Small, or even tiny, cars that cost less than half of what average cars in the U.S. now cost ($50,000) would be great, but there’s no chance that will be allowed under U.S. regulations, regardless of what Trump has promised. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
Trump says – he posted on social media – that he has “just approved TINY CARS to be built in America.” The ALL CAPS are his.Also the lie.
The TINY CARS he talks about cannot, under current circumstances, be legally sold in America because they do not meet federal “safety” standards, among other things. You may have caught my article about the Micro Microlina, which is a very tiny EV built by a Swiss company that you cannot legally sell in America because it does not have any airbags. It is thus non-compliant with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208 pertaining to what are styled “supplemental restraints” – which effectively requires every new vehicle to be equipped with dual front air bags. This is why – one reason why – every new vehicle available for sale in America costs thousands of dollars more than it otherwise would.
And that is just one FMVSS “standard.” There are many others. Would a TINY CAR meet roof crush/side-impact requirements? Probably not. Then what?
Air bags themselves are not the biggest expense, by the way. The real cost is the system. The entire car has to be designed around the air bags. The Microlina has no air bags and so it does not have to be designed around them. It is why the Microlina sells for about $16,000 in other countries, where it is legal to sell vehicles that do not have air bags.
A Zil or Trabant is small and the Eastern Bloc apartment is the you’ll own nothing and like it.
Now available in drab gray.