I’m sceptical of manufacturers actually making volume models electric-only. In many cities it’s impossible to charge a car at home at most appartments and many houses. Meaning that electric cars are not an option. Period. A huge percentage of the target demographic is instantly lost.

The segment for electric cars is tiny in comparison to the segment of gasoline cars. To many people an electric is no option, simply because they cannot charge the car at home, the range is too limited or the initial purchase price is too steep. Or a combination of those three. Looking at myself and the vast majority…

I see 500s everywhere (in Europe). None of them electric. Electric city cars are very rare.

I get that sentiment, I drove an engine swapped car from 1987 all day today. And it was perfect.

Never use an electric car in your lifetime? I don’t know how old you are, but I would not take that bet.

It still is. You can recognize that having millions drive large polluting boxes is unsustainable at best, yet still like cars. You can like (specific) cars while keeping your critical thinking about the bigger picture alive and well.

It’s an American issue I guess. ‘Cooper’ is a trim, with a more powerful engine. No just in the MINI hatch, but on the midi sized MINIs as well.

Really? I had that on a previous car. To be fair, it was a 2013, but still. Parking yourself was a whole lot quicker than auto parking. It was a gimmick, and an utterly useless one at that.

Agreed. I like BMWs. Older ones. Basically everyting released in the 1980s and before, and some of the later ones. The last generations that I find mildly interesting are the e39 and e46, afterwards they went from sports sedans to luxury sedans and (more than before) poser cars/crossovers.

Agreed. I want either none of this tech in my car, or I want it fully autonomous. There should be no in-between IMHO.

I come from an area without school buses. For field trips buses were simply rented.

Starting with this (first) generation, the A4 was not the small Audi. The A3 was.

A nice analogy is the country that replaced Nazi Germany in the *east* of Germany; the German Democratic Republic. This communist country was as democratic as the Nazis were socialist. As in: none. Nothing but branding.

It’s interesting, as the Jetta is a total niche vehicle in large parts of Europe while the Golf is a sales leader.

But is Mercedes tracking only those who are not paying, or are they collecting data from all Mercedes owners? Do they have the right to track Mercedes owners that have paid off their car in full? Keep in mind that Mercedes is a private company.

Thank you.

And further more, as a private individual you can import one of these, no problem.

Not if you import one privately. Especially not when you expect a certain handling and interior quality you also get from other cars with equivalent power.

You simply import it, fix the lights (amber dedicated turn signals front and back, rear fog light, proper light pattern on the headlights), make sure the speedometer is in metric and a few other things and you’re good to go. You will have to pay taxes, which will be minimal in some countries (UK, Germany) and truly…

“does trump even recognize that these car companies exist in places like europe?”