The average European car has always been a bit different than the average American car. Smaller, more fuel-efficient, cheaper—attributes deemed necessary for buyers who live in a place where space comes at a premium, and where gasoline is far more expensive.
If the sales of EVs in Europe and the US last month are anything to go by, the average European car will soon be even more different than the average American car. While EVs represent a smaller share of the market in the US, the market share for EVs across Europe is higher than ever. The landscapes are changing rapidly, folks.
Sticking with the topic of slowing EV sales in America, Dodge finally managed to legalize its Durango SRT Hellcat—a vehicle everyone expected to die three years ago—for all 50 States after it ran into some emissions issues back in September. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Renault just broke an efficiency record with its Filante open-wheeler EV.
In other news, Toyota is getting back into stage rally in America. The best part? It’s doing so with the GR Corolla. For the first time in what feels like forever, Subaru will finally have some competition. Let’s get into it.
Europe’s Car Market Is Starting To Diverge Even More
The disappearance of the federal tax credit and a shift away from nationwide emissions regulations mean the U.S. market is, in a way, turning its back on EV growth. In its place will likely be an onslaught of new plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles. Ford, knowing its buyer base for the all-electric F-150 Lightning was incredibly small and not likely to get any bigger, recently revealed an EREV version in its place.
The market is already seeing demand for EVs in America fall. While sales are about 2% higher than last year, the market share for electric cars is down to just 5.8% according to Cox, the lowest it’s been in over three years. Compare that to the European Union, which has EVs nearing a quarter of the market. From Reuters:
New car sales in Europe rose year-on-year in November for a fifth consecutive month, helped by an increase in EV registrations in markets including Germany, Italy and Spain, data from the European auto lobby ACEA showed on Tuesday.
Battery electric registrations, a proxy for sales, reached a market share of 21% in the European Union, 26% in the United Kingdom and 98% in Norway.
Unlike America, where the future of EV market share is a bit murky right now, analysts predict that electric cars will continue to take over more of the overall market in Europe, according to Reuters. This is despite the EU caving on its 2035 internal combustion ban last week. Even without that ban, the upcoming rules will be pretty strict.
As for which automakers won and lost in Europe last month, there weren’t many surprises. From Reuters:
Registrations at Volkswagen and Renault rose 4.1% and 3% year-on-year, respectively, while they fell 2.7% at Stellantis, a drop after three months of growth.
Tesla registrations fell by 11.8%, as record sales in Norway mitigated losses in other markets. They were up 221.8% at its Chinese competitor BYD. Tesla’s market share in the month was 2.1%, while BYD’s 2%.
Soon, the average European street will have mostly EVs. Compare that to America, which might have one in 10 cars be battery-electric in the next decade, if you’re lucky.
You Can Now Buy A Durango Hellcat No Matter Where You Live
Earlier this year, Dodge announced it would be bringing back the 710-horsepower Durango SRT Hellcat for the 2026 model year. The Durango Hellcat was supposed to be a one-model-year-only affair back in 2021, but it’s managed to stay in production this whole time, presumably because a supercharged V8-powered three-row SUV is about the coolest-sounding thing on the planet for a lot of Americans.
Dodge hit a snag back in September when it revealed the Durango Hellcat wouldn’t be available in all 50 States because it wasn’t certified with the latest regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). As of last week, though, that’s no longer the case. The SRT Hellcat is now available to order in the United States, no matter where you live.
In addition to the new certification, Dodge has revived a color called Triple Nickel for the 2026 lineup, and added new stripe options, including carbon-fiber stripes. You know, in case the normal stripes weren’t ridiculous enough for your full-size SUVs.
Renault’s Cool Concept Sets An Efficiency Record
At the beginning of the year, Renault showed off a concept car called the Filante, with the goal of using it to break some sort of EV record in 2025. The company really waited until the last second, but it did, in fact, achieve an efficiency record. From the brand:
One challenge that Renault set itself at the beginning of 2025 was to drive an electric vehicle more than 1,000 km, with a battery the same size as Scenic’s, at realistic motorway speeds, without stopping to charge. The first attempt was scheduled in October but was called off at the last minute due to bad weather. The team finally pulled it off on 18 December at the UTAC test track in Morocco.
