The Netherlands is my home country, so what you see in that video is my default perspective.

The V50 is a rebadged MK2 Ford Focus.

Not a fat person. A professional boxer. Someone who is likely to inflict more damage by punching than a regular person.

Your feeling that these discussions take place in an alternate reality is valid because it’s true. Proponents tend to have experience with cities, with infrastructure that is so different, so much more diverse, so far superior to what you are familiar with, that it can feel like an alternate reality.

This is the point. I love driving. I like wrenching on cars. I like old cars and I own multiple. Because I can and because I like it.

I could see them also chopping either the E or C class... so they’ll be down to one small and one large sedan line.

This is spot on.

The Dutch get English, German and French as mandatory foreign languages at school. However, they get way more hours of English. Plus, a lot of entertainment (music, movies, ...) is in English, so they’re exposed to English every day as an adult. They’re exposed to German (and French) only during high school and during…

Aren’t both comedians you mentioned ‘libs’ themselves? Gervais is obviously not American, but I very strongly doubt he has any sympathy for the US repubs.

I’ve seen them in real life. In Europe.

Yes, sorry, I’m nitpicking. My point mostly was that it’s not the technology they regulate, it’s the emissions. The principle is different, the end result the same.

The European governments do not require Ford to move to EV. They require Ford (and all others) to have carbon emissions that are so low, it is absolutely impossible to achieve with an ICE. It would be similar to having an average per-vehicle gasoline consumption of roughly a quarter of what a Prius consumes. Which is…

Because its segment of ‘large’ sedans/wagons with ‘premium’ badge is entirely dead in Europe. The Focus and its segment still has a huge market share in Europe though.

In 2025 the mk4 Focus will be 7 years old. It would be time for a new generation anyway. Which could be built anywhere. Given the European market, it is already a problem in 2022 that the Focus does not feature an PHEV or EV. In 2025 you can be certain that the mk5 Focus will have a plugin version.

Obviously you are technically right.

Let us follow the line of thought though. Americans only buy American built. Canadians only buy Canadian built. Germans buy only German built. And so on. What would happen to the car market when you get rid of the free market and eliminate international trade and competition?

It’s supposedly only 4 cm (1.5 inches) taller than the Peugeot 308 it is based on, which is a competitor to cars like the Golf, Corolla and Focus. It has a much longer wheelbase though, and is even longer than the 308 wagon. It is still shorter than the midsize 508.

The list also highlights that other American manufacturers should really get their act together.

At almost $10 per gallon to fill up in the Netherlands, is there any wonder that the country has such an emphasis on cycling and using public transport?

My dad is 70 years old and still drives. He has bought a total of 3 cars in his life, if we exclude cars he inherented or got from family and the cars my mom had before my dad had his license. He did buy multiple motorcycles though, despite only getting his motorcycle license at age 60.