Completely unmentioned: Chinese EVs are $10k worldwide except USA. https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/08/2025-byd-seagull-ev-sta...
Chinese EVs start at like $300k in my country, which is roughly $44k USD. Local dealers are unbelievably greedy.
The $25k car is going extinct?
551–560 of 1001 posts
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#552Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, if they would make a basic car like in the past I would buy it. Everyone has to sell you too much, I want a simple car, I don't want either the stereo, I will add my own later (I can put it one that is better than the factory one for a cheaper price, but in a modern car replacing the stereo is almost impossible). There are a ton of useless sensors, the sensor that tells you if you have a flat tire (I think I can…
Some of those “useless” sensors like tire pressure or backup camera are required by law. Even if you get a bare bones hatchback (manual transmission, manual locks, manual windows etc.) they’ll be forced to include those.
They are required by law in no small part because car manufacturers want it to be. Compliance is a moat.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#553Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think in time we see a similar trend with EVs. They are, by many metrics, vastly less complicated in terms of hardware. Software, of course, is another matter.
Software doesn't have to be complex. The most complex piece of software EVs absolutely need is the BMS and the charging protocol. Everything else is super basic. There's a reason some of the earliest vehicles were EVs.
You think that software isn't complex because you've never seen it.
What should it do when the throttle pedal goes from 0 to 99 percent? That's likely an electrical issue, not a driver command to plow through the school zone. I could probably think of a dozen such scenarios, and the true number is probably in the hundreds. They all have to be proofed mathematically. With redundancy.
Out of eye, out of mind.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#554Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some of those “useless” sensors like tire pressure or backup camera are required by law. Even if you get a bare bones hatchback (manual transmission, manual locks, manual windows etc.) they’ll be forced to include those.
Regulations will make cars unaffordable which is exactly what they are pushing for
Yeah! Let's get rid of requirements for headlights and seatbelts, and brake lights, too. Why do we need all that? /s
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#555Earlier quoted context omitted.
Completely untrue. Maybe in China or SEA but not for the rest of the world. Chinese manufacturers have come a long way and I wish I could buy one in the US but they are also pricing at razor thin margins to starve out competition. Even in Vietnam the Dolphin is $25k
That's just competition doing its job. The rate of profit, just like every other price, is supposed to fall to the minimum sustsinable level in capitalism.
But it’s well below the minimum sustainable level due to Chinese government subsidies.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#556Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am surprised no one mentioned the 'SUV loophole' of US regulations that effectively boosted the SUVs (off-road vehicles are classified as non-passenger automobiles with everything that entails, notably much less stringent emission standards) and made the small cars unprofitable to make in comparison. This has become the irrelevant part because "does it have an electric motor in the powertrain" has become more imp…
> Hybrids have a lower TCO even though they have a higher initial purchase price. Is this conclusion based just on fuel consumption? From a relatability standpoint, it doesn’t make sense at first blush because you have to have both ICE and EV parts in series in the drivetrain; the total reliability can’t be higher than the individual components of they’re in series.
Depending on the drive trains being compared, the hybrid drivetrain may be overall mechanically simpler than an ICE. A series hybrid can easily have fewer moving parts, fewer friction spots, less reliance on fluid motion through little channels, etc.
And then you're also keeping the moving parts more in their happy zone of temperature, speed, and load instead of needing them to operate in as wide of conditions.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#557Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any recommendation how to start learning repairing a car? I have absolutely zero experience. A friend of mine said just learn to change a tyre first and I have been procrastinating since.
I am still a somewhat of a novice. Your friend is right IMO. Do something simple first. Like a broken piece of trim, replace a light bulb, change the wiper blades yourself and build yourself up. I had repaired bicycles/motorcycles before hand. Past that. I literally go on YouTube and watch someone do the task I intend on doing. I have the service manual downloaded for the car (people dump scans of the manuals online…
YouTube is fantastic if you already diagnosed the problem and know what part you need to replace. You just follow along with the video, pausing while you go. It’s perfect.
YouTube is kind of shit for diagnosis, though. Most of the videos just gloss over it. “Hey guys! So, my fuel pump is dead, so here’s a video on how to replace it!” Ok, thanks, but how did you figure out it was the fuel pump? Not a lot of YouTube content along those lines.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#558Completely unmentioned: Chinese EVs are $10k worldwide except USA. https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/08/2025-byd-seagull-ev-sta...
First of all, that statement is entirely untrue. These cars aren‘t 10k in most (all?) of the EU for example. As far as I know, these 10k cars are really only a thing in china and some SEA markets (I am not sure if these cars are really that cheap adjusted to purchasing power in these markets). Beyond that, the chinese EV brands are in market capture mode right now. The competition is cut throat and the margins are ex…
> Beyond that, the chinese EV brands are in market capture mode right now. The competition is cut throat and the margins are extremely thin.
BYD is profitable. Admittedly that's more of an exception than a rule for Chinese EV brands, but BYD is also the most important.
> It‘s a market skimming strategy that will presumably be a last man standing scenario. If the winner(s) are decided, prices will definitely not remain as low as they are right now in some places.
Even if most of the brands disappear we're very unlikely to get to an n=1 monopoly scenario. Even a couple dozen or so companies competing in the EV space should prevent margins from getting too high.
In the olden days the ICE industry was at times run by fewer than 10 companies per country, that was enough competition to prevent consumers getting too screwed by pricing.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#559Emissions, mileage, crash safety standards in the USA punish smaller more fuel efficient cars. The larger the wheel base or "shadow" of the vehicle the easier for it is to meet Federal standards.
This is why nobody sells small pickup trucks here. It is a lot easier for Ford to produce F150s that get 25-30ish mpg then it is to produce small trucks that get 40-50.
The Maverick is the only exception and it isn't really that small and it is also a hybrid.
Essentially the Federal government made selling small cheap cars infeasible in this country.
Also because vehicles last a lot longer thrifty Americans avoid buying new vehicles. They would rather buy a used one and let somebody else absorb the depreciation hit.
And when buying a used car most people are going to want a used mid-ranger or higher end car then buying a used economy car.
Re: The $25k car is going extinct?
#560Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So if you saw the pretax figures it'd probably be true But why would I look at the pretax figures? Who would look at that, unless you're doing a business purchase? It basically has no meaning for the average person since they'll never buy anything without the taxes anyways.
Because the title of the article is stated in pretax figures.... Apples to Oranges You might as well add in the lifetime maintenance costs while you're at it (would be very useful to know technically ... Maybe BYD makes it up on repairs or something)
> Because the title of the article is stated in pretax figures....
How do you know that? Neither the submission article (hubspot) or the article referenced by the parent comment (gmauthority) mentions anything about the figures being pretax or posttax, why would they default to talking a price no one else would use?
> You might as well add in the lifetime maintenance costs while you're at it
If that's something you have to pay up front to get the car, then yeah, add it to whatever figures you reference. But I don't think that's how it works normally, so how is that the same thing at all?