If their only goal had been to drive the longest possible distance between charges, the designers and experts could have fitted the car with a huge battery or driven it in eco mode at 30 km/h on average. But Renault was aiming much higher with its efficiency record: it powered Filante Record 2025 Record with a regular battery (87 kWh, like the one in Scenic E-Tech electric) and tasked the drivers with keeping its average speed of over 110 km/h. The objective: to cover more than 1,000 km in less than 10 hours, including technical stops and driver changes.
Going 626 miles in 10 hours is one thing, but to do it at highway speeds is another. It’s proof that with enough aero and drivetrain work, these huge distances are possible for an EV without having to creep along at 25 mph.
Toyota’s Going Rallying Stateside
Since 2017, Toyota’s been competing in the World Rally Championship with its Yaris hatchback. The WRC sadly doesn’t have any presence in America, but there is the American Rally Association (ARA), which puts on a national championship of its own.
Toyota, wanting to sell more sports cars here, has decided to enter a modified version of its U.S.-market-specific GR Corolla into the series, with an American driver at the helm. From Toyota:
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TGR will newly enter the ARA National Championship from Round 2 in 2026, with the aim of developing cars on North American roads and making ever-better motorsports-bred cars.
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The rally car based on GR Corolla will compete in the RC2 class (roughly equivalent to Rally2 level).
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The driver will be young American Seth Quintero, who will compete in ARA in parallel with W2RC.
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TGR’s employees will also participate as engineers and mechanics to conduct hands-on development of pit human resources.
Toyota’s entry into the sport marks the first real factory effort from a brand other than Subaru in many, many years.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
The Big Question
What do you think the car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years?
Top graphic image:
Ever see Mad Max? Yeah, that’s America in 10 years.
Fine by me as long as I can get my meat and vegies Dinki-Di.
You will ride eternal, shiny, and chrome.
You have been able to go just about anywhere in the world for decades and see Japanese brands or captive imports at least on the road if not all over the road. The Germans are probably a close second. It used to be a lot of American cars before that. They still show up in places you don’t really think about but nothing compared to Japanese cars. But in 10 years if the any other goods are an an indication. Chinese cars may be flooding the roads. Its the worlds defacto factory. The European brands might be offering smaller EVs then the American brands who will probably have alot big of erevs and hybrids. That might be the only difference. I don’t know that it will be much different then it is today. If the whole kei thing works out it might be more similar. Especially if Chinese are able to open the door. Vinfast seems to have a winner in the vf3 all across sea especially in countries that have issues with China. Honda made their money the same way with scooters that were designed for those places. I don’t think vinfast will be a major player in the US in 10 years but I do believe they will have production in North Carolina and a decent lineup with sales. Maybe like Hyundai and Kia in the late 90s or early 2000s. The Chinese will probably have bought some brands off stellantis maybe revived some old American brands if they have to. The direct to consumer framework the ev startups have created will allow them to enter the market quicker. I really wouldn’t be surprised if we see a brand like Studebaker makes a comeback as a Chinese company in the US market.
The conversion will fail or bankrupt the country, pushing most people into poverty.
Hybrids are fine I have several 20 year old Toyota hybrids that just go and don’t ask questions or cause issues. All the gm junk I had from that era has long been junked. The junk some of the oems have been putting out will bankrupt people faster. Like gm with their engines and transmissions lasting 80k or Nissians with so many issues they are totaled in 5 years. The ev thing is harder to know but there are some cockroaches already out there ironically Nissian leafs. Battery chemistry has greatly improved for longevity. Sodium batteries are projected to outlive the cars and be used as energy storage after the cars useful life of 15 to 20 years. Time will tell but the tests look promising.
I don’t really care except, to the extent that it affect my life:
Net net, this feels like if one of the traditional poltical parties split (let’s call them US/Europe) and the infighting handed the win over to another party (let’s call them China).
It’s not a zero-sum game here, but since the US has made it clear how we feel about Chinese cars, this feels like another loss for the American consumer.
I just wish I could get it through the thick skulls in Washington that we can’t magically start over and vertically integrate our country in every single industry in a matter of years. The cornerstone of American freedom for a couple generations has been the abundance of choice we’ve had. Why take that away because of some archaic notion of national pride?
