In fact I’d even say that people didn’t need cars but that cars created so much opportunities of extending human cities that once we got there, we made ourselves dependent of cars.
And in retrospection, it was hardly a good direction to take for our future.
So, well, it seems plausible that what people really needed was just better bikes and trains but that they all bought into the car "freedom" marketing.
It's not just marketing though. Cars do provide a level of freedom not given by other forms of transport. I say this as someone who started to drive relatively late in life, it completely changes what options are open to you on the weekend for example.
I completely agree with you. Sadly though, we inhabit a reality where the first semi-solution to a problem wins. That something is pervasive is IMO 95% of the time about whether it was first to market -- not if it was solving the problem perfectly.
Cars and many internet protocols (and software) are a perfect demonstration of this tendency.
And in retrospection, it was hardly a good direction to take for our future.
So, well, it seems plausible that what people really needed was just better bikes and trains but that they all bought into the car "freedom" marketing.