Small EVs and efficient people carriers update familiar names for the modern age.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 22 points 6 days ago (13 children)

Even if they could have them, they wouldn’t want them. My family has a small EV and we love it, but 80% of cars sold in the US are SUVs and trucks. The Ford Motor Company does not even make a passenger car anymore (with the small exception of the Mustang, a muscle car they sell in small numbers).

It’s sad.

  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 6 days ago (5 children)

    When the smart car was released in the USA there was a 1 year waiting list because so many people wanted a cheap $7,000 car that they sold out everywhere. Then they stopped making small economy cars and forced the SUV down our throats.

    People absolutely would buy a cheap economy car in the USA. There is sky-high demand. It's just not fulfilled because our auto industry is a racket and they know that if only crazy expensive cars are sold in the USA people will have no choice but to buy them. Transportation is a need, not a luxury. It's like pricing water at $100 a bottle when everyone lives in the desert and your $100 water is the only water.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    That tells you a bit about how fantastically well the "Invisible Hand" is working, isn't it?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    See the problem is the invisible hand isn't what forced us to buy big cars. Auto regulations determining fuel economy by vehicle footprint is what killed small cars in general, including the smart car which is far too inefficient given it's footprint to be sold in the USA. Cars as small as the smart car would need 70+ mpg to be sold under current regulations, so instead manufacturers make larger vehicles to fit inside of the regs. There's a reason EVERY car model in the USA has only gotten larger every passing year, and it's not just cuz "durrrr merican need big car", although that is probably a good half of it.... Here's a random chart I found, not sure how accurate but u can search if your interested it's all public info.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • [–] 5 points 6 days ago

    CAFE regulations are based on vehclicle footprint as of 2012. That's why all the small trucks suddenly disappeared from the market that year. They had stricter fuel-economy standards than a sedan. The giant vehicles we're gettimg today is the result of regulations that make it easier to just keep making vehicles bigger than to make them more efficient.

    People will pay good money for a 15yo Ranger because you can't get an equivalent vehicle new. The marketing to make oversized cars trendy is to prevent competition for the new vehicles coming from the used market.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • [–] 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

    Have they stopped making the Escord, Focus and Fiesta? Those have always been incredibly popular cars in Europe.

    But checking their website, I don't see any of them. Now it's the Puma, Kuga, Explorer, and apparently the Capri is back! Also an electric Mustang and the current van is called Tourneo. (And the Mustang is listed as an SUV.) (Maybe the Tourneo is an "SUV inspired car", but there seem to be two completely different cars with that name.)

    But Ford sells completely different cars in Europe than in the US. That's why they're the one American car company that's very successful in Europe.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 6 days ago*

    No one in the US makes those budget entry level cars anymore. No Honda Civic or Fit. No Nissan Versa. Certainly no Ford Escort or Fiesta. It’s just not a category any of the companies care about serving anymore. It used to be that companies would lose money on their entry level car to win your brand loyalty. Mose money on a Corolla so that someday you get even more back on a Lexus. But apparently ain’t nobody got time for that anymore.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 23 points 6 days ago (11 children)

    0 Days without Americans making everything about them

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 14 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    There are more than double the amount of car makers available to choose from in the EU vs the US, gas and electric.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 7 points 6 days ago*

    I honestly don't think most of the cooler looking ones will release at all; the 2cv maybe. I'd be surprised if, apart from the VAG cars, any of them came to Australia

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    "We a have a free market, so long as you only buy what we allow you to buy."

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 6 days ago

    I want the skinny 125 R15 tires and flip up side windows on the new 2CV!

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 6 days ago

    Think about the poor oil barons.

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 6 days ago

    They look cool but it would be nice to see more basic EVs. Most of these concepts will likely have steer and brake by wire, while fun to drive, but meaning repairing is where the money will be.

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (8 children)

    These are all concept cars. In other words often just fantasy. Even if they do make a prototype it's in no way guaranteed that it will see production. Anyone remember the Citroen or Renault where the seat was part of the door. Even featured as a prototype on Top Gear.

    Just fantasy

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 3 points 6 days ago* (4 children)

    Looking at these photos, all I can say is god I'm so sick and tired of modern vehicle interiors. I hate these flat, 1980s-style dashboards with nothing on them but vents, a steering wheel, and two giant touchscreens. They're Spartan as fuck and ugly as hell, yet they have the nerve to charge $60K+ for this crap. Whatever happened to proper interior design? I get that these are concept cars, but their interiors still look llke every modern car on the road.

    Vehicle interior design peaked in the late 2010s and it's only been downhill from there.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (3 children)

    Well what else do you want? Other than some buttons for AC on the center console.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    I don't want my instrument panel to be a digital display screen. Guages! Buttons! Knobs and switches! That iPad glued to the dashboard shit is for the birds

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago

    I want a full panel with Nixie tube odometer, analogue dials, and a huge, rustic jackknife switch that throws a bunch of sparks when it turns the car on. Any physical buttons should have the loudest mechanical keyboard switches available so that I can hear them clearly with music on.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›