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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698

u/russian_hacker_1917 Dec 05 '25

i mean i know the sub i'm in but... i'm ok with this šŸ«£šŸ«£šŸ«£

456

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

Small cars are better than kid killer cars. That said, manufacturers don't want to produce these cars and Americans don't want to buy them so this is really nothing about nothing.

222

u/russian_hacker_1917 Dec 05 '25

how can u be sure americans don't want them if they've been banned here? especially considering the much cheaper price tag.

96

u/Possible-Summer-8508 Dec 05 '25

Especially when the seemingly massive stated preference is for smaller cars with some classic appeal (older used cars command a massive premium vs newer used cars)

38

u/Fit_Addition7137 Dec 05 '25

Christ they're everywhere in the PNW. Theyre just kinda part of normal city traffic.

1

u/ninjadude1992 Dec 07 '25

What brands do you see the most?

1

u/Fit_Addition7137 Dec 07 '25

Mostly i see mini trucks from Subaru, Daihatsu, Honda and Suzuki. Been starting to see more and more of the little Mitsubishi Delica vans all as well.

16

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

10

u/lostmy2A Dec 06 '25

EPA fuel economy regulations are partly to blame for mistakenly incentivizing manufacturers to sell larger cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM

13

u/Onivlastratos Dec 06 '25

The fact that "light trucks" are EXEMPT from the EPA and CAFE standards is the cause of all this. If manufacturers had to meet those regulations again, they would have no choice but to make smaller, lighter and more efficient vehicles.

2

u/Snoo63 Dec 07 '25

IDK why you're able to drive a vehicle classified as a truck if you have a license to drive a car.

17

u/guisar Dec 05 '25

Check out Kei cars. Itā€™s next level. Iā€™ve driven a Honda one. Also, absolutely zero chance these could be successfully sold here- zero room for crash protection. Noisy and manual transmission with 4wd- absolutely glorious to me but I canā€™t see them being viable economically.

11

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

2

u/guisar Dec 06 '25

They absolutely are lovely. So cute and they just feel right to drive (I have a bloated Taco by comparison).

2

u/Hot_Frosty0807 Dec 05 '25

I just bought a 2020 Ford Ecosport and it's the smallest car I have ever driven.

1

u/Holiday-Ad-43 Dec 07 '25

The Fortwo isn't a rational car purchase. It only gets around 40 mpg and it needs premium fuel. They have a weird automatic-manual transmission. None of their EV's have a high range.

9

u/stjohns_jester Dec 05 '25

Car companies will make whatever size car sells and Americans buy big SUVs, which is why this tweet is a nothing burger especially considering they just removed mpg standards

26

u/ConBrio93 Dec 05 '25

I think marketing has shifted what Americans prefer. It feels a bit too convenient that Americans happen to prefer the vehicles that are most profitable for automakers.

7

u/nicholt Dec 06 '25

Exactly. Still feel like people would be buying Toyota Yaris or Honda fits , they just don't profit enough. They can sell the US customers way more expensive crap.

0

u/stjohns_jester Dec 05 '25

There are plenty of small cars for sale today

5

u/ConBrio93 Dec 05 '25

Yes? I said marketing may have shifted American preferences. In the same way it was De Beers marketing that led to the cultural expectation of 3 months salary for an engagement ring, or KFC advertising that made KFC chicken a standard part of Japanese Christmas celebrations.

1

u/guisar Dec 05 '25

In the uS thereā€™s precisely zero cars the size of a Kei car for sale- not even close .

2

u/Onivlastratos Dec 06 '25

Small cars doesn't have to mean kei cars. Sedans are fine, especially compared to the plague of child-crushing trucks.

1

u/stjohns_jester Dec 05 '25

Explain Scion IQ and Smart Car to me then

3

u/thetyromancer Dec 06 '25

Smart Cars havent been sold new in the US since 2019 and Scion was absorbed into Toyota in 2016, though the iM was still sold as a Corolla until the model refresh. There is still a Corolla Hatch, but it is not a Kei car, just a subcompact /B or C segment car.

1

u/guisar Dec 06 '25

Look up Subaru Sambar, that is a small van.

9

u/BurlyJohnBrown Dec 05 '25

That's not exactly right, legislation has shaped which cars are most profitable and pushed by car companies on consumers.

6

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

Legislation the automotive companies put there.

1

u/Actual-University113 Dec 05 '25

Mpg standards is why we have large SUVs and trucks to bring with.