But don’t worry, the USS Trump Battleship will be firing its railguns and laser at Epstein Island soon enough!
Initially different, but they’ll ultimately converge over time.
The EU has to immediately respond to Chinese entrants, whereas the US doesn’t.
The US has affordability and push back to higher prices for the range/usability, causing it to shift faster to hybrids and EREVs. The EU has push back to higher prices, while Chinese entrants are providing price competition faster on both ends.
Which will create a gigantic barrier to entry to a global market for the domestic automakers. There are something like 15M car sales inside the US, and 60+M outside the US. Most of those countries with car sales outside the US are also countries that are going to be more compatible with the legislative environments that’s fostering growth of EVs. If I was leading an automaker in China, I’d be LOL’ing at every one of the administrative changes we’re seeing in the US. While Ford has to try to maintain compatibility with (or be distracted by) the US market, Geely and Volvo and BYD can go all in on the rest of the world. I wonder if there’s a point where EU models start to restrict what they sell in North America so they can put more focus on the remaining global market. I know for some, the US is their biggest market, but at some point, the math will work out such that it makes more sense to focus on a growing EV market that’s 4x the size of a stagnant ICE/PHEV market in the US.
Some folks are already jumping in with “you can’t compare the US to the EU!” And that just isn’t thinking big enough. The global car market is being reshaped as we watch right now, and it’ll take much longer than one administration to correct – if it can. I’m very certain that this will be worse for the US than the reluctance to build small cars in the 70’s and early 80’s.
I politely disagree. While US designed cars and trucks might not fit well over the pond, Ford already makes a ton of EVs, Hybrids, and cars specifically for the European market.
New Ford Cars – Browse the Range Here | Ford UK
The US designed cars will slot in well with the expanse into the emerging South American and African markets.
Absolutely a possibility. Though… Ford has spent a bunch of time trying to get global platforms to work. The C2 platform is global, and to a lesser extent, so is the T6. They’ve been investing in a global EV platform… which is probably not so global anymore. They’re big enough to figure it out. But they also haven’t been super successful with it, and I could see it being a distraction.
I agree with you. All we can do is just wait and see.
This is why Kia/Hyundai/Genesis is likely going to be the very largest and most successful automaker of the mid 21st century. Their lineup checks all the boxes for retrograde markets like the US, they have an extensive electric portfolio for everybody else, and they haven’t been lulled into complacency from having a large domestic market to exploit the way GM, pre-Stellantis CDRJ, and Ford to some degree.
That Renault is very close to the 4-wheel version of my Tigershark design, one that I wanted to build. Would almost be a twin if it had a taller canopy that slid back and some detail changes with a little different nose (that I wouldn’t change here as mine was designed for an ICE, so it makes less sense on an EV). This is an EV I want. Or an ICE. Or don’t even put in a drivetrain at all and I’ll figure it out. DGAF how safe it is or isn’t, or luxury features and, while mine was a tandem 2-seater (a 1+1, really), single seat is good enough for me.
Europe is not the US. And the US is not Europe. You can’t change demand entirely on the supply side, and as a rule, that is almost all the US ever does, other than the EV tax credits. Europe has MASSIVELY higher costs for running a car in general. Fuel is much more expensive. Registration costs are much more expensive. And public transportation is a legitimate option in far more places. That effects demand significantly (and IMHO – even more importantly effects how people USE cars). An EV is a much larger savings proposition there than it is here, even if it’s less convenient for many people, the inconvenience is worth it to save real money every year. That just isn’t the case for most people in the US. Very few people buy them because the price proposition makes sense – they do it because they like the performance, or they think they are cool, and yes, because they feel like they are saving the planet.
I think a far more interesting comparison would be the US vs. Australia. How are EVs doing Down Under? That is a country that while obviously far less populous, looks a heck of a lot more like the US than any European country does in terms of how people actually live and the distances people need to travel – and even the public transportation landscape.
Great question about the USA and Aus comparison and as a person living in Sydney, I’ll offer my (value questionable) opinion.
A few notes:
Australia is HUGE by land size for its population, but most of us (by a likewise huge percentage) live in the big cities hugging the coast.
Because of the small population and big distances, charging infrastructure is a long way short of what is needed to make range anxiety go away.
