This is either a stroke of genius or the downfall of Western civilization: Dodge has just announced a plan to allow crowdsourced purchases of its Dart compact sedan though funding website Kickstarter.
If you’re familiar with bridal gift registries and how they work, you know the basic concept. Here, someone says “I want a Dodge Dart for my birthday,” then Kickstarter sends out gift requests to the sender’s contact list. If you have enough friends, you can probably fund the car in its entirety; if you don’t, we assume the money donated will go towards lowering the purchase price of the car.
For Dodge, this is pure marketing genius. Even if no one takes advantage of the scheme, it gives the automaker something to talk about, while drawing attention to its slow-selling Dart.
On the other hand, it pretty much torpedoes the idea of working hard for what you want. Saving money towards a goal is hard, but asking friends and family to give you money for that same goal is a lot easier. Plus, when someone else is buying you a car, you have plenty of disposable cash for beer, pizza and live music, which is way more important than putting money aside to buy a car.
Is it genius, or just one more indication that our values have completely fallen in the toilet? You decide.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
