What comes to mind when you think of a Fiat? I imagine little Italian cars with comparatively little American price tags. I may be wrong, but I doubt that the words luxury and wealth come to mind.

But what happens when you pull up next to a Maserati? I’ll take a guess that Maserati does not produce the same reaction as Fiat. Yet, if you take a look at who owns Maserati, as well as Jeep, Chrysler, Ram, and Dodge, you may be surprised to discover none other than our little Italian friend Fiat.

The association between status and cars upholds the frivolous idea that if a manufacturer sticks a certain logo onto the shiny exterior of a vehicle  it suddenly turns into much more than mere transportation. Really, that is all cars are, a means of transportation, a way from point A to B and then back. So why do we associate status with car brands?

When a Porsche (side note- if you are still incorrectly pronouncing Porsche, reference this video that Porsche itself uploaded) flies by you on the highway, why is it so much cooler than  a Volkswagen Beetle zipping by at 90mph? Volkswagen owns not only Porsche but also Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini. Obviously, that does not mean that a Beetle Dune has the same performance as a Porsche 911, but doesn’t it temper our infatuation with status just a bit to realize that Volkswagen owns all of those luxury brands?

So I’ll ask the question again: Why do we place so much importance on the logo of a car? In my opinion, there is an association in many of our minds that, because the price tag is a lot higher on a Mercedes or a BMW than a Ford or a Mazda, it means those cars are better. But that is not necessarily true. The higher prices of those cars have a lot more to do with the name attached to the cars than the actual cars themselves.

Herein lies the truth of the status of cars: those fancy logos that we are so drawn to and hold in such high regard are only symbols of status because we allow ourselves to fall into the marketing ploy that higher price tags equal higher quality.

Some interesting facts for those who are interested: Nissan owns Infiniti, Honda owns Acura, Ford owns Lincoln, and Toyota owns Lexus.  So let’s look past the hood ornament and get to where we’re going.