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The $25k car is going extinct?

(media.hubspot.com)
319 points pseudolus | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.733s | source
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999900000999 ◴[] No.44414566[source]
We don't want affordable Chinese EVs.

That's the answer here. They can build cars better, cheaper, faster than we can.

Instead Ford wants to sell a 80k SUPER F-250 BIG MANN TRUCK. All for what, you to drive 10 minutes to Walmart, buy groceries and drive back.

The best car is the one you don't own. No payments, insurance, parking tickets.

Unfortunately most American cities are centered around driving. So much money , and space wasted on these multi ton metal boxes. In many places most(much) of the city is literally just parking spaces.

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iancmceachern ◴[] No.44416053[source]
We drive an F250, and live in San Francisco.

We hardly put any miles on it (maybe 15k a year). To get around locally we ride our bikes mostly here in the city.

We do use it for our small business (essential) and also to to a large RV trailer which we use to live in 2-4 months a year visiting loved ones and just decompressing.

The things people don't usually talk about is the total cost of ownership.

One can buy a new F250 diesel for $80k, drive it for 6 years towing heavy loads and working hard. And sellnit for more than half what they paid for it. During that time the only costs are routine maintenance, no major repair bills.

One can also buy a luxury car or SUV, say a BMW, for the same price and 6 years later it is most certainly not worth half what they paid for it, and they typically paid tens of thousands in repair costs.

The next argument people make is that a big truck is inefficient. The simple fact is my F250 diesel gets the same as your BMW M3. But it can be used for work, and is.

Financially, I would argue that it makes no sense to buy a new vehicle above $50k that isn't a diesel pickup.

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999900000999 ◴[] No.44416839[source]
You don't have to justify your personal situation to me.

If you feel like buying a 80k truck, that's cool.

The issue with America is the vast majority of truck buyers really can't afford an 80k truck.

This isn't the best source, but it says here the average truck buyer is only making 82k or so.

https://www.myautoconcepts.com/blogdetails?id=4049

From experience talking to friends and sales people plenty of folks with 60 to 80k incomes find themselves in 50k plus vehicles.

I suspect for the majority of truck buyers, if credit wasn't as easily available, they'd find alternatives.

The only reason the typical person can buy an 80k truck is they can get a loan.

Let's say their was a hypothetical car loan limit of 1/4th of your annual income. A lot of people would find out really fast they don't need a massive truck.

Manufacturers would in turn adjust accordingly. A 15k car, maybe without a bunch of touch screens, is possible.

This is probably why cars are cheaper in China, credit isn't as available.

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1. caleblloyd ◴[] No.44418230[source]
Another (possibly bigger) reason cars are cheaper in China is because their government subsidizes the heck out of BYD and the likes. It would be like if Tesla didn’t have to pay anything to build their factories.
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2. 999900000999 ◴[] No.44418410[source]
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wha...

We subsidize our auto industry too.

Imagine if we let in the Chinese EVs stacked with the tax credit, you could get a car for 5000$ or less.

3. dluan ◴[] No.44419552[source]
Not sure if this is a tongue in cheek joke, but Tesla has benefited massively from federal subsidies as well as local dog and pony shows of small municipal factory sites.
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4. caleblloyd ◴[] No.44421339[source]
It wasn’t a joke, but I do see your point. US subsidies for EVs are massive as well. I guess I just hadn’t dug into the numbers. Now I’m not sure who gives more subsidies, the US or China.

The federal tax credit in the US is much higher than the Chinese equivalent it appears. But the factory and R&D subsidies are much harder to compute.