Wasn’t the Nissan Leaf initially something like that ? I knew a bunch of friends who were buying 2-3 years old used Leafs for about 9k and using it for urban driving or daily commute .
The Nissan Leaf is the most underrated car in the world. It's perfectly suitable for a vast majority of the trips Americans make by car and it's ridiculously economical (especially if purchased used).
I don't think there are any rational reasons why it's not the most popular car in America.
>The Nissan Leaf is the most underrated car in the world. It's perfectly suitable for a vast majority of the trips Americans make by car and it's ridiculously economical (especially if purchased used).
>I don't think there are any rational reasons why it's not the most popular car in America.
It's still a subcompact. For the hordes and hordes of people who need a tad more utility out of a vehicle it just doesn't work without a level of compromise that is solidly into "yeah, F that" territory when you're paying new car money.
Furthermore, it's only economical to buy used because it's not super popular even on the used market. If it was they wouldn't be so cheap.
And I say this as someone who would own one yesterday if it could out "utility vehicle" a 1990s Taurus wagon. The execution is great but the concept that was executed is ill suited to what most people want in a car.
All subcompact hatches in the US market suffer from this.
A lot of families have two cars and it becomes pretty difficult to explain why one isn't electric when the Leaf is an option and the second car will certainly be bigger.
"If it was they wouldn't be so cheap."
If demand surged, Nissan would make more (barring any specific supply chain constraints). Mass producing cars at competitive prices is Nissan's core competency.
"ill suited to what most people want in a car."
This is the actual problem in my eyes. Americans especially have a lot of frivolous ideas about what a car is supposed to be.
The amount of people who /think/ they need more utility than a subcompact outnumber and the amount who actually do quite severely.
Subcompact with tow ball so you can rent a small hanger for the few times you need more space for, say, a washing machine or fridge is so much better than an F-something size truck.
Oh come on. It's not a "need" thing. It's a "societal expectations" thing.
I don't "need" more utility than a small station wagon but the nanosecond I cram three kids into the back or slap some plywood on the roof 99.999% of the people telling me I don't "need" a modern crossover are going to be hand wringing hard enough to start a fire. God forbid I put a half dozen square of shingles or bags of concrete back there at which point I become a menace to society. I do it anyway because the kind of people who tend to care are not the kind of people who's opinions I tend to care about. But that doesn't scale.
