Your car says as much about you as the social media network you choose to invest the majority of your time in. However, the automotive world, like that of social media, is in a greater state of flux than ever before and the truth is nobody really knows how it's going to play out exactly.
The traditional internal combustion engine is experiencing a similar plight to Facebook. Virtually everyone has one and it's now starting to become socially uncool in certain circles to keep it going, with many informed opinions suggesting it has had its day.
Then there are electric vehicles - the Twitter of the automotive world. We've seen a rapid increase in users despite the obvious limitations of battery range, something that is mirrored with the 140 character count. It may be seen by some as being cooler, but even with several years now under the belt, little has changed.
The big question is: what is going to come next for the automotive world? Where does the future lie? It's something we find ourselves being asked on a daily basis by readers and looking around the industry it would give you the impression that even the biggest players don't quite know. We've gone from petrol to diesel (and we predict there'll be a swing back the other way in the next couple of years), electric and hybrid. Yet many manufacturers remain perched firmly on the fence.
Taking Audi as just one example; it has trademarked, invested in and developed e-tron and g-tron models alongside its existing petrol and diesel technology. It has also teamed up with Joule and developed a new process whereby it has created synthetically engineered 'e-fuel', which is the by-product of genetically engineered photosynthetic microorganisms metabolising carbon dioxide.
It is an impressive portfolio of alternative fuels, but doesn't really give the public a definitive direction as to what the next big thing is going to be. Let's not forget hydrogen. It might not be on a lot of radar now, but ultimately it seems that will be the final method of propulsion for many of us, the question is when. Some say 40 years, some 50, yet Hyundai is one of a few that have already shown production-ready hydrogen cars, the only limiting factor for now is the lack of widespread infrastructure.
All of which moves the spotlight onto the plug-in hybrid. It now seems almost customary for any new model being revealed these days to be shown with a PHEV variant of some kind alongside it. Certainly, ever increasing draconian emission regulations are prompting people to start to look more actively at what the next big thing just might be, but for now the definitive answer seems to be hidden somewhere in the cloud(s).