This internet ad states “on a 65 year journey, together. It’s time to celebrate” and the added line states “with a deceive”
The same ad below shows the real proportion of the 2 cars
crossposted from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/113117293560455785
One where the crumple zone is you, the other is actually safe…
Anyone who has ever driven a original mini knows that they are absolute death traps. I had a smart car for years tho and they are actually pretty save.
They’re honestly minuscule, even compared to a Honda Fit…
I see people complaining about the death of small cars and yet Canada, which is 10% of the US market, was buying enough of them that manufacturers kept selling them even when they were discontinued in the US… So maybe people just weren’t buying them in the US even when they were offered, right?
Stop this bs line that it’s all the consumers fault
20 years ago I wanted a diesel car but they ALL came with leather seats and Bosse crap I didn’t want to pay for nor could afford
20 years later the history repeats with electric cars
I guess I’m too poor to vote with my wallet, it’s all my fault
Can’t upvote this enough. It’s not the consumers, it’s the dealers calling the shots. Some examples:
Looking for a Corolla hybrid: no dealer had one, and all of them said it could be 18 months or more before one would be available
Looking for a RAV4 suv: we have 8 on the lot take your pick
Looking for a Mazda 3 hatchback: the only one in the colour you want is a six hour drive away and no we can’t transfer it here
Looking for a CX5 suv: we have literally a million of them
In both examples the cars cost almost the same amount to build. They have the same drivetrain, engine, transmission, etc. But since the “suv” or “crossover” is taller and bigger they can charge 20-30% more, earning them more commission and dealer fees, so that’s what they order from the manufacturer. Unless you have months to wait, you take what you get.
Again, a much smaller market where all cars need to be imported was still getting them (including base model diesels) while they weren’t available in the USA. If people don’t buy them new then why do they expect manufacturers to keep offering them?
Hell, Quebec, a single province, kept getting the Toyota Echo (IIRC) longer than the rest of Canada because so many were sold there and it’s not the only time this has happened, they buy hatchbacks and station wagons, they’re getting models not available in the rest of Canada and the US. It’s a market of 8 millions in a sea of 370 millions!
Again, a much smaller market where all cars need to be imported was still getting them (including base model diesels) while they weren’t available in the USA.
Ok so if you live in USA (or like me, in Canada)… WTF do I do if the car I want is offered in “a much smaller market” I have no access to?
Hell, Quebec, a single province, kept getting the Toyota Echo (IIRC) longer than the rest of Canada because so many were sold there and it’s not the only time this has happened, they buy hatchbacks and station wagons, they’re getting models not available in the rest of Canada and the US. It’s a market of 8 millions in a sea of 370 millions!
I live here and I do buy hatchbacks… my first car was a VW Golf here, not the Diesel edition because of what I mentioned before (not having the money or willingness to pay for leather seats and Bosse crap)… after having kids we wanted a Honda Element, just to find out Honda made them bigger than the Toyota Highlanders… now I have a Prius V and, drumroll, Toyota discontinued it in favour if the Rav4 hybrid which has again ballooned in size since the Rav-4 came out. If I wanted to buy a hatchback from Toyota today, I think I have access to the ICE GR Corolla (used to be CH-R?) which is a “supped up” hatchback starting at $50K CAD! or a smaller Corolla hatchback (2 years current wait) for $27. Everything else they offer is in the large SUV category
That’s when you take your business to the manufacturers who offer what you want. Mazda, Kia, Hyundai…
Yes it ended up affecting Canada in the end, especially with the pandemic reducing car production all over the world, but it still shows that if Americans had truly wanted small cars they would have bought it and they would still be offered, but the truth is that the vast majority of people who say they want small cars won’t buy them new and by the time they’re ready to buy a new car they have a family or are thinking about it and now they want a bigger car.
That’s when you take your business to the manufacturers who offer what you want. Mazda, Kia, Hyundai…
Mazda maybe… Kia and Hyundai, although they have indeed improved in reliability, continue to be the bottom of the tier for cars… and then, by your logic, I would be supporting cheaply made cars that are super easy to steal… it’s what the market wants!
AFAIK, none of the smaller European cars (Fiat, Peugeot, Seat) are offered in the Americas out of protection for Ford, Chev and Chrysler… nothing about demand not being there for more options in smaller categories
…i bought a mazda 2 ten years ago and it was fantastically practical, agile, efficient, and affordable; came time for a new car and they’d replaced it with a f*cking SUV…
Yeah instead of an arms race it’s a weight race
Drive in one a lot as a kid. It was basically like driving in a can.
Two modern small-ish cars:
- VW up! - 3 stars Euro NCAP - no more produced :(
- Fiat 500 - 3 stars Euro NCAP - but the details are worse than up!
You will likely survive.
They have mini crossovers
as well as fiat 500 crossovers
I don’t get why people think they’re buying an iconic vehicle it’s just a generic cross-over for gullible people
Bigger car for bigger ego, it’s always the same thing.
Fiat Panda, nothing new about it
And this is actually a problem in Italy, where a lot of villages have very narrow streets, which make it impossible to fit through it with a wide car.
I own one of those, and two things come to mind. They grew after BMW bought the company, so most of that growth was after that, specifically 3rd Gen. Not too upset, since it also improved build quality and efficiency, but yeah. Second, it’s still the smallest car available in my area, save for a Fiat or smart car, but that’s more an American problem. Having visited family in Japan, I know what we’re missing out on.
Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m not exactly happy about cars getting bigger and bigger. It’s straight up dangerous where I am due to lack of visibility. There’s a Hummer that keeps parking in the red right outside my complex’ driveway, and one of these days someones gonna kill someone pulling out.
They grew after BMW bought the company, so most of that growth was after that, specifically 3rd Gen.
The point of the post is not much that cars grew, they have always been doing so.
The main point is that the growth in dimension happen, but manufacturers don’t want to highlight it, and in the ad the old and the new Minis look like they are roughly the same size.
Not a car person but the growth does seem to be beyond simple crumple zones, The minis where I live are closer in size to a small 4x4 than they are to a typical sedan.
The drivers got wider as well in that time.
And…
“Back then, sonny, we drivers were the crumple zone.”
