The Cars We Could Have Bought ... If Government Stopped Meddling In The Car Business
Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 9 months ago to Government
"The cars you’re allowed to buy today are the cars government allows to be manufactured. But what kinds of cars might we be able to buy if the government (which, always keep in mind, is just a relative handful of other people who have somehow acquired the power to tell you what you’re allowed to buy) got out of the car business and left the designing of cars to the car manufacturers and the buying of cars to customers . . . who could buy what they wanted and not buy what they didn’t want to buy?
There would certainly be more variety – including very basic cars priced around $8,000 or even less that would be marketed at teens/first-time buyers or the frugal of all ages. Because there is a market for inexpensive cars – currently being filled, artificially, by used cars. Because new cars are too expensive for teens/first-time buyers – and of little interest to the frugal.
The average price paid for a new car is over $35,000 – and that’s not counting the taxes and insurance that go with the car. Which is why many people buy used cars instead.
But imagine being able to buy a brand-new car with no miles on the engine, no worries about bald tires or bad brakes or rust – the whole thing under warranty – for around $8,000 or so.
Which would also cost you a fourth the taxes and insurance.
This is not speculative. It is actual – just not in the United States, where the government forbids the sale of such cars by making them impossible to sell because they cannot comply with the various regulations – most of them having to do with things that are properly none of the government’s business in a free country, such as “safety.”
Unless you believe in government-as-your-parent. And the parent of everyone else, too. (This affliction manifesting in the Face Diapering of the country; the Diaper Wearers are not content to wear their Diaper; they insist everyone wear a Diaper.)
Such cars could be made – are being made (and sold) in other countries where it is still allowed to make and sell new cars without six air bags and the physical structure necessary to “comply” with government impact-resistance fatwas. They are not primitive cars, either. Most come with AC and a stereo; powers windows, too.
For example, the Datsun Redi-Go. It’s a Cadillac compared with a ’70s-era VW Beetle but it costs less than a ’70s-era Beetle cost when it was new. About $8,000. You get AC, power windows and a 67 horsepower three cylinder engine – plus heat!
For some other example of the cars you’re not allowed to buy that are for sale elsewhere, have a look here. https://www.financialexpress.com/auto... " (1 lahk = 1,350 USD)
There would certainly be more variety – including very basic cars priced around $8,000 or even less that would be marketed at teens/first-time buyers or the frugal of all ages. Because there is a market for inexpensive cars – currently being filled, artificially, by used cars. Because new cars are too expensive for teens/first-time buyers – and of little interest to the frugal.
The average price paid for a new car is over $35,000 – and that’s not counting the taxes and insurance that go with the car. Which is why many people buy used cars instead.
But imagine being able to buy a brand-new car with no miles on the engine, no worries about bald tires or bad brakes or rust – the whole thing under warranty – for around $8,000 or so.
Which would also cost you a fourth the taxes and insurance.
This is not speculative. It is actual – just not in the United States, where the government forbids the sale of such cars by making them impossible to sell because they cannot comply with the various regulations – most of them having to do with things that are properly none of the government’s business in a free country, such as “safety.”
Unless you believe in government-as-your-parent. And the parent of everyone else, too. (This affliction manifesting in the Face Diapering of the country; the Diaper Wearers are not content to wear their Diaper; they insist everyone wear a Diaper.)
Such cars could be made – are being made (and sold) in other countries where it is still allowed to make and sell new cars without six air bags and the physical structure necessary to “comply” with government impact-resistance fatwas. They are not primitive cars, either. Most come with AC and a stereo; powers windows, too.
For example, the Datsun Redi-Go. It’s a Cadillac compared with a ’70s-era VW Beetle but it costs less than a ’70s-era Beetle cost when it was new. About $8,000. You get AC, power windows and a 67 horsepower three cylinder engine – plus heat!
For some other example of the cars you’re not allowed to buy that are for sale elsewhere, have a look here. https://www.financialexpress.com/auto... " (1 lahk = 1,350 USD)
Do they impose those regulations on themselves?
The answer is yes.
How come? The big companies "work" with gov agencies on safety, economy, and environmental protection. The regulations are tailored to suit themselves, their R and D, and production capabilities. They influence green groups with large donations. The result is a regulation set that suit them and not low cost competitors. The only competition is from the likes of Toyoto, VW, Merc who have long experience in industry to government cooperation, they call it. Others could call it the corporate state, cartelization, cronyism.
US industry has its ways to reduce foreign competition. Japan, France, Germany have their own methods usually more direct.
It also works to hold back internal competition from low cost innovators. Note, Elon Musk has a company that has clever designers but the major success is in the work with governments to get subsidies and rules changed.
So what about competition from used vehicles, their own 5,10, 20 yo products?
Forget design to wear-out, this is not practical.
If this gets to be a real problem expect to see getting parts very difficult, repair manuals and diagnostic machines withdrawn, but the big effort goes into continuous upgrade of regulations on economy or safety or whatever can be sold to the gov agencies.
(I agree, the "Big Three" automakers have rigged markets in cars and parts for decades and likely destroyed some public transit systems. I find it hard to believe that they imposed all these government regulations on themselves.)