The Trap of Cars

Here is the English translation of the text. I have maintained the HTML tags as requested and adopted a tone that matches the analytical, slightly provocative, and persuasive style of the original Japanese text.

That moment when you thought, “Someday, I want to drive that car”—was that truly your own will?

Take a look around the city. New employees drive compact cars, section managers switch to sedans, department managers show up in Lexuses or BMWs, and by the time they reach the executive class, Mercedes and Porsches line the parking lot. It is as if the grade of the car functions like a barcode that visualizes the “value” of the human being inside. As income rises, the rank of the car rises. Conversely, driving a car that doesn’t match your income is seen as “living beyond your means,” while sticking to a lower-ranked car is viewed as having “no ambition.” Who decided these rules?

On this site, we have previously dissected various “traps”—social media, alcohol, education, labor, and capitalism. However, the trap of the automobile is unique. This is because there are few other products that so clearly visualize the equation of “Status = Spending Amount.” People don’t see your house. You don’t show them your pay slip. But a car exposes your “rating” to the surrounding world every single day. And that rating system was designed not by you, but by an automobile industry that pours trillions of yen into advertising annually.

In this article, we will dissect how the imprints of “Owning a car = Success” and “Driving a nice car = Happiness” are designed, and how they continue to exploit your attention, time, and money.

Key Points of This Article

• Cars are designed as “Status Symbols,” not just “Means of Transportation”: Automakers and commercials continue to imprint cars as symbols of “freedom, success, masculinity, and family love.” The majority of the emotion you feel when you “want” a car is an artificial desire manufactured by advertising.
• The Fantasy that Car Grade = Human Grade: The unspoken rule that your car’s rank should rise with your income is the result of capitalism imprinting the idea that “your value is determined by how much you consume.” This unconscious program binds you to an endless chain of upgrades.
• A “Money Pit” with a Lifetime Cost of Over 40 Million Yen: When you calculate not just the purchase price but also insurance, inspections (Shaken), parking, gas, taxes, and depreciation, a car is one of the most expensive “consumptions” in life. The vast majority of that money is siphoned off as profit for the auto industry and related sectors.
• The Gap Between the CM “Fantasy” and Reality: The scenery of dashing down an open road in a commercial is completely different from the reality of traffic jams, full parking lots, accident risks, and loan payments. However, because this fantasy is repeatedly imprinted on the subconscious, the fiction of “Car = Freedom” becomes a self-evident truth.

1. The Origin of the Status Symbol: When Did Cars Become “Proof of Success”?

When the automobile was invented at the end of the 19th century, it was purely a “machine for movement.” However, from the moment Henry Ford achieved mass production with the Model T, making it accessible to the general public, the meaning of the car began to mutate.

GM’s Invention of “Planned Obsolescence”

Ford’s Model T was durable, long-lasting, and came only in black. It was a rational and functional “tool.” However, in the 1920s, Alfred Sloan of General Motors (GM) introduced a marketing strategy that would fundamentally change the history of the automobile: the “Annual Model Change.” By changing the design every year, they made last year’s model feel “old” and “outdated,” prompting customers to replace it with a new one.

This was not product engineering; it was psychological engineering. Even if the car’s performance hadn’t changed, simply changing its appearance made people “want to replace it.” It made people psychologically feel that something functionally sufficient was “insufficient.” Sloan named this strategy “Planned Obsolescence.” The reason your smartphone releases a new model every year, and the fashion industry changes “trends” every season, is that they are all descendants of this invention.

Furthermore, Sloan designed multiple brands across price ranges within the same GM group. Chevrolet (Entry) → Pontiac → Oldsmobile → Buick → Cadillac (Premium). Consumers would “graduate” brands as their income increased. This “Brand Ladder” is the prototype of the structure where car grade is directly linked to social status. GM wasn’t just selling cars. They were selling the very value system that says, “Your life is measured by the brand you drive.”

