Car Crisis: The End of the American Dream?  

100% import duty on Chinese cars will help to keep cars expensive in US.

The difference is that most European cities have good public transportation in America your lucky if there’s a sidewalk to get anywhere

Americans are paying over charged prices for under quality cars now a days, seriously. 😂

They call it the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it, Some Guy 😉

the problem is public transportation in the US is basically a WARZONE.

Why does the US seems like a 3rd World country when in fact it's the wealthiest country in the world?

the american dream never existed. it was just a marketing strategy

Americans aren't reliant on cars because the country is big. We're reliant on cars because decades of auto-lobbying and single family Euclidean zoning has made it impossible to get around any other way - Places are too far to walk, and not dense enough to support public transportation. Also to say that public transportation in this country has always been challenged is completely untrue. So many American towns sprung up on railroad lines. And every American city had a robust streetcar network at the turn of the century. But car companies bought up all of the track so they could rip it out, and lobbyied the government to let them to do this. Also, if you follow the market, there is very obviously demand for walkable and transit connected places. People want to live car free! Why do you think NYC and San Francisco are so expensive? The housing supply throughout the whole country is way too short on walkable and transit oriented neighborhoods, and way too flush with car dependent single family suburbia.

Lots of Americans live in their car in a Walmart parking. 😢

What America does not understand is, Public Transit is not something for poor people that have no other option, but for everybody to choose on how to go somewhere. In Switzerland, the richest country on the planet, CEO's of large corporations and banks use public transit, not because they don't have a car, but because they want to. It often is the faster and more convenient option.

Greed is fueling every aspect of the auto industry. Record-breaking profit margins for auto manufacturers Record-breaking profit for auto insurance companies. Banks are making a profit on high interest rates. And the US does not have a good public transportation infrastructure.

every new car in America has to be a luxury model or $80k 3 row luxury family school bus suv , $90k luxury pick up

America need f150 to take children to school

Thankfully, I have the skills and the knowledge to make my Corolla last for as longs as I want. Mine has AC and 5 speed automatic, but without even electric windows or doors. There is elegance in simplicity. A light car is an agile car that sips gas.

Bought a new non-luxury car last year. 800 credit score. $7500 down. Still $617 car payment. Crazy

I’m tired of paying for financing, gas, insurance, maintenance and other bs I wish my city just had a goddamn subway

Americans are trapped in their cars

in china the new car price has been rapidly dropping for 3 years

In other news, Bidden has increased Chinese EV tarrif to 100%.

Dealers in America don't have anything anyone wants to buy.

'racing capital of the world'...an oval? lol.

I work for a Automotive Group. We own 30 dralerships. I own 3 vehicles, a 71 Chevelle, an 07 Jeep JKU, and an 08 Civic Si. No payments. It is much cheaper to fix my cars, than buying a new one.

We already have self driving vehicles, they're called trains.

"No one buys a car thinking about repair and maintenance cost". The same can absolutely be said about people buying houses. As a lot of people have said many times, finance and money management need to be taught in all schools.

In other words, I, and every tax paying citizen, will be paying for people to get subsidies on crappy cars they really can't afford. BRILLIANT!!!!

The music is appropriate. The USA is now the USSA

american cities used to have state-of-the art public transit 100 years ago. the current situation is caused by choices made by people

There is a car shortage because there making them all as luxury cars. They could make a car that sells for $10,000 new. They just don’t want to.

Too big of a push towards trucks & suvs & not enough or barely any affordable cars available

I'm retired and have no use for a big vehicle. I just need a small car at an affordable price. Which isn't available in the USA

Housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and food have all become out of range due to greed. Simpley because consumer have been willing to keep buying.

Bad city design makes cars a necessity, infrastructure expensive and public transport a challenge.

Part of the problem is that Americans are obsessed with huge inefficient vehicles. The biggest selling vehicles are big pickup trucks like the Ford F150, these are objectively totally unsuitable for 95% of Americans. They are expensive, inefficient, over sized and in many cases not practical to drive around built up areas. Smaller cheaper and more economical vehicles that Europeans and Asians drive would help many Americans with no mobility.

