The New York Times went to Florida and discovered the “blingy” golf cars of The Villages.
A fun story by New York Times reporter Julie Weed looked at the burgeoning custom golf car industry in The Villages, the sprawling Central Florida retiree-led community designed largely for golf car-based travel. The story explained that traditional golf cars have long been popular there, but now owners “want a little more zing, and a cottage industry has developed to sell tricked-out rides.”
In addition to speaking to golf car owners and describing those tricked-out rides, the story looked at US and worldwide sales figures and quoted people such as Keith Simon, vice president of Polaris Commercial North America, and Club Car vice president Robert McElreath. McElreath explained that golf courses want identical cars because uniform presentation is part of the brand,” but that individual owners want something different.
The story explained that popular customized details include owners’ names stenciled across the front, extra comfy seats and of course, customized bodies that look like anything from a race car to a Model-T.
