Amidst a dynamic global market, Chinese automaker BYD has surpassed Ford, securing the fourth spot in global car sales in August, highlighting its resilience and potential in the automotive landscape.
I’m hoping for Chinese cars because the low end of the US market is a mess.
If I want a sedan, my choices are more limited than they’ve been in decades.
Everything is more expensive, which I blame on adding a lot of complexities and gimmicks. At this point, an ICE drive train is a solved problem. Nominally, it seems like most of the features are about making it more luxurious but plenty of use cases don’t need that.
Save $500 million on engineering an infotainment fiasco; sell me a car with the legally mandated back camera and a DIN sized slot, and I’ll let Pioneer/Kenwood/JVC figure put the rest. Don’t replace the chirping remote for power doorlocks-- which itself can be offered one model up from the base trim-- with a cloud-enabled, app-privacy-fiasco breaking point that turns into a vector for a $10-per-month subscription. Make sure cloth seats are available since Arizona exists and nobody wants to weld their ass to leather/pleather, oh wait now it’s “vegan leather”, which I guess is made from the skin of pretentious pricks.
Basically, sell me a 2002 Elantra built to modern crash safety code.
I’m hoping for Chinese cars because the low end of the US market is a mess.
If I want a sedan, my choices are more limited than they’ve been in decades.
Everything is more expensive, which I blame on adding a lot of complexities and gimmicks. At this point, an ICE drive train is a solved problem. Nominally, it seems like most of the features are about making it more luxurious but plenty of use cases don’t need that.
Save $500 million on engineering an infotainment fiasco; sell me a car with the legally mandated back camera and a DIN sized slot, and I’ll let Pioneer/Kenwood/JVC figure put the rest. Don’t replace the chirping remote for power doorlocks-- which itself can be offered one model up from the base trim-- with a cloud-enabled, app-privacy-fiasco breaking point that turns into a vector for a $10-per-month subscription. Make sure cloth seats are available since Arizona exists and nobody wants to weld their ass to leather/pleather, oh wait now it’s “vegan leather”, which I guess is made from the skin of pretentious pricks.
Basically, sell me a 2002 Elantra built to modern crash safety code.