There are many commercials for cars, trucks, and SUVs. They highlight the excitement and comfort one can experience in the moving vehicle.

However, the vehicles in the ads are often not moving very fast. The drives shown on screen are leisurely drives down calm streets. This was highlighted again for me in an ad where the speedometer showed the expensive and powerful vehicle going 36 miles per hour. This is a typical drive on an American road.

Why not show more vehicles going down calm highways at higher speeds? Why not show more regular driving situations many Americans face where a faster speed makes sense (excluding going 40+ in a residential area or going way over the speed limit on a highway)?

Two hypothesis come to mind:

1. Feedback shows people respond well to seeing new vehicles in calm driving environments. People have enough stress driving every day. They associate a new vehicle with a calmer experience, even if that does not happen in their daily life with the vehicle.
2. The car companies have limited locations where they can film advertisements and promotional material. Some of the same sites keep showing up. Filming in regular driving situations is hard or impossible.

Americans may like the idea of driving but reminding them of the stresses of daily driving may not motivate them to buy a new car. Even expensive cars do not make it easier to avoid traffic or turn traffic lights in your favor or significantly change travel times.