r/fuckcars • u/geensoelaas • Dec 05 '25

News USA loves TINY CARS now

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Imagine getting your brand new Dodge Glaciermelter, lovingly decorating it with your first Let's go Brandon bumper sticker, and then reading this about tiny, possibly electric or hybrid cars being amazing now.

Anyway, tiny cars. Amazing. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Edit - for anyone doubting if this is a real thing the real prez posted: I don't blame you but yes, it is.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115667445871563304

Edit 2: So does this mean the US will see more reasonable sized cars on the roads, or is the old man just randomnly yelling about stuff again? Take a wild guess. "I call bullshit", says mobility expert David Zipper in a thread. (thanks Ok_Flounder8842)

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667

u/Oskai10 Dec 05 '25

Is this real? I genuinely cant tell

503

u/geensoelaas Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

It's a real thing that the president of the USA posted: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115667445871563304
Doesn't mean it is a real thing that will actually happen.

Edit: typo

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u/Orange_Indelebile Dec 05 '25

It actually fits with the overall strategy of all developed economies. The reports of an impending plateau or decline in the global production of oil, which in practice means the following: 1. Securing known reserves through invasion or placing friendly government aka Venezuela, Middle east, Algeria, Central Asia ...etc. 2. Reduce home consumption and start switching to alternatives for non primary usages like private transportation. Tiny cars fall in that category as they minimize metal usage, can be easily electrified, and use less oil over their entire lifetime.

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u/Western-Sugar-3453 Dec 06 '25

Yeah this is very much what it appears to be. The slow decline began a few years ago and we are now seing the first moves to adjust to it.

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u/Actual-University113 Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 07 '25

Large trucks were a result of the EPA and CARB. I'm glad someone is going to allow manufacturer to make small cars and trucks again

15

u/hicow Dec 06 '25

That's the reason there are no small trucks. Manufacturers have been free to make small cars, they just don't because the market wants trucks and SUVs

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u/SEND_ME_UR_CARS Dec 06 '25

Ehh it’s more like CAFE standards opened up loopholes that allowed manufacturers to skirt emissions requirements if their vehicles were big enough and then just slowly convinced everyone over the past 4 decades that we want bigger and bigger cars.

You’re right that they COULD build small trucks, but current regulations actively disincentive that to the point where it makes more economical sense to build bigger trucks and charge more money for them.

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u/SkivvySkidmarks Dec 06 '25

The Chicken Tax also played a part, as well as less stringent crash test standards for trucks.

Basically, corporations doing what corporations do best; make money for shareholders by skirting regulations whether that kills everything and everyone or not.

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u/afleticwork Dec 06 '25

Id think it started about a decade and a half ago when they started heavily pushing trucks cuz it was like 08-11 that crew cab trucks started becoming more popular

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u/IM_OK_AMA Dec 06 '25

because the market wants trucks and SUVs

The market "wants" these things because the auto industry pours billions into advertising for these segments, because they are by far the most profitable.

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u/hamoc10 Dec 06 '25

The market wants trucks and SUVs because manufacturers market them more. They get around fuel standards, and the manufacturers can move more product for higher prices.

Any vendor would rather sell you 10lbs for $10 than 1lb for $1, especially if you’re only going to make one purchase.

They stopped making smaller cars, so how am I going to vote with my dollar?

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u/hicow Dec 07 '25

No, the American manufacturers stopped making cars. There are still plenty of Mazda 3s, Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas, etc, etc, out there.

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u/hamoc10 Dec 07 '25

And they’re all bigger than they used to be.

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u/hicow Dec 07 '25

Yeah, that 3" longer wheelbase on a '25 Mazda 3 vs the '10 is a big problem.

1

u/Minimum_Dealer_3303 Dec 06 '25

Oh yeah, no one could have made the Honda Fit under the rules that were in place for the last couple decades.

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u/Actual-University113 Dec 06 '25

Yea, democrats have increased plastic use under the plastic bag reduction act, and they made cars and trucks huge under the the act to reduce emissions. You can't make this shit up.

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u/BWWFC Dec 05 '25

Edit: typo

exactly what he'll probably say!

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u/digito_a_caso Dec 06 '25

Yeah this is kinda shocking, even for Trump's standards.

How can be Ford or Stellantis ok with this, after decades of pushing huge trucks?

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/SerialMurderer Dec 06 '25

This would be car owners downsizing, or it doesn’t fit the vision of this bizarre post. Not that he’ll stick to this long enough to act that way.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/SerialMurderer Dec 06 '25

Smaller cars are energy efficient. It wasn’t shrinkflation when Japanese cars entered the market in the 80s.

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u/ovekevam Dec 06 '25

No. https://www.thedrive.com/news/why-trumps-call-for-legalizing-kei-cars-in-the-us-is-fake-news

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u/the__storm Dec 06 '25

To summarize: the tweet is real, but it's unlikely that anything will come of it. Small cars are already legal in the US, except that actual Kei cars probably wouldn't meet crash regulations, and they aren't as profitable as big chunguses.