The Imprinting of “Car = Success” in Japan

This structure was faithfully reproduced in Japan. During the high economic growth period, after the “Three Sacred Treasures” (TV, Washing Machine, Fridge) became widespread, the next goal set was the “3Cs”—Car, Cooler (AC), and Color TV. The car was promoted nationally not just as a means of transport, but as “an item proving the success of a middle-class family.”

“Someday, a Crown”—this famous Toyota slogan is the Japanese version of GM’s brand ladder. You start with a Corolla, step up to a Mark II, then a Crown, and finally a Lexus. Every time you replace your car, you are made to feel, “I am growing,” or “I am getting closer to success.” But if you think calmly, the difference between a Corolla and a Crown in terms of the function of “movement” is slight. The extra millions of yen you pay are not for “mobility performance” but for the “symbol of status.”

And this structure is still alive and well today. Compact SUVs for young people, minivans for families, luxury sedans for executives, and supercars as the “proof of the winner.” Automakers prepare a “Brand Ladder” corresponding to every stage of life, designing it so that you always aim for the next step. Never letting you be satisfied—that is the core design philosophy of this system.

2. Anatomy of Car Commercials: An Industry Selling Fantasies

In “The Trap of Capitalism,” I called advertising a “desire manufacturing machine,” and car commercials are one of its most sophisticated forms. In the Japanese advertising market, the automotive industry consistently boasts top-class advertising spending. The combined annual ad spend across TV, internet, magazines, and outdoor ads is on the scale of hundreds of billions of yen. Let’s dissect what this massive investment is imprinting on your brain.

The “Equation of Fantasy” Depicted in CMs

Think of a car commercial. There are several standard patterns.

The Fantasy of “Freedom”: Driving down a single coastal road with no one else around, cutting through the wind. Windows down, hair blowing, stepping on the accelerator toward the horizon. This image burns the equation “Car = Freedom” into the brain. But in reality, most Japanese roads are filled with traffic jams, traffic lights, and speed limits. The average driving speed in Tokyo is about 18 km/h—not much different from a bicycle. The moments you can experience the “open drive” depicted in commercials are a tiny fraction of actual driving time.

The Performance of “Success”: A man in a sophisticated suit opens the door of a luxury car. The city nightscape spreads out behind him as he hands the car to valet parking in front of a restaurant. What this commercial is selling is not a car, but the self-image of “Me in this car = A successful person.” The car’s specs are never mentioned. There is no need to mention them. Because what you are buying is not performance, but a costume of status.

The Performance of “Family Happiness”: A smiling family piles into a minivan and heads to a campsite or the beach. Children’s cheers, a couple’s smiles. The message of this commercial is clear: “To be a good father or a good mother, buy a car for the family.” However, in reality, family happiness is determined by the quality of time spent together, not by the car. And the commercial never touches on the contradiction that you are working overtime, sacrificing time with your family, to pay back the loan for that car.

What Commercials Absolutely Never Show

Just as alcohol commercials never show drunkenness or hangovers, there are things car commercials absolutely never depict. Faces irritated by traffic jams, wandering for 20 minutes looking for parking, pale expressions looking at inspection estimates, scenes of calling the police and insurance companies to handle accidents, and notifications of monthly loan repayments. The car in the commercial is eternally new, eternally driving under sunny skies, eternally full of gas, and eternally in no need of repair. By continuously imprinting this “convenient fantasy” on your subconscious 15 seconds at a time, thousands of times, a massive divergence is created between the reality of the car and its image.

This is exactly the same structure as the commercials pointed out in “The Trap of Alcohol.” Cutting out only the beautiful moments, hiding the costs, and linking happiness with the brand—this technique is designed to access your subconscious reward system directly, bypassing your reason. That is why people who are confident that “I’m not influenced by commercials” are the most in danger. Because the imprinting you cannot perceive is the most powerful imprinting.

