Wider car industry news

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carpocalypse
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Carpocalypse

Carpocalypse

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I'm not sure if this is something I can create, but I thought I would create a thread for events that may affect the car industry as a whole. I saw this article this morning:

www.autocar.co.uk

Europe just moved closer to getting its own tiny, affordable 'kei cars' | Autocar

European Union president vows to support industry through new ‘E-car’ category as Chinese threat looms
www.autocar.co.uk www.autocar.co.uk

If it comes to fruition, we may see kei-spec cars in the EU.
 
They would make a lot of sense in the EU, especially in dense old downtowns. Kinda weird that Europe never adopted it altogether but these days even the smallest "normal" car is actually pretty large. Japan's rules could easily work inside the biggest cities in Europe.
 
There is an EU vehicle categori for microcars, called quadricycles. They're not nearly as high performance as the Kei cars of Japan though. The lower class is limited to a top speed of 45 km/h and 0.5 decilitre engines while the higher class is limited to 90 km/h and 20 bhp.

1758125964787.webp
 
Keef
Kinda weird that Europe never adopted it altogether but these days even the smallest "normal" car is actually pretty large.
Click to expand...
If you get into the history of the nonsensical emissions regulations the EU has been applying for a few years, lobbying from German manufacturers versus lobbying from French manufacturers boils down to a battle between heavy complex cars (ze Germans), and relative lightweight simple cars (le French)... it's apparent the Germans won that battle.
 
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It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
 
05XR8
It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
Click to expand...
I'd say they emerged simultaneously out of the countries most ravaged by the second world war - Germany, East Germany, Italy, Japan and to a lesser degree the UK. All these countries had a few things in common - lots to rebuild (meaning people needed to get around on unpredictable routes) and not a lot of money. The US had different needs and was busy building the massive interstate highway system, which actively dissuaded small cars. Europe's prosperity over the last 50 years has meant less desire for small cars - and e-bikes with good cycling infrastructure kind of kneecaps the lower end of the market anyways.

Related: Anyone else feel like the Slate truck is more or less the second coming of the Trabant? Perfect for an AI-slop economy where there are a handful of absurdly rich people and everyone else is machinery or how capitalism horseshoe-d itself into the Soviet Union. To be fair, I'm a fan of the Slate....and the Trabant.
 
I was always amazed how the variety of cars in Japan is so big compared to other markets. I mean it's just ~120 million people and the variety of cars is much bigger than elsewhere.

If they were to bring it over I would switch to one of them immediately. I currently drive a Toyota Aygo and wouldn't mind a true Kei car. The amount of choice in this segment is so small nowadays...
 
05XR8
It’s also crazy how micro cars just about began in Europe and they faded away. Even Mercedes(Daimler-Benz) tried again through the turn of the century.
Click to expand...
Price is probably the main reason. If a "real" car costs 20.000€ or so, a microcar should be in four digits to be a realistic alternative. Unfortunately you can't build anything with bearable quality for that little money and at that point people will understandably just buy the small normal car instead.
 
timekiller001
I was always amazed how the variety of cars in Japan is so big compared to other markets. I mean it's just ~120 million people and the variety of cars is much bigger than elsewhere.

If they were to bring it over I would switch to one of them immediately. I currently drive a Toyota Aygo and wouldn't mind a true Kei car. The amount of choice in this segment is so small nowadays...
Click to expand...
Here in Australia, that pretty much doomed the local manufacturing. Too many choices for a 20 million population. Plus being able to import cars from everywhere.

I still see a good amount of new Kei cars my area, but does seem to be slowing. At the moment, Rangers and Mustangs are king. Teslas seem to be next popular.
A new Tesla dealer opened in my 'hood, but I can't see them doing any good with what Musk has done in the USA since the start of the year.
 

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