There won’t be manual anything in the near future, since they won’t be able to use them for increased fuel economy features or self driving systems.  We have to buy used ones to have them in the future.   

It’s pre-production hardware, but it’s not CAD imagery. It’s a fairly complete design. But yes, it’s just a single example, and it’s not rolling off the assembly line yet, so it’s fair to remain skeptical.

The battery sizes are comparable to what Tesla’s got in its Model 3, so I see no issue there. And the wheel size…

“Battery pack capacity will be either 48, 62, or roughly 82 kWh,”

Flat modular platform, rear motor, and rear-whel-drive? Sounds like VW is getting back to their roots... and if they really can build a basic hatchback for $23k on this platform, I think it will be worth a look.

If this is what comes out of dieselgate, I think it’s going to be a fair trade-off for VW. This is the kind of initiative needed from a top tier car manufacturer to move ever closer to mainstream adoption for EVs. I’m not really up on the revolution, but it seems to me that the current crop of EVs have been along the…

Seriously, there are areas of this country where a stunt like this is going to result in gunfire. 

Its frustrating to be sure, but towing these trucks out of the way is just going to result in violence. The kind of bro-truck, redneck mentality that leads to them ICE-ing, comes with a hearty helping of macho posturing as well. 

I dunno man other than the fact that is is auto and a 40k hatchback, that seems pretty cool. You should buy it, and get it in yellow.

Why, people are buying volvos and mazdas.

DEAR TOM PLEASE TALK ME OUT OF THIS CANADIAN SPEC A-CLASS HATCH 4MATIC IN PMY

Elon’s tweet... all I see is “Reminder: my company is only surviving because the government is subsidizing my reckless behavior as a failing executive. Thanks taxpayers for helping me sell expensive cars to rich people!”

In theory, I agree with you. But Musk has already encountered pretty serious legal trouble this year for saying stupid things in a tweet.

Oh yeah then there’s this:

Because it’s so fucking stupid you could write four articles about it.

If it were an actual test platform, they wouldn’t have drastically changed the design without telling anyone. This is a way for him to show off his $10 million dollar tunnel so that he can attempt to get money from various municipalities to institute this travesty.

Tunnels exist, Teslas exist. WTF did it actually test?

THAT is v.0.1 Vaporware. Built specifically to solicit funds and interest for v.0.2.

Like what? And how? Get up off Elon’s dick, techbro.

Yeah, that is just... it’s hilarious that people accept the most staid of interiors that they pasted a big tablet onto. I mean, you might as well rip out the middle of a Kia Sephia and slap a Galaxy Tab in there.

It reminds me of the interior of computer games from back in the day when they had a limited memory to play with, do you got a fairly detailed exterior but bare bones on the interior.