We get all the Chinese EVs here that the USA misses out on. That’s a fact, and this is not the article to discuss the merits and drawbacks or ethics of that.
Public Transport in the cities is pretty good (although could be better). I think most state governments would rather invest these days in PT than more roads, a notion I fully support.
We do have a burgeoning “big ute good” culture here, which gives me the irrits, but it’s a free country, so whatever.
Fuel here is priced somewhere between the usury of Europe and the LOL of the USA.
There is sometimes a lot of talk in the comments here about people buying for edge cases, but I do enough (and so do a lot of Australians) country distance trips to make an EV not a proposition I’d consider.
In 10 years my bet on Australian roads is:
Better (but not great) charging infrastructure.
Yearly increases in EV uptake, reaching probably halfway between Euro levels and USA levels (a bit like our fuel prices)
A LOT more hybrids (calm down Matt and David).
Stabilisation of the Chinese share of the market, probably in line with the (much needed in my opinion) consolidation of the number of Chinese manufacturers
European brands to fight back in the Hybrid/BEV arena so most of our cars will be (in order) 1. Japanese brands, 2. Korean brands, Equal 3rd Chinese brands and Euro brands and the laggard at the end of the field: USA brands, although whether that is anything other than Rangers (which do sell a LOT), Mustangs, Jeeps and the occasional RAM/Silverado I don’t know.
I know our next purchase will be to replace my wife’s car in about 5 years and it will be a hybrid (possibly a Yaris Cross size as our kids are grown up) of either Japanese or Korean variety.
I’m trying to rope my mechanic mate into a 2026 project to find a small early 80s hatch to do an EV conversion on to use as a local runabout to the shops and train station, leaving my BRZ and SuperBeetle for more distance / fun driving. Why? Just for the fun challenge and if it results in using less fuel, yay, but probably not a nett saving compared to just driving what I already have.
Toyota had the wisdom to consider the future growth of the car market in undeveloped countries, where a charging infrastructure is a whimsical fantasy.
When electric rates triple in USA, and people realize nothing is more costly than a battery car, will they still sell?
If manufacturers stop deliberately building in artificial obstructions to maintenance and repair, they might design better cars, instead of worse.
I’ve seen preachy Prius owners ditch their hybrid for anything but another hybrid.
Why? Repair costs is their answer.
I know an awful lot of Prius owners and I have never once heard one say that. Most of them are serial Toyota hybrid owners with almost religious fervor. The one friend who is ditching a Prius (for a Scion Xb) is doing it because the Prius is 20 years old, getting rusty, has 300K+ on it so IS finally having some issues, and he’s getting the Box for free from his in-laws. He’s semi-retired so not much money to toss around.
I don’t think manufacturers “deliberately” do any such thing. They have wildly conflicting pressures on them. People want it all, and don’t want to pay for anything. People’s performance expectations are in conflict with Government fuel-economy goals. There has long been pressure to make cars “hacker proof” both in terms of theft and now in terms of not defeating Government-mandated emissions controls. At the end of the day, cars (for the most part, obviously there are exceptions) actually ARE *wildly* better than in the past in terms of reliability and durability (some backsliding due to the ever-increasing technology level, TANSTAAFL). The good old days actually kind of sucked. My Spitfire is easy to work on, but you will be working on it a Hell of a lot more than you will any 2025 Toyota if you tried to drive it the typical 12-15K a year that a modern car is expected to do with little more than an annual oil change.
Tamper proof emissions controls and open source code in the guise of “right to repair.” I hope the emissions control code I wrote never becomes open source so no one can harangue me about what a pile it is.
What would “tamper proof” emissions controls even look like – you can always rip the stuff off the vehicle as many a coal-rolling idiot shows. And by definition, if code is “open source” it is open to tampering.
Thank you for the assessment – and about what I figured. I haven’t been personally, but I worked for a Melbourne-based company for a decade so I know a LOT of Australians (but it’s been nearly 20 years so I have no idea what’s changed). Oz has no indigenous auto industry anymore, so little reason to keep the Chinese out.
