What Makes a Car Lovable? It's Not the Tech, It's the Cup Holders

[justaprogressive]

“While it seemed like manufacturers had cup holders figured out … manufacturers are struggling to keep up with being able to accommodate all the different shapes and sizes [of containers] that are increasingly available,” says the report.

So it seems that despite the auto industry’s obsession with software-defined vehicles, many purchasers would forego any number of digital doohickeys, so long as there was enough room in their new cars for multiple Big Gulps. Paying through the nose for a fancy new car stuffed with tech—ADAS, ambient lighting, back-groping seats, dog modes—doesn’t stop auto buyers from complaining about insufficiently expandable beverage bays.

For several years, this long-running annual benchmarking report has advised car brands to pay closer attention to the cup-holder kvetching. The cylindrical voids of space—or, in some cars, flip-out trays, door spaces, fancy holsters, or hinged pockets—are still too small, gripe many of those surveyed. Too small for what, though? Most likely gargantuan Stanley cups, giant Yeti Gallon Ramblers and similar such bladder-busters, the spilt contents of which could drench a desert into bloom.

Even though center console real estate in today’s cars is at a premium—especially now that ever-bigger touchscreens have become seemingly essential in every self-respecting digital cockpit—America’s (and increasingly the Middle East and Australia's) big-drink culture dictates that automakers not scrimp on cup storage.

https://www.wired.com/story/cup-holders-not-tech-makes-cars-lovable/]