I don't see any information about whether they will bring these into the US. They'd sell well here. It will be hard to make a profit on these, because you can't have much overhead.

But clearly, a less than $20k ev with ~200-220 miles, a city car, would sell very well in the us. It would open up EV ownership to more groups. Imagine what a 2 or 3 year old one would sell for? Those used ones would again open up EVs to new groups.

The longest drive I ever do is 350 miles (most days I drive less than 10 miles) so a cheap EV with slightly more than 200 mile range would be perfect. I already own a steam deck and have books on my phone so stopping to charge once or twice is the opposite of a problem. Less than 20k would be crazy, that's the price I paid for my Fit 8 years ago

astonishing how different the needs are. Driving to a holiday destination in Germany I often double that or even travel over 1000km.

Why do you say even? 350 miles is 563 km, doubling that is a good bit more than 1000 km.

I too have long assumed that EVs would appeal more to city dwellers but apparently it's the opposite.

City drivers can pull over anytime they like for gas topups and only when they've driven the car, so setting up charging infrastructure and having to plug in every day without failure just to remove gas stops makes little sense to them. OTOH, gas stations for rural house owners are travel destinations of its own, and they welcome offgrid home charging and everyday full tanks.

Short range grocery getter EV exists in the middle ground of those extremes, only in locations where it's rural enough that finding gas is annoying enough, while at the same time daily driving range is short enough that the car's range covers it.

Only reason urban citizens would prefer EVs is if they have specific opinions about personally owning ICE device, but those people aren't the biggest majority.

An EV would start to get pretty irritating if your only option is street parking. I have a garage I could charge one in right now, but most of the people on my block don’t. And if I wanted to move I may not end up with one.

Actually owning an EV in Vienna for a bit more than a year that has turned out to be a non issue. We charge all our city driving range during curb parking around the city. Parking at a charger is actually easier since non charging vehicles are banned and fairly cheap since regular parking would also incur a cost.

Well that works for you since there is curb charging, that isn't built out here at all. I agree if it was then it would be a non-issue.

> They'd sell well here.

I'd love to agree because I like kei cars and small cars in general, but I don't think they would. These cars on US roads would be dwarfed by SUVs and pickups, and Americans have voted with their wallets that they don't want small cars, which is why manufacturers have almost uniformly stopped making them (most don't even make regular mid-size sedans anymore).

I think cars are now so expensive that a small car, van, or truck that was like half as expensive but high utility would sell well.

US car industry and government are too in bed together to allow competition.

This is basically the Nissan Leaf's lane, albeit at like, 26k. It hasn't done that well after the initial rush, I think?

Americans have long commutes.

A 200 mile range would cover 99% of American commutes. The real issue is that Americans buy their cars for road trips. Even if it’s only once every year or two and it would be way cheaper to buy a cheaper car and rent a more capable one for the road trips, people generally won’t do it.

Given how shoddy rental car companies can be, that’s not really that irrational.

The Sakura is briefly mentioned at the end of the article, a bit less expensive at $16,500 (2.6 million yen)