I certainly don’t think EVs are “dead” in the US, if they make sense for a person’s use case, then why not? But the nonsense of thinking that ICE would be dead and gone in 10 years was just that – nonsense. But with dirt cheap fuel and not much in the way of subsidies currently I think it’s a tough cost proposition for many, even if they can charge at home, and if they can’t, you really, really have to want one. If I still had a regular commute of that “just right” distance, I’d give one a go – but I haven’t had a daily commute in 20 years. Thank God. My driving is either too little to care or too far to want to bother, plus I can’t stand anything made in the last decade or so anyway. My fleet is going to get older, not younger.
I do think nearly everything should be a hybrid (I don’t get the fascination with EREVs though) at this point, though of course, that isn’t going to help affordability at the bottom of the market. Tiny tin boxes don’t need to by hybrids anyway, IMHO. I can see 30% of the market here being electric eventually absent the always a year or two away big battery breakthrough. Not holding my breath on that.
Isn’t Oz nearly as bad as Germany when it comes to getting modified cars legally on the road? Or is that state-dependent? I’ve seen some YT videos of people getting harassed for fairly innocuous things. I have long found it amusing that the country that was founded by religious zealots has a fairly insanely wild and free attitude about so many things (to it’s detriment), but the country that started as a penal colony still seems to relish authority in so many ways.
Modifying cars is state regulated, but the rules are fairly national. There are the basics of minimum ride height, noise, headlight hight etc, but beyond that it is a safety thing (e.g. increased power should be accompanied by increased braking). Yes, it is expensive (income depending on your view of the expense of it) but often compared to what was spent on the modifications, not much. My Beetle has the engineering certification, which did cost me about AU$1,200 which included getting a brake test, noise test and a few other things. The engineer was good and clear and wanted to help make sure I got it past, as long as I had everything right. He visited my house twice and took lots of photos and wrote a full comprehensive report, so the price for his time was fair. But there were also a lot of modifications for him to review.
So in that sense yes, more like Germany, less like the USA, but I like knowing the cars around me have been certified safe to drive on public roads. Yes, you see YT videos of people getting pinged, but the rules are clear and easy to follow, so they get what they deserve. My certificate sits in my glove box in case I ever get asked by the cops.
Which brings me to your Aus point. Yes, a long time ago we started as a penal colony, but that is now so ancient that any relation to modern multicultural Australia is tenuous at best. We do tend towards a more northern European collectivist culture, whilst happily maintaining many freedoms that I suspect even Americans would be surprised by. One of the odd things that results in is the strongly held belief in having a “fair go” which means that nobody should put themselves above others. That can have its negative consequences (although the tall poppy syndrome is not as prevalent as it once was, you still need to make sure you don’t get too big for your boots), but mainly it results in us being happy for rule breakers to get their comeuppance, because most of the time it is either putting the collective at risk or selfishly putting their own interests above others.
This belief in a fair go for all has survived the increasing multi-culturalism of the country, but (in my opinion) we need to fiercely protect it, because with a few exceptions (the horror of recent events in Bondi for instance) it is the foundation of making us a happy, healthy and wealthy country.
So from a car perspective: The rules are for safety, the rules are broadly reasonable and not too restrictive, the rules are clear and easy to follow (if perhaps a bit expensive for some). Simples.
I am all for inspections. What I see on the road in Florida is horrifying compared to what I see at my summer place in Maine. No inspections here, relatively strict for the US up there. But having to have an engineering certification seems a tad overkill.
The US is a divided land of wild contrasts, though it is pretty amusing that the part of the country that was settled by religious zealots is about the LEAST religious part of the place. I am convinced that the sun bakes Southerner’s brains and makes then susceptible to that nonsense.
Increasingly taller and uglier crew cab trucks, now with more blinding headlights!
Who will be the first manufacturer to sell them from the factory with the Carolina squat and wide rubberband tires? Dodge is my guess.
“Going 626 miles in 10 hours is one thing, but to do it at highway speeds is another.”
Um, pretty much the only way to go 626 miles in 10 hours is to do it at highway speeds. Unless you want to putter around town for 7 hours and then go 200mph for the final 3 hours.
Yup. The math says they are the exact same thing!
I want the second option!
As a European living in America, I am always surprised at how often people think so many things can “lift and shift” between Europe and America. They cannot.
Both places have massively different cultures, economic conditions, incomes, needs, habits, you name it.
