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New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

transportenvironment.org

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Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#91

Post by flir »

fakedang wrote: post #74
flir wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weight and number of miles travelled aren't correlated though. If you go with a fuel tax (more difficult with EVs but not impossible) you get fuel efficiency, weight and miles travelled in one neat bundle.

If you want to encourage EV use and make it the mainstream majority, the last thing you need is to put further obstacles to its use such as an EV miles tax.

You apply a fuel tax to all vehicles, and an additional sin tax to ICE vehicles. They can still both be applied at the point of refuelling.

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#92

Post by xnx »

bobthepanda wrote: post #50
moffkalast wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've ridden in the newer models it seems like internal cabin space remains the same or is genuinely getting smaller, but crumple zones keep increasing in size. There has to be some kind of ever increasing safety bar that keeps rising every year and this is the malicious compliance they're getting in response. In 2100 every car will have a total of 1 person of internal space, span the size of a city block an…

part of the problem, at least in the US, is that the SUVs destroy other cars, so it is quickly becoming a weird safety arms race.

Came here to say this. I like that a small car is easy to park and safer in isolation (better stopping and handling), but do not like how they hold up against drunk/distracted drivers in 6000 lbs. SUVs.

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#93

Post by xnx »

wolvoleo wrote: post #83
TacticalCoder wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So probably shipping stuff in trucks doesn't cost enough, and SUVs/pickups should cost 5x for road tax what sedans do. Nope because the numbers you just posted exemplify what every knows: road cars don't even register on the radar compared to semi-trailers. The tax for "road damage" should be approximately zero for cars, any cars, and way more expensive for semis. But people who hate on cars don't want to hear the…

> But people who hate on cars don't want to hear the truth: they're all too happy to take their bicycle to go buy the milk the semis brought to their city. The truth is it's not all about road damage. In fact I couldn't care less about that because I don't really use those roads anyway. Tax is more about driving behaviour than anything.

> I don't really use those roads anyway.

If you live in the US, you use roads. Every physical product you buy is transported by road at some point.

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#94

Post by Thlom »

chrystalkey wrote: post #30
Thlom wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BYD also have some humongus cars. I have the BYD Tang and it's too big for some parking spaces.

Hey so, why would you even buy that? Was that some external requirement?

Because it's one of few cars with some space left in the trunk with the third seat row up. Luckily our need for the last two seats has been reduced, so the next car wil be smaller. :-)

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#95

Post by frollogaston »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #90
frollogaston wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, XC90 wouldn't normally be considered a compact SUV here in the US

I guess they might have said mid-size? But definitely not large SUV.

Yeah, that's midsize here, maybe on the upper end of that. It has a third row but no room behind it. Full-size would be a Tahoe, then there are yuge ones like the Suburban.

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#96

Post by cpursley »

wolvoleo wrote: post #84
cpursley wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s even more absurd is the Chinese vehicles in the same class have better tech and prices. German auto manufacturing is cooked unless they manage to legally block the Chinese in their primary markets.

Well of course they are cheaper because China has much lower labour costs and they prop up their own industry. The same way they did with solar panels which killed the local EU industry for those. However we can get one back at China and help our own climate goals more by not buying cars at all

How do lower labor costs explain the better tech?

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#97

Post by MSKJ »

moffkalast wrote: post #70
MSKJ wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no malicious compliance, just compliance. Who would they be malicious to? There is enough competition, it would only hurt their bottom line

To the consumers who hate big bloated cars? It's not like people can or would say they want less safety in exchange for something smaller. There are arbitrary metrics to hit and that's all people look at. The more people say "this car looks absurd" the more it hurts their bottom line.

The thing is bigger car are proportionally safer. And the market likes bigger cars, so the consumers are voting for bigger cars.

In the markets where consumers prefer or need smaller cars, they are offered. E.g. Japan

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#98

Post by MSKJ »

wolvoleo wrote: post #86
moffkalast wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To the consumers who hate big bloated cars? It's not like people can or would say they want less safety in exchange for something smaller. There are arbitrary metrics to hit and that's all people look at. The more people say "this car looks absurd" the more it hurts their bottom line.

Also the business model will definitely shift more to services. A car will be not just the matter of buying it, but renting services on it like FSD, paying by data collection (which pays for 30%+ of the actual cost of current gen TVs etc). And in cars they make it much harder to disable data collection. For safety of course.

Agreed on this point, everyone wants a subscription

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#99

Post by wolvoleo »

cpursley wrote: post #96
wolvoleo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well of course they are cheaper because China has much lower labour costs and they prop up their own industry. The same way they did with solar panels which killed the local EU industry for those. However we can get one back at China and help our own climate goals more by not buying cars at all

How do lower labor costs explain the better tech?

Engineers are also cheaper, and electronics are cheaper so you can throw more at the problem. You have much less pressure to design towards a price if your costs are lower.

Re: New cars are getting 1.2cm longer and 0.5cm taller each year

#100

Post by wolvoleo »

xnx wrote: post #93
wolvoleo wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But people who hate on cars don't want to hear the truth: they're all too happy to take their bicycle to go buy the milk the semis brought to their city. The truth is it's not all about road damage. In fact I couldn't care less about that because I don't really use those roads anyway. Tax is more about driving behaviour than anything.

> I don't really use those roads anyway. If you live in the US, you use roads. Every physical product you buy is transported by road at some point.

I definitely don't live in the US.
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