Trendletter 2022

Updated: Apr 1, 2023

Another year of Carblox, another year of ro-automotive, and the landscape has changed. From the death of titular brands to the arising of new youthful ones, 2022 was certainly eventful, from January to December. Trendletter is back for the new year to look at old predictions, analyze the top trends of the last 12 months, and forecast what's next as we bid farewell to 2022 and hello to 2023.

Image Credits: Axflud (Escori)

Note from the Editor in Chief:

"I just want to say thank you to you all for the last 12 months. Carblox has grown way beyond what I had expected, from a humble one guy and a simple website to a team of talented designers and writers running one a huge platform. All I can say is thank you for these past 12 months, both the highest highs, and lowest lows, and I think I can speak for us all at Carblox when I say I can't wait to see what the new year brings. Now, onto the recap of ro-auto!"

2021 Predictions - Did They Hold Up?

SUVs

In 2021, we predicted 2022 would be a big year for the SUV crowd. Notably, on January 1st, the Colt Okami SUV dominated the scene when it released, and would remain popular for the rest of the year, despite taking a back seat to other announced vehicles. Atai's Yasmin SUV was also a hit at the Spring Expo of Automobiles, and we can look forward to releases such as the upcoming RISAO Alpine and third rendition Marvino Voyage. But despite this, SUVs were not as big in 2022 as they were yesteryear, so it's technically true, sports utility vehicles did not dominate 2022.

Economy Cars

The next thing that was huge in 2021 was economic and budget vehicles. Thanks to Uemuki's CFC07 vehicles exploding onto the scene, more have been gravitating towards making cars on the lower end, and making those cars cool. While CFC07 was phased out, the cars definitely had spiritual successors and left an impact. But despite this, econoboxes were not as prevalent as they were last year.

2022 Trends And Predictions

Electility Fremtid II - Image Credits: keisozoku (Electility, Uemuki Group)

Now, let's look at what was big in 2022, and what vehicles helped push these industry trends.

i know trends of 2022 will be:

- ACTUAL AW challenges like the microcar challenge and the current hatchback challenge

Visual Experiences

YouTube trailers, announcements, and more, from the unveiling of many hit automobiles to Elektrisk's cinematic Stardom project. In 2021, creators in fictional ro-automotive played around with filming and editing unveilings of their cars, most notably Quo Group and Elektrisk, and in 2022, more people got into it, and more brands took it a step further, which includes brick creators who used videos sparingly last year. Brands both big and small, young and old, brick and mesh, independent and grouped all tried their hand at filmed unveilings, and we can expect this to continue well into 2023.

To name some names who used videos in some major form (be it a direct MP4 or a YouTube video throughout this year: Colt, Konian, Electility, Proton, Zanic, Gallus, Lyx (despite it's death), RISAO, Alkazar, Portocello, Escori, Valiénté, Elektrisk, Rokuta, Sedagli, Saregati, and even Vuelo.

Fictional Ro-Automotive Industry Countries

Shortened to the FAIC and also known as Alt Earth, this subcommunity of the fictional ro-automotive industry hosted at Autoworks creates games based on their own fictionalized nations where you can drive in both FRAI cars alongside tailor-made automobiles exclusive to these games, either to be driven or to be used a props around the maps members have to build for their country. The community also allows for members to create their own governments, politicians, unions and treaties, companies, national lore, and more, allowing for each nation to be unique and the interactions between nations to be engaging. With the community showing no signs of slowing down, it'll continue right into 2023.

The Galamitas - Image Credits: KASH1R0

Actual Autoworks Challenges

There's nothing like a community challenge to bring us all together, and in Autoworks, that has been challenge bodystyles. While the term "AW Challenge Car" used to reference to type of car seen in Autoworks by inexperienced builders, it has grown to become a term relating to cars built for a certain challenge. Currently, there has been two de facto AW Challenges: microcars (tiny two door, two seater automobiles within certain length and width restrictions) from earlier this summer, and hatchbacks, which has been going on since late October, and just ended yesterday. This "trend" will hopefully continue into the new year, allowing builders of all creeds to tackle a new bodystyle they may not have attempted otherwise, improving skills of those who choose to give it a try.

Things We Noticed

More Higher Quality CSG Vehicles

If there's anything welcome in 2022, it's that the average expected brick vehicle quality has risen dramatically over the last 12 months. New builders are maturing their skills and already adept builders have gotten significantly better, alongside newcomers already adept at building joining ro-automotive. The amount of undeniably good brick builders in 2021 was a small selection, and in 2022 that tiny selection got bigger. In 2023, we can expect more CSG builders to get even better at their craft.

Cars From The Past

While making a car from a year before the current one is quite normal, 2022 was definitely treated to a major uptick in these vehicles. This is something that transcends being a trend, and will obviously will remain a community staple in 2023.

Minor and Self-Hosted Events

While we did get the Spring Expo of Automobiles, it certainly was not the huge splash we saw at Inspiration Autoshow 2021. Instead, we had more small, brand-focused events, although more than 2021, but more varying in quality. The only real event in 2022 outside SEA22 was Atai's Beyond the Stars event, held in Untergelrich in February. Besides that, the infamous 2022 Al Jameel Autoshow, also in February, was another smaller event, but referring to the aforementioned quality variation, the automobiles the show had to display ranged from poorly constructed cars from Chompy_Cacti to cars straight up stealing wheels from Elektrisk's Polaris.

Atai Lychee - Image Credits: Adinsapo (Atai, Uemuki Group)

Not to mention one of the booths at AJAS2022 featuring a fake copy of Industry Digest 25, even though ID25 itself didn't release until September 2022 and the latest Digest during the event was Industry Digest 20. This is unlikely to grow into a full trend in 2023, but one could never know.