I’m sure this is incredibly hard to grasp, but guess what happens when a European has actual disposable income? Drum roll… they buy the exact same cars and houses as Americans! Truly shocking!
It’s almost as if people don’t enjoy getting taxed to death, forced to live in tiny apartments, with tiny cars, use public transport, not have a/c, etc etc. Meanwhile, morons in America are like “see? They love that in Europe, we should be more like them”
Having lived in Europe – oh yes, this. And yup – my European friends who have made it in their careers have universally moved OUT of the center city to a big house in the suburbs with the biggest car they can afford in the garage. The house isn’t AS big as here and the car is an efficient diesel wagon not a Canyonero, but it’s all the same general idea. For the most part, only the young want to live like bees in a hive. And people who don’t know any better.
Americans have an incredibly warped view of what Europeans are actually like. Of course, that is largely true of Europeans ideas of America too, LOL. Some things translate well across the pond, but many things don’t.
I think a large part is that in each case, most people only experience either side as tourists doing tourist things. That is definitely going to give a very warped view of things. The US isn’t Orlando and NYC anymore than Europe is only Paris and London. And neither is really much like what you see on TV and the movies.
All of my European exposure has been away from hotels and tourists zones, including studies abroad (dorms, homes, etc). And when my family and I go, we find AirBNBs in “real” areas, buy groceries, and do all the local stuff. I don’t want to go all that way just to live in a bubble, that would be ridiculous.
Just ignore me when I go out at 10pm and shove all of our trash into the “cardboard” bin instead of separating it. I’m not proud of this, I just didn’t plan it ahead. 🙂
There is a lot to get accustomed to in either direction, but I do agree with you both that human nature tends more toward the “American way” — why not acquire all that you can and live in the most comfort possible?
Of course, after generations of this, the loneliness and hollowness of that lifestyle can start to set in, so I’m still up in the air on whether more was ever actually better, or if there’s a happy medium we all need to find somewhere.
What loneliness?
Seconded to Cloud Shouter – what loneliness and hollowness? I have lived in the middle of a city, and I have lived in the suburbs. I went to school in about the most rural ass-end of nowhere place you can imagine. I actually have more friends among my suburban neighbors in my mid-50s than I ever did in the middle of the city in an apartment building in my 20s. And I don’t have to listen to my neighbors screwing on the other side of the wall, among other things.
The nice thing on either side of the pond is that you have a choice. If you want to live downtown somewhere in an apartment and walk everywhere – live downtown somewhere and do that. If you want to live in the ass end of nowhere in Montana or northern Sweden or rural France you can do that. Or you can choose to live in a medium-density suburb – which I find to be that “happy medium” between the two extremes.
I’ve seen that scenario play out several times over the years with coworkers of mine at a large Midwest based engineering company. The England, Ireland, India expats end up buying a large home and often times large American cars & trucks, and get taxed way less in the process. So shocking!
I hear that. However, there is a price to be paid for the lifestyle that many of us enjoy in the USA: this country is openly hostile to the working poor. In Europe or Japan, it is possible to get along with a low wage job, no car, and rely on public transport / a bicycle / one’s two feet to get around. One can live simply, but live nonetheless, without the fear of being bankrupted by a large medical or car repair bill. In the USA though, the working poor are always one car breakdown or medical problem away from utter catastrophe.
Forget the working poor, make that the working regular people in general.
I feel like we get singled out as the Mad Max-ian, ecological wasteland, but what about like Australia, and countries in Africa? I think US will look better, NY and LA will enforce more no emmissions zones, other parts of the country like Wyoming will still be prime gas powered truck territory, places like where I am in the Southeast will be a decent mix.
Western Europe(let’s be clear that’s mainly who we’re talking about) will be primarily EV, Eastern Europe will still be a big mix, as infrastructure will not be as built out.
“America! It’s better than Africa!”
Y’all should put that on a t-shirt.
I mean I wouldn’t go that far, we’re still ok but not like ‘better than’ someplace good.
I’ll probably add an apology to the good folks of Africa – there are a lot of countries there I’d rather live than in the US right now.
To be clear I was comparing countries mainly for EV adoption, not as mad-max ecological wastelands, that’s purely our domain, with our Deepwater Horizons and Jersey Turnpikes and such.
Heh. Gotcha.
