Car Characters on the World Stage
The vehicle often holds an outsize place in a culture. A photography book’s dozens of examples are a collection of interpretations and extensions that reveal its moldability.

What do cars mean to your dealership’s customers?
Pexels/Quintin Gellar
A new photography book on the car’s place in society shows the intimate role it plays in our day-to-day lives and even sometimes our identities.
Of course, the car occupies different places in different cultures, but it nevertheless tends to figure largely, and “Homo Mobilis” takes the reader on a tour of various post-transaction manifestations.
The 160 vehicles and their owners that Dutch photographer Martin Roemers chose for the book from across continents – some actually carts and other adapted contrivances – show how owners can make their rides traveling businesses, and not just taxis, or extensions of themselves.
A sizable number of the highlighted vehicles happen to be in India, where many owners exercise their creative and entrepreneurial spirits in the use of their conveyances. Depending on which ranking you consult, the subcontinent was either fourth or fifth in the world last year in automotive production volume.
China, meanwhile, was first and produced some 40% of new vehicles across the world, according to sell-side dealership transaction firm Kerrigan Advisors.
Still, many vehicle owners in those countries make do with well-worn four- or three-wheelers originally built long ago due to the same divide between the wealthy and the low-income that’s making new cars out of reach for many mass-market consumers in the U.S.
New or old, the vehicle can be much more than transportation, as the book reflects. One man in India, for instance, planted a green garden on the roof of his purple micro car as part of his environmental activism.
“Through this project, I want to hold up a mirror: to our systems, our aspirations, our transitions,” Roemers says. “We are what we drive – not in a consumerist sense, but in a cultural one.”
Auto dealers are of course an important link in the chain that connects automakers with auto consumers in order to maintain this strong connection, whether through a new car or a used one. What do cars mean to your dealership’s customers?
More Articles

The Right Gig
Buffeted by trial after trial as a young man, David Wright knew he’d found his life path when he stumbled into auto retail. The 2026 Time Dealer of the Year shares the lessons he learned along the way.
Read More →
California Hybrids Reach State Record
The Golden State still leads the country in electric-vehicle registrations, but much like the rest of the U.S. its hybrid market share is up while full electrics stabilize after a dramatic first-quarter dip.
Read More →
My Mercedes in the U.S.
The German brand debuted its studio dealership concept for the first time in the states in Los Angeles, tapping Americans’ penchant for creative distinctions.
Read More →
Dealerships Are Paying the Price for Extended Car Loans
Growing negative-equity scenarios mean such lengthy terms should be addressed in a forward-looking way to make them work for the dealer and the consumer down the road.
Read More →
Used Sales Hit Summer Drag
The vacation season, combined with high prices, has dented deliveries and added to inventories, though supply is still slim enough to keep listings elevated.
Read More →
Automotive Amplifiers Contest Finalists Chosen
Representing dealerships across the country, the finalists' solutions are aimed at tackling difficult pain points dealerships face today.
Read More →
Trade-Ins in Negative Equity Reach New Heights
As such trade-ins rise in frequency, so do monthly loan payment amounts and interest rates, according to second-quarter data compiled by Edmunds.
Read More →
Integrating Nontraditional F&I Products
The niche presents a strategic advantage for auto dealerships as they move to adapt to fast-changing consumer expectations in today’s market.
Read More →
Auto Credit Plentiful
June numbers show lenders are readily granting access, including to risky borrowers, as consumers leverage themselves to take on high prices.
Read More →
California Launches EV Rebate Program
Participating automakers are matching the state's $13.5 million investment in new electric-vehicle rebates scheduled to take effect later this summer.
Read More →