THE NIGERIAN MOTORING TRADITION
Even with the soaring oil prices globally, the American motoring tradition still sticks around. Last year alone, and even according to February 2012 sales statistics, the highest selling vehicles in the US were Ford’s F-series trucks. Ford overtook Toyota in sales last year-due to the distortion in Toyota’s supply chain as a result of the Japanese disaster-so, if Americans weren’t who they were, ideally, things should reverse back to normal. In my humble opinion I think the Tsunami incident gave Americans an opportunity to re-access and firmly embrace what they really love, which is: roomy and large vehicles that can readily serve families. Many circumstances have prompted the need for radical changes in vehicle development and manufacture, but the fact still remains that car producers globally, play around regional or country based motoring traditions and expectations of the motoring populace that make up a target geographical location.
Europeans are recognized as largely conservative and relatively more economically minded in comparison with Americans. This attribute amongst others, are well reflected in the kinds of designs specified for Europeans. Like in Italy, because of their mostly narrow streets, they lay high preference on smaller cars which can get them around more easily and gain better access to tight parking spaces. This over the years has groomed the evident motoring trend in most Italian cities; the same goes for Germans who hold to high esteem their craving for close to perfect cars with unflinching dynamic stability and high performance. Typical Germans are less concerned about the initial cost of cars or whether it’s ‘green or black’ from an environmentalist perspective; they expect their cars to be durable and highly dependable. Also, the ‘German pride’ with regards to their perceived engineering prowess isn’t a factor to shove aside in accounting for what grooms their adopted motoring tradition.
In the midst of all these, what can we say about the Nigerian adopted motoring tradition? A tough question to answer partly because the Nigerian driving populace are not necessarily considered in most design decisions globally; the reason behind this has to be the fact that most cars on our roads were not purchased brand new and the level of patronage of brand new cars is low. Since we are not a high priority market in this light, we mostly don’t have much of a choice but to do away with several imports that come our way. No hard feelings here, as this is strictly business for the car manufacturers that produce cars to suit favourable markets.
Nevertheless, I can boldly say Nigerian motorist have certain traditions; we might still be in the grooming stages of creating a firm one, but there are clear pointers to what really drives a typical Nigerian motorist with regards to a perceived upheld tradition. I just documented a few in this article which I will be discussing further.
RUMOURS THAT STICK
It’s all about the gist that surrounds a particular car, we Nigerians know how best to keep our ears to the ground. Funny enough, we trust so much of our regular road side mechanics’ beliefs-the same ones we go behind their backs and water down-and even base purchasing decisions on such. Because of how quickly rumours and assertions spread, most Nigerians would rather stick to cars with track records they have tested personally or witnessed being proven.
This stands out to be the reason why certain quality brands are not given a real chance because, some of these rumours even deter people from purchasing brand new cars. Until enough people are willing to take the risk on a newly introduced brand, most Nigerians don’t get to trust such cars. This weird Nigerian motoring tradition also has gone a long way in instituting a queer value system and reverse pricing model where trusted cars are priced relatively higher year in year out, even as the models age further with 6-figure odometer readings. One annoying example is the 1999 Toyota Corolla pinned at a price close to what will get a brand new Hyundai Getz or Kia Picanto for years in a stretch now.
INITIAL COST
The ‘low price strategy’ is the surest way to get people to take certain risks and even purchase an unpopular brand. As for why most Nigerians will spend so much to purchase a tokunbo (used) car, it’s simply because of their affordability and the fact that these cars are clearly cheaper versions of the largely accepted brands.
Be it a craving for bigmanism or a genuine need to get around with what you have, most Nigerians lay a terribly high preference on the cost of cars, a very little number care about empirical data about specific cars, even within the range of a popular brand.
With that been said, the search is still on for the true Nigerian motoring tradition which overtime, will groom the kinds of imports we get or the type of cars produced on the Nigerian soil for Nigerians.

http://ogadriver./2012/01/29/hello-world/