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So far no one has seen the utility of this vehicle. There are millions of families that have multiple vehicles, and where both partners work. When taking a tr
by vgoh1 8y ago
So far no one has seen the utility of this vehicle. There are millions of families that have multiple vehicles, and where both partners work. When taking a trip as a family, they might want a minivan or SUV. When they commute, one might drop the kids off, but the other will be driving alone. If the commute is not a very long one, this vehicle is perfect.
There are at least a few million households with this configuration in North America, so they have plenty of potential market. I can think of a few more use cases, but this (which is also MY situation) is possibly the largest.
I'm going to play a bit of wait-and-see, but if this vehicle turns out to come to fruition and isn't plagued with reliability issues, I am strongly considering purchasing one. Right now, we have a newer minivan, two motorcycles, and I usually drive my car to work, which is older, and is often breaking down. I live in Upstate New York, so there are a couple dozen days each year where it's dry and warm enough at 6AM to ride my motorcycle to work.
So what am I left with? I don't want to deal with repairing an older vehicle, and I am happy with the utility of our minivan, and fun factor of our motorcycles, so I just want something with the lowest hassle and cost of ownership. This vehicle is pretty close to the cheapest new car that you can get, but will save me most of my $120/mo that I spend on gas. Plus, it has to be easy to park at that size.
I think that if they can pull off a good design, at a good price, and get all of the other things right (I know, a tall order), they will have a market at least large enough to keep that factory going.
- acct1771 8y agoWill you be spending that $120+ in increased insurance cost for the same reasons Tesla are more expensive to fix than most cars (economies of scale, limited OEM parts)?
- mercutio2 8y agoCollision insurance (which is what covers damage to your own vehicle if you are at fault) is the main thing that’s dependent on the repair costs of your own vehicle, and it’s not required in many states (in no-fault states, it is, but most states are not no-fault). This vehicle is inexpensive enough many people don’t need to pay for collision insurance.
- ronilan 8y ago> So far no one has seen the utility of this vehicle. There are millions of families that have multiple vehicles, and where both partners work. When taking a trip as a family, they might want a minivan or SUV. When they commute, one might drop the kids off, but the other will be driving alone. If the commute is not a very long one, this vehicle is perfect. ... But if they need to pick the kids on the way back for whatever reason, this vehicle is useless. Case in point, in Vancouver, where this comes from, both evo and car2go provide the same car sharing service. Car2go is phasing our the smart two seater car in favor of 4 seaters. Versatility is key to usability. This is doomed.
- renox 8y ago> When they commute, one might drop the kids off, but the other will be driving alone. Except that if the one who has the big car has an issue at work, the other cannot go and take the kids because he has a car way too small! No, that kind of car only works for those without children.