True, but if too many people can’t actually afford what they like yet buy it anyway, that creates a very dangerous bubble with severe ripple effects.

A 7 year loan is likely to leave you underwater before the end. Even a 5 year loan can do that especially for German makes.

It was real. Lower population then so land was cheap. Cars and homes were also built to MUCH lower standards back then.

Tech/finance salaries and low interest rates. The people who buy $1M homes in those cities are making at least $200k a year combined. Also, wealthy investors from overseas are a large portion of luxury home buyers.

Yep, that is also why small cars bound for the US are increasingly being offshored (e.g. Focus moving to China, Trax/Encore sourced from Korea, Corolla to Mexico, etc). Doesn’t make sense to build in the US if there is low demand.

Culture - driving a hulking pickup is seen as “manly” and successful.

This! I drive a Ford Fusion Energi with a nearly useless trunk. Friends and family kept telling me that I “need” an SUV or truck because of space and utility and whatnots.

Also, statistically speaking you’re more likely to lose the damn thing in an accident than you are to lose your house to an accident. Would really suck to be in a 5+ year loan and then lose it during the first year (I know there’s gap insurance but still...). And even if you can get it repaired and running, the lost…

When everything is understood as a monthly payment, that’s what happens. People pay for TVs and couches in installments too. Oh well, keep it up so I can get used stuff for cheap :)

This. Market demand dictates what we get. It’s the reason why stick shifts are so limited in the US.

Talking about internal conflicts that disrupt their own oilfields. Saudi Arabia’s proxy war in Yemen doesn’t hurt Saudi exports.

If I were rich I’d absolutely buy new cars... more specifically I’d factory order them to my specific preferences. You get the full warranty and the pleasure of knowing that no one else wore out and farted in the car before you did.

Very true. The system already works for most automakers, so there is nothing to gain from suddenly splitting off the joint ventures.

Venezuela doesn’t have much effect on global prices. Their output has been steadily falling due to incompetence and mismanagement, even during the boom times.

No, gas won’t get expensive as hell in America, thanks to something called an oil glut. OPEC may have cut production to raise the per barrel price, but that will only spur more drilling in the US (a relatively expensive place to start drilling in) and technology and over-supply will just shoot the price back down…

This is why I get mad when morons try to blame international trade for the crisis that forced GM and Chrysler to take bailout money.

This might actually fly in Asian markets, especially mainland China, where many well-off buyers (as in rich enough to afford a Continental or midrange BMW but not a Rolls) prefer to be chauffeured. I could see Chinese buyers wanting something different from a long-wheelbase A6/5-series and jumping on this instead.

Just stick with the brand names. Colgate toothpaste is the same whether it’s from CVS or Walmart, for example.

Walmarts absolutely do exist in middle class and even wealthy areas and you can see new luxury cars in their parking lots.

This is objectively false. Most of Walmart’s stock is brand name stuff.