3. The Trap of “Ownership”: A Lifetime Cost of 40 Million Yen

Car commercials show the “price” of the car, but they do not show the “cost” of the car. The difference between the two will impact your life to the tune of tens of millions of yen.

The Total Amount of Invisible Costs

Let’s estimate the lifetime cost if you own a car from age 20 to 70.

Vehicle purchase cost (replacing 5-7 times over 50 years, average 3 million yen each): approx. 15-21 million yen. Auto insurance (approx. 80,000 yen/year x 50 years): approx. 4 million yen. Inspection fees (every 2 years, average 100,000 yen x 25 times): approx. 2.5 million yen. Parking fees (in urban areas, 20,000 yen/month x 50 years): approx. 12 million yen. Gasoline (approx. 120,000 yen/year x 50 years): approx. 6 million yen. Auto tax/Weight tax (approx. 50,000 yen/year x 50 years): approx. 2.5 million yen. Maintenance/Repair costs: approx. 3 million yen.

Total: Approx. 45 to 51 million yen.

How do you feel looking at these numbers? It is calculated that about 20% of a typical salaryman’s lifetime earnings are sucked up by cars. Moreover, these figures are for a “normal car”; if you drive luxury cars or sports cars, the cost skyrockets without limit. And this huge amount of money is distributed as profit for the entire giant “automotive ecosystem”—automakers, dealers, insurance companies, oil companies, parking lot operators, and repair shops. The money flowing out of your wallet maintains this system and becomes the funding for airing even more commercials. The money you pay for a car turns into production costs for commercials that imprint on you to “want more cars.”

“Liability” rather than “Asset”

Real estate is treated as an asset (though there is room for debate). But a car is a typical “depreciating asset” that begins losing value the moment it is purchased. A new car loses about 20-30% of its value the moment it is delivered, drops to about half in 3 years, and falls to about 30% of its cost price in 5 years.

In other words, the moment you buy a 3-million-yen new car, 600,000 to 900,000 yen “evaporates,” and from there, maintenance costs continue to accrue. However, advertisements recommend loans as if it were easy to buy, saying “Zero down payment, XX yen per month.” Including loan interest, it is not uncommon to pay effectively over 3.5 million yen for a 3-million-yen car. In the loop of “Work -> Buy -> Work again” pointed out in “The Trap of Capitalism,” the auto loan is one of the most powerful chains binding you to this cycle, second only to the mortgage.

4. “Car Society” Was Designed—The Intentional Weakening of Public Transport

“I live in an area where I can’t live without a car, so I have no choice”—this counterargument is correct. However, when we ask “Why do areas exist where you can’t live without a car?”, another structural trap becomes visible.

USA: GM Killed the Streetcar

America’s “car society” is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Between the 1930s and 1950s, a consortium led by GM, along with the oil and tire industries, bought up streetcar lines across the US and intentionally dismantled them. This became known as the “Great American Streetcar Scandal,” and guilty verdicts were even handed down in federal court (though the fine was a mere $5,000—nothing more than a symbolic amount).

By crushing public transport, expanding roads, and promoting sprawl (disordered development) in the suburbs, a social structure was created where “life cannot function without a car.” Once this structure is completed, it is difficult to turn back. Schools, hospitals, and supermarkets move to locations accessible only by car. Then, residents become increasingly unable to survive without a car. The “demand” that “I need a car” is the “result of supply” created by the auto industry.

Japan’s “Motorization”

The same structure has been reproduced in Japan. During the high economic growth period, the government rapidly developed a highway network using road-specific revenue sources. Kakuei Tanaka’s “Plan for Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago” was a national policy to connect the whole country with expressways, but at the same time, it was a project to create a huge market for the auto industry. Meanwhile, local rail lines in rural areas were forced to close one after another due to unprofitability.

As a result, a situation arose in rural areas where “cars are not a luxury but a daily necessity.” Not just one per family, but one per person became the norm. This is not a “free choice” by residents, but the result of policy inaction regarding public transport maintenance aligning with the profits of the auto industry. A society where “you cannot live without a car” did not fall from the sky; it was designed.

