I know car regulations bother even a lot of car people who aren’t mindless chuds, so I want to tell a little story. It’s something that happened today, in fact.

You make good points. I’m curious how much of those costs include the up-front (pre-production) costs of development, setting up manufacturing sites, hiring/training workers, and so on. Tesla has been making more EVs for longer, so those up-front costs per unit will be more diluted.  At least that thought process…

Barclay’s did some research on EV production costs, and traditional US manufacturers like GM and Ford are way above Tesla, let alone the Chinese. I believe this is in part because of the way traditional automakers have been so integrated into their supply chain with different suppliers, all the way down to the dealer…

It sort of happens that way right now. Go car shopping as a family. All the cars are 5 star rated today. Shoot, 18 years ago, when I last was shopping for a new car, a 3 star rating was considered a death trap and I didn’t want to be near it.

it’s an interesting idea - if the government stopped with the safety regulations and left it to the insurance companies to test how would that play out?

Sorry, Jimmy. You were doing well there until you failed the part where you cover the bicyclist in thick, black soot. Come back in two weeks and take the test again.

Nah, that’s not going to happen because it would stifle innovation. Manufacturers need to be producing their own vehicles and introducing their own innovation... everyone needs to be independently chasing the next generation battery, the next generation regen tech, the next generation of lightweight composites and…

Because despite their considerable resources, bigger companies like GM haven’t shown the dynamism and flexibility needed to compete in a future EV market dominated by highly, vertically integrated Chinese EV manufacturers. Tesla has. It’s the old adage about trying to turn around a battleship vs a speed boat.

I think the idea here is that by going full-in on Trump, Musk may now have the leverage to keep Trump from annihilating the nascent U.S. electric car industry.

Forward Control Jeep (legs are over rated anyway)...

Finally, Ford, GM, and Ram will be able to sell the vehicles everyone has been demanding! Diesel pickups that replace tree hugging hippie crap emission controls with full time coal rolling, sport multiple side saddle fuel tanks on both sides, have three row seating, come lifted from the factory, and replace all those…

Honest question: What makes you say that?

The biggest loser of this, as I think about it, is American Manufacturers with their giant grilled trucks that absolutely suck at pedestrian safety.  I don’t see the EU relaxing their NCAP standards on this.

While the valuation seems insane, Tesla is, in fact, the only U.S. manufacturer that stands a chance against the onslaught of cheap Chinese EV’s. In fact, the Chinese EV manufacturers largely copied Tesla’s model of tight, vertical integration. If the future is inevitably EV, then Tesla is one of the very few Western…

100% on the regulations being standardized. What a waste of time and money for manufacturers to meet regulations of multiple markets. That cost is only passed down to consumers. Cars in the U.S. are not any safer than European cars because we do not allow new smart headlights or we have more or less reflectors. We…

This is probably the most factually-correct joke-answer I’ve read in quite some time.

Crazy answer: A triple diesel engine pickup truck with a 6 inch lift installed at the factory. I mean, the EPA’s going to get a gut punch, too, so might as well make a FerdRamChev F-Teenthousand Denali with a 6.7 Power Stroke up front, a 6.6 Duramax in the middle, and a 6.7 Cummins bringing up the rear.

If I can’t get a Suzuki Jimny, what even was the point of destroying the American experiment?

Non-Jalop answer: I would love to see a unification of safety codes between the EU, Japan, Korea and the US. This way, if Toyota makes too many Kei vehicles for their market, they can export some to America cheaply and sell them here. It would allow for enthusiasts to special order stuff like Alpines or the like and…