And yet use the same cheap materials in the "luxury" ones that you would have used in the cheap ones anyway!

Similar to literally every market that involves 'things', as we transition from failing liberal capitalism to horrifying technofascist neofeudalism (aka cyberpunk dystopia).

The next step is... well they won't lower the luxury prices, everything becomes renting, loaning, etc, even further and harder... untill you end up with bundled subscription plans / leases on a diverse array of physical things, as we currently have with bundles of online services.

We literally going to transition to a subscription based model for just being alive.

... unless enough people actually do something effrctive about it.

Other wise, the K shaped economy becomes a === shaped economy. You're either on top, or you're not, and you're basically treated as a kind of cattle; raised, milked, then expended whenever it is most profitable to do so.

It cost nearly the same to make a luxury unit as a stripped down one. Most of the cost is labor. Spend 5 k in fancier materials and get 50k for the unit.

There's a difference between "cheap" and "inexpensive." Mcmansions are cheap.

People wanted those mcmansions and rebuilds jack up prices. Now those massive suburban mcmansions are getting old in the tooth and no one wants to buy them. They are realizing they need to build smaller homes finally. We'll probably see more townhomes with shared structures (walls/roofs).

They do have it. It's the value they generate while working. That's what we've always taken, regardless of the exact financial tool used.

Don't forget the government cutting funding for affordable housing projects.

• Capitalism
• ???
• Planetary Doom

Can you jack up the front so I can't see and put a bar on it so I can kill anyone I hit? Thanks.

Even they aren't selling them as much in the US any more. You don't really see many new Accords or Camrys any more, you see CR-Vs and Rav4s.

LFP batteries have about double the life cycle of NMC batteries. Both will last for thousands of cycles but if I'm looking for maximum longevity, I'm definitely going with LFP.

That or they finally got tired of all the problems.

I'm sorry, what do people do with a shitbox car they bought new? They sell it.

From what I've seen it wasn't specifically a global trade weapon. It was more a side effect of central government planning.

There was just a government program to encourage electric car manufacture to boost local manufacturing. They over saturated the domestic market and are now dumping the cars internationally.

Have you been to China recently? Seems like all the new cars sold there are EVs. They're not just dumping them on the export market.

Sure China is not some moral or benevolent actor in all this. At the very least they were forward thinking enough to subsidize the future of automobile transport. Some degree of protectionism may be warranted but the goal should be to catch up with China in the meantime, not double down on fossil fuels.

They're doing what we should be doing. Subsidizing a sustainable alternative.

Canada and Europe have already let Chinese vehicles in. Canada reportedly wants to make an indigineous EV through sharing of Chinese technological knowledge. Wonder how long the US will hold out.

The US heavily subsidizes its auto industry. Why is this being raised as a point against China? It's not China's fault that American auto companies use their subsidies to line their pockets instead of creating cheaper and better vehicles.

So what that Chinese subsidize their EVs. The US subsidizes most of their industry.
It's really tiring for people to say what about China doing X, which the US already does in spades.

The Honda fit is the best urban car I've ever driven. Street parking? No problem. I can fit a bike in the back or put my rack on for two. It seats 5 just like an suv. Great milage. Sure I wish it was electric and had android auto but otherwise it's amazing. Hell it handled a drive across the country stuffed completely full with stuff we didn't want to risk in a shipping box

Cars from the late 80s and early 90s are still fine today if produced;

Unfortunately they can not even be bought used because they've all rusted through (Japanese ones anyway, others are hit and miss)

relatively safe

Citation needed, they're usually missing most of the new safety features, that's why they can be so small and light

good fuel economy

Maybe if you're in the US where diesels are the devil and everything has to be a truck. Modern cars have better fuel economy at even twice the weight. You can get similar or better highway fuel economy out of a 2.5 tonne Audi SQ7 tdi compared to a small 1 tonne 90s Honda Civic. Diesel of course helps a lot in that regard. But if a huge ass performance SUV gets similar mileage compared to a 90s ecobox, imagine what a normally sized modern car can do.

air-conditioning

Was by no means standard on those, at least in Europe. Be lucky to have heated seats in a 90s Japanese ecobox, AC was nearly unheard of, and wasn't standard even in the 00s.

That's not even getting into emissions, which are the reason you don't get these cheap and simple 80s and 90s engines anymore. Now you need EGR to manage NOx, catalytic converters to manage CO2 and if it's a brand new car, even petrol engines need to have particulate filters.

Heck, 4/5 people would be happy with a side by side ATV as a form of transportation in urban/suburban areas. https://www.utvdriver.com/utv-news/cheapest-utility-side-by-sides/

A golf cart is suitable for at least 50% of people currently driving in cities, as the majority of small cars are just grocery getters. https://www.utvdriver.com/utv-news/cheapest-utility-side-by-sides/

Do any of these even have proper heating? Or like how do you demist the windshield between September and April when it's too cold to drive an open vehicle and too humid to not have heating and ideally AC to reduce humidity in the car?

They just look like nice summer toys.

A golf cart is suitable for at least 50% of people currently driving in cities, as the majority of small cars are just grocery getters.

A signficant portion of Florida uses Golf carts in closed communities.