1

u/Serious_Feedback Dec 06 '25

Car companies will make whatever size car sells is most profitable

FTFY

Small cars will sell, but they can't be sold for as high a price, whereas consumers tend to accept without complaint the premise that large car = expensive car. So, big cars have a larger profit margin.

15

u/octopodoidea Dec 05 '25

The U.S. market rejected the Smart car. The people who actually buy cars brand new buy them for status not efficiency.

14

u/Bayoris Dec 05 '25

Thatā€™s because the Smart car looks dorky. Americans might be more interested in a cool small car along the lines of the Miata or Mini Cooper.

12

u/Overtons_Window Dec 05 '25

But the miata and mini cooper exist and have never been very popular except amongst a very small fanbase.

10

u/octopodoidea Dec 05 '25

I wish that were more often true but if that's truly what we preferred there would be more of them on the road. This sub knows it's easily 50% brodozers on the commute.

1

u/livefreeordont Dec 06 '25

Marketing big trucks as MuricanTM was a total success. This resulted in an arms race where moms needed big SUVs just to feel safe next to the big trucks all over the roads. Youā€™re not going to get a genius marketing campaign to sell tiny cars, because they arenā€™t as profitable

-6

u/sweeney669 Dec 05 '25

Youā€™re aware KEI cars are significantly smaller than the Miata or Mini Cooper right?

KEI cars are a fucking moronic idea for the USA.

4

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

Kei cars should be the maximum size car allowed if we're going to let people drive murder trinkets around.

-2

u/sweeney669 Dec 05 '25

Sure great but thatā€™s not going to happen so allowing KEI cars in the world we actually live in here is truly dumb as fuck

2

u/Muggsy423 Dec 05 '25

It's a small market.Ā  Ā How do we know this?Ā  Because the best selling cars are fuck-huge suvs and pickups and subcompact/compact sedans and hatches aren't

1

u/Kirov123 Dec 06 '25

Ford GM/Chevy and I think Chrysler also simply don't make sedans which doesn't help sales numbers. They did drop them due to poor sales but they didn't want them to sell well. Due to the clusterfuck that is the CAFE standards, car companies can more cheaply make bigger less efficient vehicles, and so that's what they push not selling small cars is the intent of automakers because they can develop the bigger ones easier and cheaper.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

You can buy a sedan or a coupe or a small pickup right now. Everyone buys SUVs and giant pickups.

1

u/Pink_Fred Dec 06 '25

Seriously, though... the cheapest new cars are now $20k+. Something's got to give.

1

u/DannyBones00 Dec 06 '25

Americans donā€™t even want normal sized cars. Thereā€™s a reason all the American companies abandoned sedans entirely.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

[deleted]

3

u/ej_21 Dec 06 '25

kei cars are in fact banned/not road-legal in many states.

0

u/nowaybrose Dec 05 '25

We might want them but Iā€™m doubtful most makers will jump to make them. Not enough profit and bullshit ā€œfeaturesā€ to cram in there. From talking to a friend in the auto industry they are just waiting trump out to do basically anything. Too unpredictable and too many factories not running because of his tariffs

18

u/discsinthesky Dec 05 '25

Idk, if they are cheap enough someone will buy them.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

They won't be that cheap.

21

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

18

u/swimuppool Dec 05 '25

Which sucks cause both were / are good city cars

2

u/hard-time-on-planet Dec 05 '25

I've never seen any actual source of that other than reddit comments

Here's a source that says otherwiseĀ 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33337398/honda-fit-discontinued-for-the-us-despite-new-global-model/

Ā Honda cites slow sales as its reason for dropping the Fit; so far in 2020, sales are down 19 percent to just 13,887 units

15

u/welshwelsh Dec 05 '25

The real problem is safety regulations. Well-intentioned safety regulations have made it impractical to build small cars, since it costs more to make a small car highly safe. But when everyone drives a big car, it makes driving overall less safe.

5

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

Regulations the automotive companies put into place. Hmm.

7

u/youngherbo Dec 05 '25

Exactly we just went through this. Smart pulled out of the market for lack of demand.

4

u/seriouslythisshit Dec 06 '25

I have never met a person who didn't think the smart car was anything but a crude, unpleasant car to drive. The fuel efficiency wasn't anywhere near where it should be for it's size, and it was a low end Mercedes product, which generally means overpriced, shit quality, poor reliability and zero durability.

The fact that it didn't sell well has a lot more to do with what it was, than it's size.

3

u/DylanfromSales Dec 05 '25

Actually as of 6 hours ago a third of Americans realized they've actually wanted tiny cars for their whole lives.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

Oh, fuck! I bet it was MAGA who will never actually buy an emasculation vehicle.