Interesting take, can you list a couple of the countries you would rather live in than the US? Just curious.
I think I’d bump up against the character limit here.
You still haven’t answered…..
Poor guy must have it really bad here in America
Heh. Wasn’t exactly a priority. Since you asked nicely:
Canada. (Already live here)
Australia
Switzerland
Ireland
UK
The Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
France
Austria
Spain
Germany
Czechia
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Uruguay
Portugal
Italy
That’s based on the countries I’ve visited, and in order. I expect to live in at least one of the top 5 in the next decade. There are several more I’d add based on people I know there:
Singapore
Japan
Thailand
Slovenia
Poland
Lithuania
Brazil
Peru
Chile
Panama
Vietnam
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you and most of these places I would love to visit! This makes more sense than what I thought you were saying, that there are countries in Africa you would rather live in than the US. I notice your list does not have even one.
“I’ll probably add an apology to the good folks of Africa – there are a lot of countries there I’d rather live than in the US right now.”
Oh… there is still. I just hoped y’all wouldn’t notice. 🙂 I’d also add Mauritius, Tunisia, Namibia, Kenya, and Botswana to a smaller list I’d live, but currently know no one there to get started. And yes, they are mostly based on Top Gear episodes…but also from a couple travel shows I was watching recently.
This saddens me. I hope you can achieve that dream. I freaking love my country (the US), even if I don’t love everything going on it at the moment. Like a beloved sibling who might have lost their way.
It’s not perfect, but having lived on the other side of the pond, given my current socioeconomic situation, I’d still choose to live here in the US. If I was poor to working middle class, I’d rather live in almost any western European country. I’m decidedly not poor at this point, though I am a long ways off rich.
If you are rich it doesn’t really matter either way, you can just anywhere or everywhere as you please.
I feel the US might just be hitting the rock bottom needed to make some real changes. MAGA is firmly in the FO stage of FAFO. But racism and ant-intellectualism run unfortunately deep in the country.
There are areas in the US that I have found to be inspiring…and used to visit often. Now? I’m worried about family that live south of the 49th. I already have one family member split from her daughter because of changing policy…and it’s the one that I understand if I squint just right.
The USA isn’t helping itself. We have a huge problem with how we do healthcare – tying it to employment for younger people and then only offering Medicare at 65. It makes it very difficult for anyone with a family to strike out and start a business or for people that have accumulated enough to retire before 65 to actually do that. (Which then causes them to stay in jobs they shouldn’t need just for benefits – which keeps those jobs from going to younger generations)
My wife and I will be retiring next year. We were going to buy insurance on the ACA exchange (Made hard enough already because insurance is sold by the state and the cost varies zip code to zip code) Now with the expiration of subsidies that really isn’t an option. We aren’t going to pay $22,000 a year for insurance that doesn’t pay for anything before a $12,000 deductible. The choice is keep working or move out of the USA. That really isn’t a hard choice as we can live much cheaper outside of the USA and the world is a big and beautiful place to explore full of friendly people.
Starvin’ Marvin would agree.
WRC is the best racing. Too bad we do not have any events in the US. Dirtfish should really try to get FIA to bring an event up to the PNW where they are based.
The durago HellCat sounds over done. I want one.
Probably similar to what we currently have (mostly crossovers and pickups). Maybe a few more models transition to hybrids, maybe a few more compact and midsize pickups, maybe adding another 3 inches of beltline height to the Silverado to fit another stack of blinding LEDs, but one thing I can hedge my bet on is another 10 years of the Chevy Express.
When something is as perfectly evolved and suited to it’s intended use and market as the Chevy Express, why change it? It’s the crocodile of vehicles. Big, tough, ugly and does what it does more than good enough.
There are pluses to not changing the Express. I could unbolt the body from my 2011 Express cutway and bolt it onto a new 2026.
There are also downsides to the BOF Express related to cargo volume and fuel economy. It is good if you actually need towing capacity but much of what can but done with a Express could be done with a Silverado with a box on the back. The only thing you get with a van is a bit shorter overall length but you trade serviceability for that.
(As evidenced by segments like ambulances moving from van based cutaways to truck chassis cabs)
There are very, very, few use cases where I would trade a van for a truck, box on it or not. That several feet of not useful extra space a truck takes up is often fairly important. The trick is not needing much service, which historically these things have been pretty good at. And it’s not like modern trucks are exactly a joy to work on, given how many tasks start with “remove cab”. I’d rather remove a doghouse.
