Because it's not only about hard facts. It's mainly about the individual perception of the social status of different groups of our society. In this case it's about cars.
The current cliché goes like this: Germans do not care much about aesthetics, the engine should run well and it should be safe to drive that car, that's all.
However for Turks applies this: The car should solely represent how rich they are.
Both clichés are obviously absurd. But like any cliché, I guess there is true aspect to it.
What's more important though, is the reason for such an attitude.
My wild guess is this: The Turks, migrating majorly to Germany since 1961, came here for only one reason: money. And money was the only way to measure how successful they were. Because they mostly came from rural regions of Turkey they had similar levels of education (which was pretty low) and similar skills.
And thinking rationally about it: there might be no better way to show off your well-being through something else than a car. Not everybody gets to see your house, even fewer people get to see it from the inside. Not everybody might notice your watch and only very few could appreciate your choice of fashion.
But a car is something you could be seen with every day. Many peope will notice, especially if it's a new and expensive car. And that's why cars are so popular. It's that easy.
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| Mercedes-Benz by bihabik.deviantart.com |
I would love to own a car like this myself, but I can already say this for sure: it would be such a waste to spend money on something like this. Because even a minor scratch would be horrible! I would not be able to enjoy driving a car like this because I would be just too cautious...
