[insert totem / propeller spinning joke]

Interior is A+ and a perfect transposition of the Mercedes design ethos on a compact / budget interior.

Interior is A+ and a perfect transposition of the Mercedes design ethos on a compact / budget interior.

Wonder if they glow red on hot. That would be horrifying / incredible.

On the one hand it’s funny, but on the other I have to consider that this is a Chinese company serving a Chinese audience. Just because the meaning is lost on me does not necessarily mean that it is lost on its intended audience. (It would be another thing entirely if this was the US site.)

It’s because they have a TV commercial. That’s all it takes. I’m convinced of this.

Rio!

Somehow I find this Accent to be absolutely repulsive but the Rio (hatch) to be perfectly fine. Desirable, even.

This looks very “tuned for European tastes” in terms of exterior design. A fool’s errand, in my view.

Because even for those who can afford it, filling up is a sucky experience all around?

And as Toyota discovered, it’s not too easy to disrupt the established players. And among those, only the Grand Cherokee (and to a lesser extent the Edge) sell in large, Honda-like numbers. Jeep has pretty significant (and inherent, inimitable) brand cachet in the SUV space. 

Yes, I feel like we’ve seen this play before.

Okay. But even if the Model 3 had been a hatchback, it still wouldn’t have been the first? Because they mostly all are? Which was

Yes, it’s horrible. This is Scandinavian luxury:

Yes, I’m generally not a fan of these 90 series cars - XC90 excepted. People describe the interiors as “Scandinavian luxury” solely because it’s Swedish, but the thing is actually pretty ostentatious inside.

So what was your point? This article makes no mention of the Model 3 or the notion that it was the first mainstream electric hatchback. Nor am I aware that the notion exists at all.

LEAF? eGolf? i3? They’re mostly all hatchbacks.

Okay, but why this and not a cheap motel (you pay in cash!) or an open field or literally any discreet space?

Because all murderers prefer to supply their name and credit card information before committing the act?

Part of me expects they’ll take the Patrol / QX80 route and just release a decontented Q60 after just enough time has elapsed to let Infiniti milk its “prestige.” Seems to be their game plan for certain low priority segments.