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).
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.
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.
No, the regulations are not too strict for small cars, that is what the car industry wants you to think. The regulations for obese cars are far too weak and there is zero enforcement against commercially used car categories being sold for pure end consumer use.
That is by design due to a breakdown of proper functioning of institutions and massive degradation of regulations by neglect and massive loophole exploitation, even widening those loopholes instead of closing them.
That said, footprint based emission rules without strong safeguards are inherently flawed. There is a strong case against making emission standards relative to size for end consumer vehicles. A combined approach could work though, make footprint based emission a fix reqirement and then add meaningful cost to total emission, indepedendent of footprint. Exception for commercial vehicles are fine but only if commercial use is strictly enforced and not massively abused by actual end consumer use.
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.
I respect your optimism. Just because the Smart sold out doesn’t mean it sold a lot, though. It’s amazing in areas where parking is scarce. But outside of that, people love driving their tanks. Unfortunately, many of them buy tanks because they feel like you need a tank to be safe at this point, because of all the other tanks, and there is some evidence they are correct. I live in an area full of Escalades and jacked up Man Trucks.
And it is a sign that fuel is still too cheap in the US, even today, also, that people don’t care about others, not even about the safety and life of others.
The US is a big place with many responsible, caring people in it, so it can’t be characterized all in one stroke. But when this goes wrong, it goes really wrong.
Many are actually allergic to the idea that they are even supposed to care about others. “I’m not my brother’s keeper” is a prominent attitude here.
They see this as an impingement upon their freedom. Like having a deadbeat relative you’re stuck taking care of for the rest of your life. That kind of burden.
They have some notion of family and community but it’s very local, and I mean just the people in their lives. Anything beyond that turns into 1984 for them. Not agreeing with them, mind you, just describing.
I mean egoism of that kind is not limited to the US and to some extend also part if human nature but it is shocking indeed when not needlessly endangering the very life of others, ifte neighbours or schoolgirls and boys in the owwn neighbourhood us considered 1984 style oppression or infringement on freedom. As if if there was a freedom to harm others.
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.
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.
As far as I know they stopped making the Fiesta a while ago, the Focus is still being offered in Europe. I think they might still sell the Ka in Brazil as a small car but obviously nowhere else.
Yeah, the Capri is back in name only. Updated for the current market by being an electric SUV…
Edit: just looked it up and not only does Ford not sell the Ka in Brazil anymore, they don’t sell the Focus at all anymore. What a shame.
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.
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.
That tells you a bit about how fantastically well the “Invisible Hand” is working, isn’t it?
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.
No, the regulations are not too strict for small cars, that is what the car industry wants you to think. The regulations for obese cars are far too weak and there is zero enforcement against commercially used car categories being sold for pure end consumer use.
That is by design due to a breakdown of proper functioning of institutions and massive degradation of regulations by neglect and massive loophole exploitation, even widening those loopholes instead of closing them.
That said, footprint based emission rules without strong safeguards are inherently flawed. There is a strong case against making emission standards relative to size for end consumer vehicles. A combined approach could work though, make footprint based emission a fix reqirement and then add meaningful cost to total emission, indepedendent of footprint. Exception for commercial vehicles are fine but only if commercial use is strictly enforced and not massively abused by actual end consumer use.
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.
I respect your optimism. Just because the Smart sold out doesn’t mean it sold a lot, though. It’s amazing in areas where parking is scarce. But outside of that, people love driving their tanks. Unfortunately, many of them buy tanks because they feel like you need a tank to be safe at this point, because of all the other tanks, and there is some evidence they are correct. I live in an area full of Escalades and jacked up Man Trucks.
And it is a sign that fuel is still too cheap in the US, even today, also, that people don’t care about others, not even about the safety and life of others.
The US is a big place with many responsible, caring people in it, so it can’t be characterized all in one stroke. But when this goes wrong, it goes really wrong.
Many are actually allergic to the idea that they are even supposed to care about others. “I’m not my brother’s keeper” is a prominent attitude here.
They see this as an impingement upon their freedom. Like having a deadbeat relative you’re stuck taking care of for the rest of your life. That kind of burden.
They have some notion of family and community but it’s very local, and I mean just the people in their lives. Anything beyond that turns into 1984 for them. Not agreeing with them, mind you, just describing.
I mean egoism of that kind is not limited to the US and to some extend also part if human nature but it is shocking indeed when not needlessly endangering the very life of others, ifte neighbours or schoolgirls and boys in the owwn neighbourhood us considered 1984 style oppression or infringement on freedom. As if if there was a freedom to harm others.
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.
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.
As far as I know they stopped making the Fiesta a while ago, the Focus is still being offered in Europe. I think they might still sell the Ka in Brazil as a small car but obviously nowhere else.
Yeah, the Capri is back in name only. Updated for the current market by being an electric SUV…
Edit: just looked it up and not only does Ford not sell the Ka in Brazil anymore, they don’t sell the Focus at all anymore. What a shame.
A mustang is not a muscle car, it literally created it’s own group of cars called pony cars