Why Car Brands Sell Emotion as Much as Performance

In a recent LinkedIn post, Choo Ann NGOH explores how cars can represent personal emotion as much as practical performance. The post recalls a serial entrepreneur whose favorite car repeatedly ended up in the workshop after encountering potholes, then asks whether each car brand might be associated with a particular feeling. This article covers Choo Ann NGOH’s reflections and questions on LinkedIn; it is not written by the post’s author.

“after a certain price range, people don’t look at the price tag anymore”

Beyond speed and price

Choo Ann NGOH opens with a conversational question about what buyers value once a car reaches a certain price range. In the post’s telling, speed may not explain the appeal of an expensive car, particularly in Malaysia, where potholes and speed cameras can limit the experience of driving fast.

That contrast gives the post its central idea: ownership can be about how a car makes someone feel, rather than only about what it can do. Choo Ann NGOH does not claim that every buyer makes the same choice. Instead, the author uses a personal anecdote to illustrate how a car can hold emotional value even when it is inconvenient to drive.

A favorite car, even in the workshop

Choo Ann NGOH recounts meeting a serial entrepreneur in 2010 who had several cars, including one that brought him particular joy. When the author asked where that car was, the entrepreneur would reportedly laugh and explain that it was in the workshop because of pothole damage.

“in the workshop because of potholes”

As Choo Ann NGOH notes, the owner could afford the repairs, but the story’s point is not simply the cost of maintaining a luxury vehicle. The repeated question about the car that “gives him joy” frames the vehicle as a source of pleasure that remained meaningful despite the practical drawbacks.

What emotion does a brand represent?

The memory resurfaced for Choo Ann NGOH after coming across car advertisements dated Nov. 3, 2011. The post does not identify the ads or assign specific emotions to particular brands. Instead, it raises the broader possibility that car brands may carry emotional associations for their audiences.

“Joy,” Choo Ann NGOH suggests, is already spoken for in the author’s imagined mapping of brands to feelings. The post then turns the question outward, asking readers to choose one emotion that describes them. Choo Ann NGOH connects the author’s own answer to the film Patch Adams, but leaves readers to decide what emotion fits them.

“If you could choose one emotion to describe you, what would it be?”

According to Choo Ann NGOH, the invitation is ultimately less about ranking cars than considering the feelings people attach to them—and, by extension, the identities they choose to express.