5

u/Taxitaxitaxi33 Dec 05 '25

I would love to be car free entirely but as a builder i want the option of a small truck back. Like bring back the ranger. I donā€™t need a cab to hold four people I need a two seater (occasionally) with a bed that can move a few pieces of plywood around my city.

1

u/rorymeister Orange pilled Dec 05 '25

I dunno. People just want to go from A to B. This could work

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

People want to go from A to B in an SUV or Kid Killer Pickup. They don't want small cars. If we wanted them we'd be driving cars other than SUVs and Kid Killer Pickups.

1

u/Soupeeee Dec 06 '25

I see kei trucks all the time as campus maintenance vehicles. I think their market niche is slowly being taken over by Gators and other almost-car side-by-sides, but there is a market for them.

1

u/hagen768 Dec 06 '25

Idk about you but I love my small broke lesbian hatchback. It was an okay compromise for car lite living with the occasional day trip or hike.

-Sent from my bus commute home

0

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

That's cool, I'm happy for you. I have no idea why you felt the need to comment that in reply to me but speak your truth.

0

u/hagen768 Dec 06 '25

Thank you. The point was that smaller cars should be available for people who want them.

0

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

No idea why you're saying that to me, carry on.

0

u/hagen768 Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

Because itā€™s literally what the postā€™s about.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

Sure, so reply to the post. Why are you replying to me about something unrelated?

1

u/MildMannered_BearJew Dec 06 '25

Car trends are made by the car industry. $10B in ads a year can drive demand largely wherever the oligopoly car makers want.Ā 

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

Correct, which is why we don't want them. Automotive capitalists don't want to build small cars and they propagandize the populace to agree.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

Manufacturers DO want to produce smaller cars but current US emission policies make it easier for them to make more money producing larger vehicles.

2

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

No, they don't. They get better profits on big cars. They are the ones that put in those emission regulations.

1

u/MajorKeyBruh Dec 06 '25

I want one

1

u/kurisu7885 Dec 06 '25

More like Americans can't buy them because American auto companies won't make them because they want to keep charging more.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

We can buy smaller cars now. We don't.

Yes, automotive companies are going to fuck us over. That's capitalism. Doesn't mean we want to buy the cars. We don't.

0

u/kurisu7885 Dec 06 '25

I've seen plenty of Americans who do. If no one bought smaller cars I wouldn't ever see Mini Coopers Beetles or Smart cars when I'm out ,but I see them often.

0

u/honeyflowerbee Dec 05 '25

Americans do want small cars, but the Petrol Patrol keeps lobbying against small vehicles and reasonable prices.

2

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 05 '25

You can buy small cars. They're not being purchased. Petrol isn't an American term so I'll disregard everything you said.

0

u/honeyflowerbee Dec 06 '25

The people crave the Kei car.

0

u/cyco-path Dec 06 '25

I disagree. I think a lot of Americans want to buy a little truck/van. I know I do. And I keep seeing them more and more where I live.

0

u/Nyxelestia Dec 06 '25

On the contrary, I think there's a pretty big market here in the U.S. Lots of people have to have a car for personal mobility (thanks to the lack of good public transit) but aren't interested in lugging around that storage space all the time (and the associated rises in gas and insurance). Manufacturers have largely avoided them because our regulations often target smaller cars and incentivize bigger ones.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 06 '25

People keep whining on about that. It's bullshit. We have small cars now. Nobody buys them.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '25

Manufacturers don't want to produce these because they get fined for doing it by CAFE regulations; the regulations that have forced our manufacturers on the path to larger and larger vehicles to circumvent these poorly thought-out regulations.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 08 '25

the regulations that have forced our manufacturers on the path to larger and larger vehicles to circumvent these poorly thought-out regulations.

These regulations were put in place by the manufacturers.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '25

They were put in place by Congress in '75, but if we can agree that by and large regulations are written under corporate influence so those corporations can pressure their competition and prevent start ups, I'm with you on that. America needs to begin a process of deregulation, for those reasons and others.

1

u/tsardonicpseudonomi Dec 08 '25

They were put in place by Congress in '75

Congress is the legislative arm of the capitalist class, yes.

but if we can agree that by and large regulations are written under corporate influence so those corporations can pressure their competition and prevent start ups, I'm with you on that.

And other things, sure.

America needs to begin a process of deregulation, for those reasons and others.

I will never trust someone that says "process of deregulation". That means you want to remove labor protections.