Why does it matter whether you think someone "needs" a pickup or not?
Align their crash ratings and NCAP values with every other car and the problem will take care of itself.
Personally I have the huge white vans because they reduce visibility when driving as well as while parked. I live in a big city and its difficult to drive when there's a wall parked at every other intersection.
> US-style pickups exist mostly because of weird tax and emissions rules which should be harmonized with cars.
This is the truth and is basically protectionism for the Big 3 American automakers. Don't look for this to be fixed anytime soon. The system is working as intended.
I recently bought an EV and love it. I barely ever touch the brakes and the wheels stay clean, unlike my old BMW where the front wheels turned gray from brake dust very quickly.
Some comments here are looking for a 100% perfect solution, which doesn't exist. Transportation is polluting. Sorry but even public transportation is polluting, even if it is more efficient when its above a certain utilization. Where I live, some buses are EV and it is a joy to ride them compared to diesel ones.
With an EV there is less local pollution, less noise pollution, more dynamic response when needed and no need for wasteful oil "changes" where the old, dirty, useless oil doesn't just magically disappear.
Europe is a big continent. Even within one city you can have neighborhoods with more aggro drivers than others. If there is a protected bike path I don't have problems taking it.
You only have to see the anti-Musk astroturfing on reddit to see how easily people are manipulated. The same has been happening against Modi, regardless of his merits.
India has low tax compliance, so people who pay taxes (middle-class, salary jobs, no way to hide income or wealth) shoulder an unfair part of the overall tax burden. This is obviously being worked on by the government, but it remains true.
Once you add up the expenditures from double-spending (for example private health insurance, private retirement saving, private school, toll roads) the tax burden is well above what you would pay in an EU country.
Does the maintenance time include regular servicing or is it only the time spent out of service in a day, for example charging?
I think electric vehicles are such a clear win for pollution (air and sound pollution) in cities that rolling back to ICEs should be clearly justified.
Oh no, if only there was something they could do about it...
Glib aside, the brand factor for some of these companies is insane and they are milking it for all its worth. They are obviously not limiting themselves to the local middle-class, a Disney vacation is an aspirational thing for many nouveau riche in China, even wealthy people in other parts of the world who would not have traveled so far for a vacation, or even been aware that a place called Disneyworld exists.
Disney is just reaping the harvest from years of sowing the seeds of cultural dominance.
Most of the expenses around kids revolve around the space they need. Bigger apartment, bigger car, more food are the bare necessities. Then come the expenses for additional flight tickets for vacations, bigger or more hotel rooms, needing to go on vacation during high season or not at all, extra-curricular activities, and so on. One kid can easily double your expenses from a couple's level.