cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/48712513
Smaller vehicles that do not need to meet the same safety requirements as existing cars could be Europe’s answer to maintaining its automotive industry.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/48712513
Smaller vehicles that do not need to meet the same safety requirements as existing cars could be Europe’s answer to maintaining its automotive industry.
True. What we need are the likes of the fiat 500, 600, 127, Renault 4 (the 2 CV actually would fall in Microcar territory), and such, but with updated safety design and features. Under 100Km//h, not allowed on highways, size restrictions. A middle ground between automobiles, and microcars. The only compromise that shouldn’t be made is in safety.
Those cars did have another big benefit over modern cars. They were very simple and therefore easy to service and repair yourself. A feature virtually lost in modern cars.
Actually all cars from that era were. I drive a 26 year old car (in great shape, well maintained) precisely because of that. OTOH, they were also noisy, underperforming, unsafe, etc. Maybe a law making cars to be mostly modular, and with openly available disgnostics and open shop manuals, could make up for that. Sadly, in this era of subscription features, that’s unlikely.
Yes, when it comes to serviceability, the automotive world peaked several decades ago. Enshittification of cars started in the mid 2000s.