementally safer, and now the Jet has the status quo as far as the fastest and most efficient means of air travel. Skype and other V.O.I.P. technologies are currently doing to phone service providers what the Jet airplane did to propeller planes.

The automotive industry is one of the most notable industries for incremental improvements. It’s 2008, where are my damn flying cars? Since the 1920’s, cars really haven’t changed that much (considering it’s been nearly a century). Sure, they are fuel injected, leather interiored, computer chipped, and you can roll down the windows with the touch of a button. Still, cars have all the basic elements: a couple doors, an interior cockpit, and an internal combustion engine. That is until now: introducing the BMW Gina Light Visionary Concept.

While it still has the same drive train, I feel this design advance may be more than just an incremental improvement. BMW has really outdone itself- I think this has the potential to revolutionize the luxury automotive industry. Only time will tell if this improvement will have a evolutionary effect in the automotive product cycle, but so far the BMW Gina Light has come as closer to doing so than anything thus far.

I just wouldn’t want to get keyed.