It was GM and Firestone that bought up transit lines to decomition them to sell more cars and tires

The Ford Maverick is a very affordable pickup truck which could easy surpass the F150 as the most popular vehicle in the US, yet So few are produced it’s rare to ever see one in the wild. Not profitable enough for the shareholders.

I don't think Americans realize just how cheap cars were in the USA compared to the rest of the world! Now they are close to prices the rest of us pay, while having lower income than them.

If Americans like being broke continue buying brand new cars. My daily driver is a used Hybrid, fully paid off, and cost $0 in repairs in the last 5 years of ownership.

In 2018, I bought a 2015 Honda Civic with 35k miles for $12,000... now paid off... I've seen the same model and year with 150,000 being sold for $20,000... or even more. It's insane. Working class people are being squeezed

Just a coincidence but 4 years ago Ford and GM discontinued most car models. So most of what is sold are light trucks, EVs, or sports cars like the Corvette or Mustang. Of course the price of autos would rise when all of the lower end compact cars were taken off the market. And considering how much profits have risen among auto makers and insurance companies, the reason that cars are expensive isn't that they have become more expensive to produce or insure.

"Kei car is the smallest category of Japanese, expressway-legal motor vehicles. With restricted dimensions and engine specifications, owners benefit firstly from lower taxes and insurance rates which lead to a lower overall cost of ownership. And in most rural areas, importantly, they were also exempted from the general Japanese shako shōmeisho parking-space ownership requirement to legally buy a motor vehicle at all, as street parking is generally restricted in Japan."

I could tell there was trouble in paradise when the the truck market exploded in size. A family used to have one truck and one car. The car was usually the better quality vehicle and the truck was for moving trash and large objects. The reason for the explosion in the luxury truck was that families were combining these two use cases into one vehicle. This was the first sign that vehicles were becoming too expensive compared to income. Also, EV's will not make transportation cheaper. If anything it is making it more expensive to both own and operate. This is WHY they are not selling. The consumer isn't completely stupid.

"Oh, cars are too expensive to buy and maintain" - Ignores that the Toyota Corolla costs ~$23K. The real problem has a name: SUVs = car megalomania, caused by the Chicken Tax / CAFE protectionism.

To compare the ridership of public transport in Indianapolis to a similar-sized city in Europe, Prague: 2023 ridership Indianapolis: 6.7 million 2022 ridership Prague (last available figures, only metro lines): 338 million. And those numbers were generally more around 450 million yearly before the pandemic. And that is only the three metro lines. The whole public transport system including metro, trams, buses, trains, passenger boats and a funicular has about a billion passengers yearly. That's a whopping 150 times more than Indianapolis. Prague has about 1.2 million inhabitants, Indianapolis about 800k. But the agglomerations have about the same size at 2.1 million. So, public transport in the US is really abysmal on average.

If someone's ego won't hurt buying a old school sedan, get a Corolla or Civic for about $25K and keep your monthly payments lower than buying an SUV. There's no point in flexing muscles if you can't afford a gas guzzler SUV, all you do at most if pick groceries from Walmart. Get the most affordable, reliable and fuel efficient cars with minimal maintenance costs. Those comes from Japanese companies.

I only drive 1 day a week when I have a car so I figured 4 yrs ago I would buy a 20+ old used car, pay cash and afford Liability Only State required insurance. Before I could buy, the Pandemic hit, and after that Used Car Market stated to supply wannabe New Car Buyes too because they can no longer afford New. With the increased prices, that won't work for me anymore unless I drastically cut everything else. I prefer to have the convenience of a car, but I now find it much more affordable to take Uber and make fewer trips. Thank Goodness for Delivery of most anything else I buy.

US corporations have zero interest in helping consumers save money

Dependence. Another decline is that even medicine is a business,in the usa.

One thing was not mentioned. Some budget compact cars which are popular in Europe left US market in recent years. Ford Focus and Fiesta, Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit/Jazz, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent are not sold in the US any more.

It is comsumers' fault. Not many people buy small economy sedan and hatback but gravitate toward big SUV or crossover. This result is automakers now offer only a handful of small, affordable, fuel efficient vehicles in the market.

If they can't afford a car, they probably can't afford the doctors appointment the host keeps bringing up as an example of places to go, either.

