I’m personally in a bit of crisis. There’s no electric wagons with sucks ass (in a bad way as some seems to enjoy it).

*Lives in Europe

I’m near the point that I want to try to figure out how I can move to Europe, just so I can drive a car I find interesting. There is zero in the US that hold even marginal interest for me, so clearly I was born on the wrong continent. Giant SUVs-no. Crossovers-no. 4,000lb coupes-no. Every time I see some new release…

They tried cheap-and-cheerful in North America as well, but had to endure the development cycles necessary to get the their agricultural-grade Pony and Stellar out of the showrooms in Canada, and replace them with the merely industrial-grade Excel and Sonata. People did vote with their wallets though, and made the…

The Smart Roadster and Roadster-Coupe weren’t exactly large. They’re a full 20 inches shorter than a Miata, about an inch longer than a Japanese kei-car - which is meant to be a city car. The engine was also a mere 0.7 litres. That’s... kind of a tiny city car, albeit a really fun one.

You know for some reason that just didn’t register for me. Slow day and long weekend does that to you I suppose.

Nah, my ‘03 XRS was a tall wagon. No lift. It just hauled.

OK, I’ll ask you (and all Jalp writers): what dimensions of this (and every) car defines it as an SUV?

“Their entire niche is that they’re small cars. But they sell at premium prices...”

Smart has a history of compact sizing, at full size pricing (and full size fuel economy)... as long as they can break that chain, they might stand a chance.

Right. American marketing needs to start at whatever is more offensive than Hellcat and ramp up from there. I’d probably start with the Patriot Cat, Don’t Tread On Me Cat, or ‘Muricat.

Right? Ariel Atom, any Caterham, Miata’s, those are driver’s cars. This is just another modem supercar with so much power you need a fucking computer to drive it for you (unless you’re Aryton Senna) and will spend it’s entire life at 3/10ths or less. I have no interest in this segment. None.

Which is to be expected, as it was introduced in the 70s.

Dodge and Chrysler would obviously remain regional brands as well, as they already are. I thought they were all but dead already, like Lancia? Maybe fold Chrysler into Dodge, or use Peugeots and/or Citroens and rebadge them as Chryslers for the US?

The Renegade looks like a whale, when parked next to a Panda. The Fiat 500 (the small 2 door one) is based on the Panda.

Besides the Alpine, all of those vehicles (while cool in their own right) were smart not to be sold in the US. They would have sold poorly and been financial burdens on whichever manufacturer was dumb enough to try and get us to buy them.

“Lada still sells this thing, and even with updates it still looks 20 years old”

Personally I would NOT want to see the Fiat Panda 4x4 sold in America - *as such*. It wouldn’t have been enough to save Fiat. What I’d want is for it to be sold in America *as a Jeep*.

VW should be like Mini and offer lots of custom colors, accents, etc.  Then they could call it the Up Yours!  Which is pretty much what VW is telling us when we can’t have the Up!, the Amarok, and the California van...

You forgot the best and most capable off road vehicle you can buy in Europe for about $15k ... Dacia Duster. You can also get it in brown with a manual :)