This was not my point. I’m not comparing the amount of kms Europeans drive versus Americans at all. Your data looks correct. Do you think Swedes would drive almost twice as much if fuel costs would be cut in half?

“I’m sure the people in Europe and other spots around the world are thinking 8 dollars / gallon! Yes please.”

It’s similarly priced in most of western Europe. And people don’t drive a kilometer less. They simply buy vehicles that are less inefficient than what you see in the US.

I had a convertible Fiat 500 rental on the Spanish island Mallorca in 2019. It had the 1.2L 8v engine with 69 hp which was... fine. I had to work that car hard on the twisties, to keep my momentum. And yet I was not breaking any speed limits. Perfect! A wrongly timed shift or poorly taken corner while going uphill,…

That’s an odd choice in engineering priorities. Very... 1960s?

During my first visit to the Autobahn a few years ago I spotted the Ford equivalent of this truck. Not simply an F150, but the faster one. Raptor?Anyway, I remember seeing it on the parking lot shortly after it had finished its one lap. The brakes were smoking horribly. The only vehicle in the lot with smoking brakes,…

That might be it then. I have relatively short legs and a long torso.

wikipedia however tells me the average height of a man where I’m from is roughly 6 feet.

The easiest fix would be to have daughters only. That could work. Average sized women fit in a Suzuki Cappuccino. And underfed short men.

I’m as tall as you are then, which is slightly above average tall for a man where I live. Which kind of explains why this car was meant for Japan only.

What’s not to like? The lack of headroom. I tried one and I didn’t fit. It’s a car for short people.

The Active, maybe. The regular Focus is not though.

I believe on a site like this we should always be allowed to talk about used cars.

I think you underestimate the European market. Especially the western part. Multiple countries already had a double digit market share for EVs in 2020. When you add PHEVs the numbers are even higher.

That’s exactly the point.

Exactly. I’m not sure how well the Fox fit in the South American markets, but in Europe it was out of place. Too cheaply made, a bit like an American car from before 2010 or so.

Why would that be true for Tesla’s plant, but not for any of the other plants used by VAG, BMW or Mercedes?”

The local governments want Tesla there, because of all the jobs the company will provide. Hence the huge subsidies they offered Tesla.

Again, depends on where you’re from. Here the Corolla was discontinued ages ago. It was only re-introduced in 2019. It is beat by the Golf in years of availability, in continuous availability and sales numbers. The latter with a huge margin. I also see way more old Golfs than old Toyotas of any kind. Which is, partly,…

and is the only vehicle that you can buy today with the current namebadge.