5. The Honeymoon Relationship Between the Auto Industry and Politics

In “The Trap of Capitalism,” I discussed in detail the structure where capitalists write the laws. The auto industry is one of the most powerful players in that arena.

The Reality of Lobbying

In the US, lobbying expenditures by the auto industry amount to tens of millions of dollars annually. Relaxation of fuel efficiency regulations, postponement of EV mandates, lowering of safety standards—behind these policy changes, there are always the activities of lobbyists. When the Trump administration significantly relaxed fuel efficiency standards, the wishes of automakers were strongly reflected.

Even in Japan, the auto industry holds overwhelming political influence as a “key industry” accounting for about 10% of GDP and about 8% of employment (approx. 5.5 million people including related industries). Considering that the sales of Toyota alone are on a level comparable to national budgets, there is no way the government can seriously push forward policies disadvantageous to the auto industry—for example, policies promoting “life without owning a car.” Eco-car tax breaks, subsidies, experiments with toll-free highways—these are all incentives in the direction of “Buy a car,” “Drive a car,” and do not aim for a society where one can live without a car.

A Structure That Puts Safety and Environment “Second”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), traffic accidents claim about 1.35 million lives annually worldwide. This cause of death exceeds war and terrorism. Even in Japan, about 2,600 people die in traffic accidents annually. If this number of people died every year in plane crashes or from food poisoning, society would panic, and regulations would be tightened immediately. However, despite producing this many victims, car accidents are integrated into daily life as “unavoidable” or “personal responsibility.”

The same applies to the environment. Passenger cars account for about 10% of global CO2 emissions. Even as climate change is recognized as a crisis for human survival, the auto industry continues to actively promote large vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks. Why? Because large vehicles have higher profit margins than small vehicles. Quarterly financial results are prioritized over the future of the planet—this is the essence of the auto industry running on the OS of capitalism.

Heavy Taxation on Old Cars: A Tax System That Forces “Replacement”

In Japan, there is a mechanism that institutionally forces replacement with new cars. Under the system called “Green Tax” for automobiles, automobile tax is increased by about 15% for gasoline cars over 13 years old, and a similar tax increase applies to diesel cars over 11 years old. Weight tax is also raised in stages for cars over 13 and 18 years old.

Nominally, it is a system to “suppress the use of old cars with high environmental impact,” but what is the reality? Scrapping a car that still runs perfectly fine because “taxes will go up” and buying a new one. This is nothing but the institutionalization of planned obsolescence. Taking care of things and using them for a long time should be good for the environment, but the tax system enforces the value that “Old = Bad” and “New = Correct.” If you buy a new car, you get preferential treatment with eco-car tax reductions; if you keep driving an old car, you receive a penalty. This structure is the result of the complete alignment of the automaker’s interest in “wanting to sell new cars” and the government’s interest in “wanting to secure tax revenue.” In Europe, a “classic car culture” of cherishing old cars is rooted in society, and in some countries, there are even preferential tax measures for cars over a certain age. “Continuing to use old things” vs. “Being forced to keep buying new things”—it goes without saying which is the truly eco-friendly and humane choice.

I myself cherish and drive a 2004 Nissan March, but due to this system, I am subjected to heavy taxation every year.

6. The End of Ownership: The Contradiction of Still Inciting to “Buy”

The evolution of technology is rapidly causing the meaning of “owning a car” itself to be lost.

The Rise of Car Sharing and Ride Sharing

The car-sharing market is growing explosively. Services like Times Car Share are spreading rapidly in urban areas, and “movement without ownership” is beginning to be chosen, especially by the younger generation. Ride-sharing, represented by Uber and Lyft, has also completely separated “movement” from “ownership.”

