• @Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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    1482 months ago

    Fucking FINALLY.

    I’ve been waiting for a small pickup like the old 90s 4-banger Toyota. And this is electric, simple for function, and actually affordable?

    Capitalists must be seething. If it doesnt have leather interior, 19 speaker surround sound, and cost 80k, get it out of our country! /s

    • @chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      862 months ago

      Small gas-powered trucks are effectively illegal in the US.

      It’s regulation made in response to automakers calling everything a “light truck” to get around fuel economy and emissions standards in the 90s and 2000s.The straw that broke the camel’s back was the PT Cruiser being classified as a truck by Chrysler.

      So, starting in model year 2012, vehicle fuel economy standards started being based on vehicle footprint. The side effect was that small, powerful vehicles designed for moving cargo more efficiently or in tighter spaces than large trucks were impacted. It’s why 2011 was the last year model of the old Rangers, S10s, Dakota, etc.

      That’s why the new Rangers are larger than the old F150s. They have to make them bigger to meet CAFE standards.

      Same issue hit the small cargo vans in 2021/22. As the CAFE standards went up, it became impossible to meet fuel economy standards for the NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and Ram ProMaster City compact cargo vans, so they were all discontinued.

      New York City was changing its whole Taxi fleet to NV200s due to their flexibility and accessibility options, and now can’t buy new ones because a Toyota Camry has less-strict fuel economy requirements.

      • Lka1988
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        2 months ago

        That’s why the new Rangers are larger than the old F150s.

        If you’re comparing a crewcab Ranger to a 2-door F150, sure, but that’s not really a valid comparison.

        Comparing equivalent configs tells a different story: every crewcab F150 is taller, longer, and wider than a new crewcab Ranger. The 10th gen and earlier (pre-2004) F150s, which are shorter than 11th gen+ F150s, are still bigger when compared to the Ranger in equivalent configurations.

        • @Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          12 months ago

          People can’t seem to figure that out, to them a truck is a truck is a truck even though they’re the vehicles with the most variations in size for a same model built the same year.

      • SeaJ
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        292 months ago

        If by “the things” you mean underpaid labor, then yes.

      • @hddsx@lemmy.ca
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        132 months ago

        Even Europe has a tariff for EVs from China due to government subsidies. So it’s probably not 4K, but it’s also probably less than 25

      • @CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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        92 months ago

        You might ask yourself what it is that allows them to produce and sell a brand new vehicle for $4k, basically the same price as a high-end PC or a couple of high-end smartphones.

        • @palarith@aussie.zone
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          42 months ago

          I dunno. Isn’t that what we need? Gov subsidy to increase the adoption of ev?

          We might hit the Jevons paradox pretty hard though.

        • Mostly automation and sensible regulations. Also direct to consumer sales with third party dealerships not really existing for new cars. Also generally a lower cost of living allowing for lower wages and thus lower labor costs for the non automated parts.

          • @CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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            12 months ago

            Why is it that China is the only country on the planet able to sell new vehicles for this cheap? Surely other countries have automation and sensible regulations too.

            • They genuinely aren’t, Muerza in South Africa and a variety of other local brands across Africa and Asia have cheap cars.

              China cuts it down further by completely subsidizing education and opening vocational schools near factories that specialize in what those factory owners need, allowing hyper specialization. When you have an entire neighborhood able to produce all the parts of a car, instead of importing parts from across the world and assembling it like us car manufacturers do, you’re able to massively cut costs.

              All manufacturing in china takes this approach of having almost enclaves of specialized knowledge and factories, and is genuinely an engineers wet dream to work in since you can get any part you could possibly want the same day, even if you just designed the part yesterday.

    • Yeah, I’m pretty hype for this. It’s got just the basics of what’s needed, and if you want to mod it with upgrades you can.

      I only wish there was a way to make it AWD/4WD, and if there was a way for it to tow a little more weight, then it’d be perfect.

      As it is now, it’s still a very compelling concept that I might get into as outside of towing, it solves all the things I need a truck for.

    • Capitalists must be seething

      Capitalists funded this, that’s one the benefits of capitalism, if the market is only offering pricey crappy products that people don’t enjoy buying, theres an opening in the market that can be filled with a company selling people exactly what they want and need.