This is what they get for investing in anti-EV FUD instead of investing in EVs.
It’s also what they get for enshittifying cars. China might sell me the car I want: simple, ultra reliable, long range, no infotainment system, no tracking, no subscriptions, no attempts to foist software on me, and made of standard parts making it cheap to repair. Just a motor, battery, wheels, and basic car comforts.
I don’t want to see China win this one but I’ve felt it coming for a while.
Indeed, and this also explains the popularity of Dacia.
I would go a step further and say that I don't even want some safety features if the cost/benefit ratio is not unequivocally positive. The safety push in the car industry is great for incumbent manufacturers but bad for consumers on a budget. I fully realize we still lose too many people in car accidents, but I'd rather use public transport or bikes for 90% of my travels and own a slightly unsafer but very cheap car that I use sporadically. (This is in a region that is very bike-friendly with superb public transport).
Wait a few years, PRC investing big in indigenous auto components, cost of electronics/sensors is easy to value engineer and scale. I think if you're prodominantly operating in urban enviros, especially one that's bike friendly (pedestrian centred), some extra safety is worthwhile investment. Auto parking seems like a nice feature for city driving, having lots of sensors provide overlapping features and there's more to gain than lose. Chinese cars sector are going to make those standard in cheap cars and hopefully convince everyone else to as well.
I wouldn't dismiss the safety feature a modern car has, you never know when you might need them.
Features like auto braking system are incredible. I know someone where this saved a kids life (kid ran on the road from between cars right in front of a car).
The crash safety feature on high end cars are also incredible, I know someone else with a completely mangled up car after a high speed crash just walk and be fine.
I am also old enough to know people that have died or with lasting damage like paralysis or back issues from crashes quite some time ago.
I have a car with auto braking. It's never prevented an accident but has nearly caused a few. When exiting onto a cambered road, it senses the slope of the road in front of the car as being an object that it thinks I'm about to hit, and stops randomly. It then refuses to move again until I completely take my foot off the accelerator and depress the brake fully. The fact that it takes a good couple of seconds to coordinate all of this is super dangerous, especially when trying to pull out in a gap in a high traffic area. I'd rather take my chances without it to be honest.
I've also had the lane-assist try and yank me towards oncoming traffic. Also not fun.
Volkswagen Golf mk 7.5 - 2020 year model. The issue is well documented online. Problems with safety features are definitely not unique to it though. I travel reasonably often and have driven a variety of hire cars recently with similar issues. Overall I'm just not convinced that 'safety' features are taking us in the right direction.
That's the problem, it's not about your safety, it's about that of your environment. And Dacia's, especially their cheap SUVs, are horrible at keeping pedestrians safe.
> China might sell me the car I want: simple, ultra reliable, long range, no infotainment system, no tracking, no subscriptions, no attempts to foist software on me, and made of standard parts making it cheap to repair. Just a motor, battery, wheels, and basic car comforts.
But it won't be like that, will it.
There will be an infotainment system with broken features and no updates, there will be tracking and of course some software is inevitable in modern cars, not least because the regulations demand that. There will be no standard parts. The reliability remains to be seen.
> This is what they get for investing in anti-EV FUD instead of investing in EVs.
A lot of the "FUD" are actually very valid concerns - the energy needed, the grid, where to actually charge them when living in an apartment, many times without a dedicated garage space. On top of that the cost - cost of a new one and cost of repair. Sorry but seems a lot of the "FUD" argument comes from very well of IT/Tech people who live in a kind of ivory castle where $50k for a new car where one small fender-bender costs thousands is not much.
> China might sell me the car I want: simple, ultra reliable, long range, no infotainment system, no tracking, no subscriptions, no attempts to foist software on me, and made of standard parts making it cheap to repair
They won't, at least in the UE cause of regulations.
LOL, you do realize that you're talking about a totalitarian country with "social credit" system, and probably most advanced surveillance tech in the world?
In a digitalized world, we all live in a totalitarian system. For example, Meta Corp has a relationship graph that would certainly make even the East German Stasi jealous and on a global scale. Fun fact: China has more liberal laws on cryptography than, for example, Australia (which mandates backdoors for companies operating in land of oz)
Not sure if you realise that the social credit system is commonly misinterpreted ? It's just a similar financial credit score system in the west. Theres nothing in place that remotely looks like that episode of black mirror.
It’s also what they get for enshittifying cars. China might sell me the car I want: simple, ultra reliable, long range, no infotainment system, no tracking, no subscriptions, no attempts to foist software on me, and made of standard parts making it cheap to repair. Just a motor, battery, wheels, and basic car comforts.
I don’t want to see China win this one but I’ve felt it coming for a while.