The average utilization rate of a private car is, surprisingly, only about 5%. In other words, out of 24 hours a day, it sleeps in a parking lot for about 23 hours. An “asset” purchased for millions of yen, for which you continue to pay monthly maintenance costs, is just occupying space for 95% of its time. There are few other examples of “ownership” this inefficient.

The Disappearance of “Ownership” Brought by Autonomous Driving

Looking further ahead, the evolution of autonomous driving technology has the potential to wipe out the very concept of “my car.” If fully autonomous driving is realized, you call it with your smartphone when needed, and it leaves when you reach your destination—the car changes from a “thing to own” to a “service to use.” Just as we stopped buying CDs and started listening to music on Spotify, just as we stopped buying DVDs and started watching movies on Netflix.

However, automakers are resisting this future with all their might. This is because their business model is built on the premise of “individuals owning cars.” If “ownership” disappears, annual model changes, brand ladders, and status differentiation all lose their meaning. That is why, even now as technology is making a world where “you don’t have to own” possible, commercials are still shouting about “the one car just for you” and “the joy of ownership.” Noticing this contradiction is the first step in seeing through the structure of the brainwashing.

7. Mindset Design Perspective: Is “I Like Cars” Authentic?

I will make an honest confession. I used to be interested in cars, too. In my impressionable years, I was obsessed with racing games and F1, and was attracted to the culture of street racers (though I wasn’t one myself). There was a time when I thought I wanted to grip the steering wheel of a Skyline GT-R someday, and I was even seriously looking to buy a “Hakosuka” (classic Skyline) because I felt the charm of old cars. I wasn’t yearning for the latest luxury cars or luxury brands; rather, my heart was moved by the “drive” and “atmosphere” of sports cars and classic cars. I wouldn’t call myself a fanatical car enthusiast, but an interest in cars was certainly rooted in me.

However, through the exploration of Mindset Design, when I started asking, “Is what I think I like really something I chose?”, the true nature of my interest in cars began to appear. Why was I immersed in racing games? Why was I attracted to GT-Rs and classic cars? Why does my heart move for “fast cars” or “cars with character”? When I dissected each emotion, I realized that many of them were emotions I was “made to have an interest in” through repeated imprinting from racing games, anime, car magazines, and motorsport footage.

The moment I truly understood that the true nature of the emotion I thought was “liking cars” was a “program installed from the outside,” my interest vanished surprisingly easily. This is completely different from “enduring and giving up something you like.” I simply realized that what I thought I “liked” was never mine to begin with. What was removed was not the brakes, but the curse placed by others.

However, even though my interest has almost faded, I must admit that when I happen to see a “nice car,” I still feel a momentary pang of inferiority. The brainwashing of the subconscious is indeed powerful.

Recently, after noticing this, I have been trying a method of “not directing my attention to cars at all (not thinking about them).” In that case, there is no need to worry about it. I am improving my habits to direct the attention freed up in this way towards other important things.

This experience was the most personal verification of the core question Mindset Design consistently asks: “Are you really choosing with your own will?” As I wrote on the ABOUT page, “Even the hobbies and tastes you thought you liked might have been prepared by someone else.” Cars were a concrete example of exactly that.

The Brainwashing of “Car Grade = Human Grade”

Look around you. Rookies in compact cars, middle management in sedans, upper management in luxury cars—income and car rank are accurately proportional, as if the car’s grade is a barcode of annual income. Most people feel no discomfort at this sight. The imprinting is that deep.

But if you think calmly, this is the most visualized form of the program designed by capitalism: “Your social value is determined by your spending amount.” Upgrade your car when your income rises—this “obvious” behavior is the result of replaying the unconscious automatic program that says, “If you succeed, you should buy more expensive things.” Every time you execute that program, the money you earned is sucked into the ecosystem of the auto industry.

As repeatedly stated in the article “Knowing Enough” and the review of Naval Ravikant, as long as you continue to pursue “more,” satisfaction will never come. If you buy a Lexus, you’ll worry about Porsches; if you get a Porsche, your eyes will go to Ferraris. Is climbing this endless “Brand Ladder” really the purpose of your life?

