The $25k car is going extinct?

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319 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 29 Jun 25 15:59 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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puzzlingcaptcha ◴[30 Jun 25 06:20 UTC] No.44420041[source]▶

You can still buy a new subcompact car (like a Renault Clio or Skoda Fabia) in Europe for under 20k EUR.

The more interesting question is why these cars disappeared in the US. And while many of the factors discussed here are true for both EU and US (inflation, interest rates, manufacturer profit margins etc) I am surprised no one mentioned the 'SUV loophole' of US regulations that effectively boosted the SUVs (off-road vehicles are classified as non-passenger automobiles with everything that entails, notably much less stringent emission standards) and made the small cars unprofitable to make in comparison.

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troupo ◴[30 Jun 25 07:28 UTC] No.44420455[source]▶

>>44420041 #

Small cars are disappearing in the EU as well. E.g. Audi will discontinue (or have already discontinued) their A1 model (and it was the perfect little car).

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1. nicholassmith ◴[30 Jun 25 07:53 UTC] No.44420597[source]▶

>>44420455 #

Renault at least are keeping the small car flame alive with the 5 and a new version of the Twingo. Audi's product strategy at the moment seems to be "try everything and pivot" so they might even end up relauching the A2 by accident.

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