Vehicular Personality

Does your car reflect your perceived persona and does it have a personality that matches yours?
As a broad generalization it has been said that owners of dogs resemble their pets. For an example, do you remember the famous 60s TV Chunky Meat advert featuring Sir Clement Freud and his bloodhound Henry? www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiwNxuRJbA With a bit of imagination you can see the resemblance between Clement and his dog – I’m not meaning to be disrespectful here. Likewise with a bit of imagination a few modern cars when viewed from front-on have characteristics resembling the physiognomy of creatures such as beetles, dogs, sharks and jaguars. Headlamps may represent the animal’s eyes; grills may resemble noses, and bumpers may be imagined as gaping or grinning mouths.
I feel sure designers of cars are not ignorant of the subconscious desires of potential owners to want a car that is in keeping with their perceived persona. A person’s choice of car can say such a lot about the owner, and to this end, manufacturers provide add-on features for personalizing vehicles. Ford, in particular offer an extensive range of options including body colour, interior trim, fascias and exterior fittings. Some 4x4 vehicles, because of their physical characteristics look very threatening; for example, the latest BMWs have headlamps with circular rings of light around their main reflectors and these have the appearance of glowering eyes. Other cars have features associated with aggressive wild animals such as the Great White Shark, whereas smaller cars, like the reincarnated Beetle, look less intimidating and they are perhaps reminiscent of ladybirds or frogs. Without being too chauvinistic I could suggest that cars with rounded features and tinted colours may appeal to women, but cars with angular forms and bold colours may more appropriately appeal to men.
How does your car match you’re your perceived persona? Are you just too poor to consider the matter, and maybe you don’t even own a car! But for sure, my 9 year old Ford Mondeo matches my purse and it fulfils my transport needs. Most likely it matches my persona too, and if it resembles any creature I would liken it to a slug!