“Time” and “Attention” Stolen by Cars

The core of Mindset Design is “Attention and Time = Life.” How much of this life are cars stealing?

Assuming you drive 1 hour a day for commuting, that’s about 250 hours a year. In 10 years, 2,500 hours—meaning you spend about 100 days’ worth of waking hours just gripping a steering wheel. On a train, you can read. On a bus, you can meditate. On a bicycle, it becomes exercise. But while driving, 100% of your attention is consumed by “safe movement” and cannot be used for anything else.

Furthermore, the time spent maintaining the car—car washes, tire changes, arranging inspections, renewing insurance, looking for parking, refueling—how many dozens of hours a year are stolen by these “chores”? Just as social media binds your attention to a screen, cars bind your attention to “maintenance” and “movement.” And to earn the lost time and money, you return to labor again. “Working for the car, and driving the car to work”—have you ever thought about escaping this circle?

8. Awakening: Redesigning Your Relationship with Cars

The purpose of this article is not to deny cars entirely, nor to insist that you get rid of your car right now. It is a fact that cars are indispensable for life for those living in rural areas. What is important is the shift from an unconscious “I want” to a conscious “Is it necessary?”.

① Ask “Why do I want this car?”

The next time you want to buy or replace a car, stop for just 3 seconds and ask yourself. “Do I want this car for transportation? Or is it for how I want to be seen by others?” If the latter is included even a little, you are executing the program “Status = Car Grade” installed in your brain by commercials.

② Convert Lifetime Cost into “Life Time”

Divide the car’s lifetime cost of over 40 million yen by your hourly wage. If your hourly wage is 2,000 yen, that’s 20,000 hours of labor—equivalent to about 8 years of full-time work. Are you prepared to offer 8 years of your life to a “means of transport cum status symbol” called a car? If you do this calculation even once, you should be able to see the true nature of the feeling “I kinda want it.”

③ Experiment with “Movement Without Ownership”

Car sharing, rental cars, public transport, bicycles, walking. The means to move without owning a car are surprisingly abundant, especially in urban areas. Try experimenting with life without a car for even one month. It is the same as the “experience of not drinking” proposed in “The Trap of Alcohol.” See for yourself what changes the blank space—time, money, attention—created during the “period of non-ownership” brings to your life.

④ Choose Movement as a “Designer,” Not a “Consumer”

If you determine that a car is truly necessary, that is a respectable conscious choice. The problem is not “owning a car” itself, but “owning without thinking.” Analyze your living environment, travel distance, frequency of use, and economic situation calmly, and then choose the minimum necessary means of transportation. Does it need to be a new car? Is that grade necessary? Who are those options for? Choosing based on your reality, not the fantasy of a commercial—that is Mindset Design.

9. Conclusion: Is It You or the System Holding the Steering Wheel?

The car is the most clever “status visualization device” invented by capitalism.

The “Brand Ladder” designed by GM 100 years ago is still running as a program embedded in your brain. “I want to drive a better car”—is the true nature of that desire a genuine thirst springing from inside you, or an artificial thirst manufactured by hundreds of billions of yen in commercials annually?

Just as social media binds your attention to a screen, alcohol numbs your consciousness, and education molds your thinking, cars bind your time, money, and attention to the fantasy of “ownership and status.” And all of these are applications running on the giant operating system discussed in “The Trap of Capitalism.”

I lost interest in cars. When I realized that what I thought I “liked” was something I had been “made to like,” the reason to cling to it disappeared. This was not a loss, but a liberation. Into that empty space flowed the things I truly wanted to direct my attention to.

That car you are driving—is it really you holding that steering wheel? Or is 100 years of marketing moving your hands?

Your life is finite. Whether you use that life to climb a “Brand Ladder” designed by someone else, or to head towards where you truly want to go—that is for you to decide.