Q.Every year, car manufacturers launch new models with minor cosmetic changes. Explain, using the criteria discussed in the chapter, why such a change would NOT normally be considered an example of creative thinking.

The chapter states that a new car model is not automatically creative just because it is new each year - it only counts as creative if a genuinely unique feature has actually been added. …

The chapter explicitly uses new models of cars, scooters and household appliances as its own example of something that is NOT automatically creative: it states that every year's new model 'may not be original unless unique features are added.' Creative thinking, as defined in the chapter, requires the production of novel and original ideas or solutions - novelty alone (simply being a newer version, released more recently) is not sufficient; genuine originality, meaning something that did not previously exist in that form, is equally required.

A minor cosmetic change - a slightly different paint colour, a reshaped headlight, a marginally updated dashboard trim - modifies the surface appearance of the car without introducing any underlying feature that is functionally or conceptually new. It therefore fails the originality test: nothing about how the car works or what it offers is actually unprecedented. It also does not produce the kind of 'effective surprise' the chapter associates with real creative thinking, since a minor styling tweak on an already-familiar model does not startle or surprise anyone in the way a genuinely novel idea would. By contrast, if a manufa …