Our slavish dedication to single family detached housing has made most people car-dependent, just as the auto makers intended. The way out is to allow townhomes and apartment buildings in most places. Given the choice between a single family detached house they can't afford, and a townhome served by transit which they can afford, most people will pick the townhome. That density also allows markets, banks, coffee shops, etc, within walking or biking distance.

I have found shortsightedness is a major staple in American policy. my grandparents parents were part of the voting group that started this wave of coroners ship in the construction of America’s rail lines for highways. Cars were more affordable then in the industry, a hole was less predatory. Car dealers overcharge. The auto maker sells to the car dealer in advises them to pay. They are protected by the government so there there’s nothing auto makers can do. Dealers are fighting to make it harder for local mechanics in individuals to be able to fix their cars, which is where EV’s come in making it very difficult for your American to fix their own car or find a mechanic to fix it and instead they have to go to a dealer and pay higher prices. I live in a state with virtually no public transportation. I live in the largest city in the state and there’s barely Uber here. There’s a very small town and other cities. There is no form of public transportation. We are starting to get high-speed rail installed. It’s taking a long time. It’s hard to convince cities, considering the auto lobby group is so powerful in this country and the Aerospace lobbying group is so powerful that both together fight rail being built. So I don’t know I don’t own a car I walk to my office. I live in an overpriced apartment. Thankfully, the city I live in is rather walkable, but if I want to go anywhere off the peninsula I live on it becomes extremely difficult.

Got too greedy during the pandemic. Get ready for the crash.

Civilization has entered late-stage capitalism. Capitalism is an insatiable hunger, one which is inherently incapable of expressing the concept of "enough" - it's a system that must chronically engorge (without pause). Poverty is the mother of necessity; the comfort of the rich, depends upon an abundant supply of the poor. the Alchemist -Ø1

Why do modern cars need internet connectivity? Power windows? Massaging seats? Laser cruise control? It's ridiculous. The cars of the 70's and 80's had none of that crap and still got you where you needed to be without a 7-8, $100K+ commitment to a predatory bank.

subsidizing cars more than they already are is bonkers. You wouldn't need micorbuses to shuttle people all over the place if you had proper density and reliable transit. Electric cars are still cars and cause most of the same externalities. Cars should be expensive given the social costs they inflict, but the money shouldn't go to shareholders, but to the victims

Forget subsidies, that will just force prices up for bigger profits, we need simple no frills cheap vehicles.

You can achieve the american dream fast but it will only last one month before the bill arrived . Only way for average ppl is to use credit.

Im 26 and literally no one in my entire family has bought a brand new car since ive been alive. I think this video is a few decades too late.

The real problem is we don’t demand that employees are paid a living wage. The cost is why my family drives a 20 year old pickup truck and a 10 year old small BEV.

I see opening a car getting far more expensive in the future. I see cars hitting$60,000 as the norm.

Why don't buy cheapest and lighter cars? The car best in sale in Brasil is Volkswagen Polo. Why people from USA need something better than this? It's cheapest, good economy, good for environment and for the pocket.

Im so much richer now I switched to riding my bicycle, cars nowadays are just a ball and chain. The only way I'd own one is if I made 300K a year it's so ridiculous with fees and not to mention the tickets you might even rack up

10 years ago a car in the USA was 20-30% cheaper than exactly the same car in Australia. Now the price is the same.

And those American politicians don't want cheap Chinese car to be imported to US..

Huge problem in USA in public and mass transit is SAFETY... lack of security, crime, homelessness, public drunkenness is rampant on rail.. significant disincentives for avoiding auto use

As someone that was born in Asia, grew up and lived in the US for over 35 years, I now travel for work to Asia and Europe. Trust me, I don't want to own a car but we, as Americans, don't have any other options. Everytime I travel overseas for work, I almost always use public transportation - that kind of strategy is not possible in the US. America is too big, too spread out and you literally can't survive your day to day life without a car. Over the years, a car became more of a status symbol more than a transportation tool.

