Understanding the motivations of consumers allows us to examine the rationale behind engineering designs. The designs that ultimately come to market are those that provide the features that consumers will buy. What we as consumers choose to buy is a function of what we value and how we perceive ourselves as human beings. This paper will show that the perceptions and values consumers impose upon the automotive industry are holdovers from Worldview Two, the zeitgeist spanning the centuries between Descartes and Freud. A person with a Worldview Two mentality sees nature as a collection of entities separate from and perhaps subordinate to humanity.
Nature is valuable insofar as it provides a quiet refuge from the working or real world.
Although a majority of the population classifies themselves as environmentalists, they seem satisfied as long as green space is available for jogging trails and animals are available at the local zoo. Now those vehicles are used for commuting. The glimmer of Worldview Three thinking that shines through in opinion polls does not seem to impact significantly the buying decisions of automobile purchasers. In addition, the Worldview Two meaning and purpose of life help form consumers desires by stressing the importance of becoming more individually free and materially secure. Power is a desirable trait for a Worldview Two consumer because of the association with competition and pleasure.