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Americans might not want "puny cars" but they do want Teslas!
Tesla had record sales of 367,500 cars in 2019. Stock soared to $500 per share a couple of days ago. The free market is speaking for itself.
Let's face it....Americans want 'cool' cars, and those that give them the usage and image that they desire. Beemers and Mini Coopers are like this, so are big trucks and SUVs. So are Jeeps...how many people own a Jeep and it has never been off-road?
Interesting to see that van sales are up, with overall vehicle sales down in 2019.
Those are not all that big, and the 4 cylinder Transit gets 24/29 mpg. While sales are up, they are still a small percentage of vehicle sales. What people want is our V8 pickup trucks and SUVs like the Tahoe and Expedition. Even as the leader, Ford sold only 153,868 Transit vans, which get much better gas mileage than the F150, of which they sold 896,526. My F150 has the 385 HP 5.0 Coyote, and gets 15/21 MPG.
They don't make a 4 cylinder Transit. That's a different model, the Transit Connect, which barely sells at all. It's essentially a slightly down-sized minivan but then a minivan is more comfortable, not much larger, and not much more expensive especially since the passenger version is only sold on the stretched platform. Basically everyone just buys a minivan instead. Prius sales have fallen off a cliff. A lot of people that used to buy them have moved on to EVs or they're buying other Toyota hybrids. Rav4 hybrid has done very well. I might look at the Rav4 Prime when that comes out.
It's an odd comparison to make though. Transits and other large vans are almost never seen without some sort of company logo. They're commercial vehicles by and large. A few people buy them for camper conversions or church vans.
^^^ Ditto this....I find bigger cars difficult to drive. Plus in New England the roads can sometimes be narrow. A former boyfriend had a thing for 1970 Cadillacs (he had three of them) and I hated driving them. I've had Priuses since 2004 and have been very happy with them. Blanket statements like "Americans prefer X always strike me as absurd because statements like that imply it applies to everyone, which can't be true of any preference.
Agree and big 4 door pickup trucks are even more difficult to drive and especially park.
Doesn't change the fact that they're renting and therefore not able to do what they want...
Some people want to rent. Or at least don't mind doing so. I spent years living in older rental houses in Seattle, that didn't have garages. So I parked on the street. Maybe you've just never been to an old city.
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