The American dream has been ☠️ for 20/30 years now. It's NEVER COMING BACK

in the 1950 , 60's . 70, 80's 90's and even into the 2000's the average family could buy a new car .... 2020 , we are up Shlt creek , High high prices and now high interest rates

Car prices will tank. Hold tight.

Thousands of functioning cars of different brands and types can be found under 10K. No one is asking you to go spend $80K on a high end vehicle.

Same thing that happened in 08, now is happening with cars… the US government and their shareholders are in the business of creating indentured servitude no matter your race, gender, or ethnicity

can buy a decent used car under $5k easily new cars are getting pricier bcos of safety options and tech

Another great video, we will more and more look for analog cars

This has alot more to do with consumer stupidity than anything else. Period. Americans don't know how to say no or find alternatives. If someone wanted to sell me a 50,000$ car, id laugh in their face. The fact that anyone pays these prices is a joke. These companies should be going out of business, not making record profits.

driving a '11 honda accord with 176k miles on and loving it. best car is one where you don't have car payments.

I have to wonder just how much of a runaway success companies such as Toyota and Honda would have if they reintroduced their compact cars from the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were simple, easy to repair, reliable and affordable. Aren't those the things we've lost with all this tech? I for one would forego driver-assist, cruise control and a little modern luxury if it meant saving 50 percent (or more) of the cost of a new vehicle.

The US is massive at 2800 miles east to west and 1650 miles north to south. In Texas just to get from my apartment to the nearest small downtown area in the same city is a 57 minute walk followed by a 14 minute bus ride. 8 minutes by car. To get to the big city urban downtown area it's a 2 hr 11 minute commute one way including an hour walk vs 23 minutes by car. They got rid of the bus route on my street during Covid.

If Americans stop buying overpriced and completely unnecessary pickups and SUVs and start buying Corollas and Civic around 25 000 dollars, other manufacturers will have to meet customers needs or go out of business.

% of the cars produced are exported. Germany: 75% South Korea: 70% Japan: 50% China: 15% U$ : China has overcapacity.

It's like the "world series"...but there's only one participant

Buying a used car or truck a few years old is easier and cheaper!

Solution: 100% taxes to cheap cars to protect the old system and don't let competition bring down the prices. Brilliant.

The prices are high because Americans primarily want SUV's....the station wagon and hatchback market are pretty small. Americans want larger cars that are not necessarily a necessity. So it's a self -inflected issue in my opinion as an American. The insurance rate increases, though, are absolutely CRIMINAL.

We need to get back to basics, like the Honda Civic hatchback 🚗 HF trim - a no nonsense basic and reliable transportation

US automobiles are ridiculously oversized, over-complex and provided with excessively large engines.

lets gooooooo! Downfall of car dependency!

Americans are getting cucked by the automotive industry, and some of them even like it that way. Public transportation and walk/cycle options are the way to go. A lot of people in the Netherlands have a car but still go by bike, bus or train. Because it's convenient.

you guys havent seen the car prices in Canada lol

I'm so poor my last car had manual air bags.

Build trains. Lots of them. It's not that hard and you've got the money anyways.. But no, the idea of a car representing freedom in 'Murica is so engrained in their physche they won't bear to prioritise public transportation. Utter insanity.

EV mandates have forced up the price of all vehicles, profitability is now impossible.

The government is at fault here. Mandating expensive emissions and safety systems, high taxes and registration fees. Chinese cars could be had brand new for as little as $8,000.

Uhhh Europe is the Car and Racing capital of the world.

its not only the lack of public transit that is frequent, safe, affordable and clean, but the expensive car culture, the expensive health care, the expensive university education, the expensive housing, USA became a nightmare by the choice of its own citizens. yet, they vote for their own free market and misery.

I still drive my Mitsubishi galant with 740,000 miles. American cars are too expensive. Insurance...$190 a month!

This is nothing. I just got a bill for $28,000 for a single rabies vaccine that I needed. There were 3 more shots in the series lol.

There's already an affordable mobility for all, and it even improves your health. It's called a Bicycle.

Most Americans driving pickup trucks is ridiculous.

Instead of building cars and trucks for the average wage Americans, they are only building luxury cars and trucks. Just look at the once simple, smallish ford ranger and f 150. Now oversized, over priced models. Just like the housing market.