I like your "Costco car" phrase! When I read the article, I saw a car under $5000 that fits the needs of many US citizens automotive needs and thought "why can't we have that over here?"... instead we're pushed $50,000 pickup trucks and cars capable of reaching 150+ mph with price tags to match. We need the "Costco car" you speak of!
> why can't we have that over here?" (snip) We need the "Costco car" you speak of!
We already have them. A "Costco Car" built to meet all minimum US safety standards is how you get stuff like the 2021 Chevy Spark (retail out-the-door price of about $14,000 brand new - https://www.chevrolet.com/cars/spark . It's cheap enough that a working fresh graduate could buy one brand new, off-the-lot. (approx $240/month or so on a 60 month loan)
Most people don't like "Costco Cars". Stuff like the Chevy Spark, or Mitsubishi Mirage, or the Nissan Versa -- they generally aren't as comfortable in seats or interior trim or interior features, they aren't as fun to drive, they tend to be louder and lighter which can make them feel unsafe (even though they aren't), they aren't very big or roomy, they generally won't impress anybody, etc.
But you can buy a "Costco Car" from any Chevy dealership anywhere in the US today, if you really want one.
The above commenter was saying we needed a "Costco Car" that was actually an EV to increase EV sales. Despite it's EV sounding name the Chevy Spark to date has never been an EV.
Chevy's Bolt, their current closest to an entry model EV, still starts at $36,500.
According to your link that was a limited production run from 2013 to 2016 and $31,000 is a far cry from the Chery QQ's $5000 price tag.
You may be technically correct about the previous poster's claims, but that says nothing to the fact that we simply don't have a low cost, low expectation electric vehicle in the USA.
One reason unfortunately is you have to share the road with those $50k pickup trucks and I would not want to be in a $5000 box anywhere near those things. I've seen a video once of a lifted pickup hitting a small economy hatchback. It was horrific.
Absolutely, but successfully enacting such measures would mean political violence, which is a whole different thing from traffic deaths, and even attempting it would probably lead to a wave of elections going toward the party promising not to do it (and likely to do a bunch of other things that are the governance equivalent of punching yourself in the face—god, our politics are dumb in this country). You think people get upset about any hint of gun regulation, look out if you go after big trucks. No-one's going to be crazy enough to try it, though yes, we definitely should take measures to drastically reduce the number of large personal vehicles on the road, in an ideal world.
Nobody in the USA will buy it. Anyone who claims they will, and doesn't own a Mitsubishi Mirage or first-gen Nissan Versa is lying. These cars stayed under $10k new for a while, and yet never really sold well in the USA. It was even possible to get a Ford Fiesta for <$10k new after discounts up until they stopped selling them in the USA. They seriously sat on lots for 2-3 years before being auctioned off (and probably sold at used car dealerships for more than they sold for new).
Americans don't buy cheap new cars, and it's not because they don't exist. Manufactures would love to get Americans buying cheap new cars, but Americans stubbornly refuse to. They claim to want cheap new cars, but they take one look at an actually cheap car and decide that a 10 year old <nice car> is a better buy.
