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| ▲ | michaelt 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| The 10 bestselling vehicles in the US are: Pickup truck, Pickup truck, SUV, Pickup truck, Toyota Camry, Pickup truck, Electric SUV, SUV, Pickup truck, SUV. Americans don't like having less money in their pocket - who does? - but it's pretty clear that for American car buyers, fuel efficiency is just one concern among many. After all, a gallon of gas costs the same no matter how rich or poor you are. If government policy keeps fuel affordable for families in the 25th percentile ($41k annual household income) then a family in the 75th percentile ($153k household income) can easily afford the fuel needed to commute to their office job in a crew cab F150, if they so wish. Of course, that 25th-percentile family's demand for fuel will be inelastic in the short term if their house is a 45 minute drive from their workplace. So when prices rise they'll really feel the crunch - and they'll make plenty of noise about it. But they ain't the ones buying brand new vehicles. |
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| ▲ | deathanatos 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I've never understood the thing about gas costs. It is oft complained about. And while it always seems to be a point of contention, a quick google search suggests the cost is ≈$200/mo on average¹. Rent and healthcare vastly outstrip that; groceries is more but not by as significant a factor. |
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| ▲ | richiebful1 8 hours ago | parent [-] | | It is a commodity product and the price is everywhere you go. It's just a low effort topic to talk about, like the weather or the local sports team |
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| ▲ | ZeroGravitas 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Like the national debt and a thousand other things, it seems to be just a stick to beat the Democrats with, not something they actually care about when their team spikes both with a pointless war. |
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| ▲ | apparent 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I think they do care about cost savings, and the near-universal retrenchment of car companies culling their EVs in the wake of the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit tells you that these vehicles do not save consumers money. If they did, people would still be clamoring to buy them. |
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| ▲ | jerlam 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Used EV prices are rising, especially at the low end: https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/used-electric-vehicle... People who want EVs to save money aren't interested in buying brand new, expensive luxury EVs but that's where the supply was. | |
| ▲ | rdtsc 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yeah that was kind of surprising. EVs were supposed to a no-brainer cheaper and more reliable car. I was expecting it to cost no more than half of a ICE car, but they are just as expensive and even more expensive to insure often. I could see the government having a tax program or incentives to build charging stations. But the cars should have needed that, they should be selling themselves. |
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| ▲ | sollawen 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| American, you know, they care about AI, chips, and Ukraine ...... |
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| ▲ | actionfromafar 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| To an extent... but Culture Wars, Rolling Coal and owning the Libs is more important to a large minority. |
