When ICE cars were first introduced, the folks who favored horse-drawn wagons were almost unanimous that those new-fangled cars were just a passing fancy.
In the early years of the 20th Century, when gas, battery electric, and steam-powered cars were all considered to be viable, I wonder if the adherents of battery electrics and steam were unanimous in their condemnation of gas. Did they persist for several years in believing that ICE cars were not practical?
Much more recently, when power windows transitioned from hydraulic power to electric power, did the supporters of hydraulics lament the absence of oily stains on their interior door panels?
When automatic transmissions were introduced, some people claimed that drivers’ left legs would atrophy, due to less of a workout. And, they insisted that those new-fangled automatic transmissions would never equal or exceed the fuel economy of a stick shift… even though that eventually became reality
The bottom line is that many people resist change of any type, even when there is ample evidence that they are wrong.
Edited to add… Resistance to change takes place in all areas of our lives, not just in regard to cars. An old friend (recently deceased) used to claim that the tellers in his local branch bank screwed-up his deposits and other transactions regularly. He also complained that his retirement checks were frequently delayed in the mail, and were lost on a couple of occasions. So, I advised him to change to Direct Deposit.
His response was… No, the dumb chicks at that branch will screw-up direct deposits. It didn’t matter how I explained to him that these transactions went directly to the bank’s mainframe computer, and that no human intervention was involved after he established direct deposit for those checks. He continued–irrationally–to resist this very logical change, and he even came-up with really bizarre reasons for not accepting technology in this regard.
Finally, he was given no choice, and he was forced to accept Direct Deposit of his retirement benefits. After a few months, I asked him to list all of the problems that he now had with his retirement checks, and–reluctantly–he admitted that Direct Deposit was problem-free.
Eventually, people come around to accept any technology that is proven. It took me awhile and then I had to need/want a new car which doesn’t come around very often for me.
