Exactly this. Tesla’s were the only game in town. Their only benefit up to now was their charging network. Opening up the network removes that advantage.

When Teslas were unique (as in, the only EVs available that were rewarding-ish to drive and actually useful in terms of range and available charging for road trips), you could argue that they were “luxury” in the sense of paying a bit extra for something that’s “special”. Not special in the sense of insanely fine…

So, Audi has “a lot of ground to make up for after a few years of uninspiring products.”

I sat in the various Tesla Models, including a former coworker’s Plaid Model S. I was not impressed with the touchpoints, finish, or just the general ambience. Yes, the touchscreen is cool, but the interior feels spartan due to cost-cutting rather than as a minimalist exercise.

A lot of people have terrible taste and lack intelligence, look who the new president is. 

I don’t consider the TMY or TM3 luxury cars. Why? For two reasons. 1) Because they are missing many important features that real luxury cars have. 2) Price. You can get VERY cheap TM3s and TMYs if the time is right

I’m in Louisville and that’s what’s causing all kinds of carnage this week.  We got between 9-11" and then it changed to sleet and freezing rain.  A little bit of the snow melted and then combined with the ice from the sky, it’s a solid sheet of ice on all side streets.  Any car travel above 5mph on side streets =…

I lived in Atlanta for 50 years. I never understood the mad rush for milk and bread. Doritos and beer on the other hand...

It is expected to snow near me. It is time to begin the ritual emptying the stores of eggs, milk, and bread.

Fines that they’ll never pay? These guys should be doing jail time, and a lot of it. 

Neil Peart was the greatest drummer EVER, period.  Fight me.

Yeah, but it’ll probably be a lot roomier to live out of that bigger car once most of us become homeless, amplified by the incoming stupidity.

And of course the American companies have nothing to offer in the segment. Zero. Ford’s smallest is either the Maverick or Escape, neither of which are cars. Chevrolet’s smallest offering is the bland Trax (oh, didn’t even realize they still offer the Malibu, basically the same ((midsize)) car they’ve been selling…

Remember when cars got too big and expensive after 1978 and then we pivoted back to buying small cars again?

“Yes”. Manufactures did a great job marketing larger vehicles that had a higher profit margin, and consumers bought them in such quantities that the profit margin for smaller cars narrowed to the point that they made little to no financial sense for some manufacturers to keep making them. So, both. 

Fucking finally. But even then the “compact” and practical cars are still too damn large. Still, I’ll say it’s a hopeful step in the right direction. Can’t wait for the “Crossover EVERYTHING!” fad to die.

Same. I just don’t enjoy driving large vehicles. I’ll take maneuverability and parking ease any day.

The manufacturers can offer cheaper prices for the CUVs. The entire reason they dumped the small sedans is that if they just changed the car on the same platform into a CUV, you can sell it for 10-20% more than the sedan variant with only a very marginal higher manufacturing cost.

This is a cycle that repeats itself. Remember when fuel prices started driving people out of SUVs into small cars, and thefts of small cars went through the roof? Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago. Then people started buying mega trucks and SUVs again. And now the cycle is repeating itself.

Some of us just want small cars. I always have. I always will.