The ideal, of course, would be the “Euro” form factor ala Sprinter/Transit but with the FAR more bulletproof simple underpinnings of the GM van. Anybody ever LS-swap a Sprinter?
It took the dealer 12 hours to change the thermostat in my Express (6.6L duramax)
My father owned E150s for 25 years and those were a nightmare just to change spark plugs. The front and back were easy. The middle 4 where only accessible from the wheel wells.
Having wrenched on trucks and vans I would personally chose the truck. They ride better too.
Joe Keery is also in a psychedelic rock band called Post Animal! They’re really good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLHW4kbzCr0
US: 95% will be 15 year old beat to shit used vehicles with underwater loans and 5% $200,000 + luxury ‘trucks’.
Europe: 75% will be small practical mostly Chinese built (or built in Chinese owned European plants), 15% will be staid “executive sedans” (due to corporate lease traditions) probably electrified. 5% will be quirky European cheap fun cars like Twingo, Ami etc. and 5% will be chauffeur driven luxo-barges.
I don’t even think it will be ten years before it looks like that.
The car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years:
Max Max vs Star Trek
Sorry, European countries are in no way comparable to USA.
A comparison would be Russia, China, or India, the 4th superpower.
Deadend Drive-In is more appropriate political fiction if things go that way.
??? The actual question was “What do you think the car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years?” Look the question is asking people to compare America to Europe, so you are mad I tried to actually answer the question.
Fair enough.
I think neither is at risk of star trek anything at the moment.
Deadend Drive-In is a distinct possibility in Europe.
Cars in much of Europe are looked at as a luxury, no matter the income level, because they actually have viable mass transit.
It simply does not exist in most of USA.
If you want a job, food or medical care, you better have a car.
Artificially low pay currently means that if you have a truck, you can always make money.
Not that hard to match or beat many job offers too, so trucks will keep selling.
Someone in Europe vested in a city, may still consider a car a minor diversion, and even with more options, stick to tiny ultra efficient cars.
They also tend to not rack up miles so don’t have to replace their cars in that market sector.
Insurance can be wildly cheaper there and that predatory market in USA affects car sales more than the car makers take into account.
Having been to Europe a few times, the comparison is apples to oranges. Countries the size of some of our states and MUCH denser urban environments. Rapid train travel between major urban centers. A culture on a different wavelength than American life. Walking, biking and transit are daily routines. EV intrastructure is IDEAL for this environment.
Spent a week in rural Denmark and only cracked 100kph driving back to Copenhagen. It’s perfect EV conditions.
Oh you mean the cars ON THE roads between US and Europe!?!
I read the title and was thinking of the actual road surfaces. Like are we going to paint the lines pink, start driving on the left side or what. Uh yeah. The cars will still be quite different. American NEED used cars so we’ll keep driving status quo much longer than the new stuff that will come out.
I read it the same way, thinking there’d be a discussion about bike lanes or something.
Ford’s strategy to build the F150EV (and GM’s to build a HummerEV) were incredibly stupid to design a US-market-only model with little-to-no chance of export to markets where EVs have a better chance of success.
The rest of the world just looked on, aghast, wondering their plan.
Ford would have done better to create that halo car with the FordGT as an EV; it would have had no pressure to ever make money.
But shareholders have spoken, and profits are needed now. Tesla didn’t pull a their first annual profit until 10 years after the Roaster (and after introduction of the S, X, and 3) – and they had piles of money literally thrown at them.
What is Ford’s plan, besides eliminating cars and focusing on America?
I’ll say, I’ve seen quite a few Lightnings and Hummers here in exurban PNW, almost as many as Cybertrucks or Rivians. It was a great way to develop the basic EV platform and soak up some IRA bucks while they figured out how to add a genset.
A big EV commuter-truck is actually a decent proposition, and I bet “plug your house into it during power outages” closed the sale on a lot of those.
“plug your house into it during power outages” feels a lot like selling the offroad prowess of a pickup that ends up being a highway-commuter.
That’s the auto market for ya!
Look it’s not avoiding the 2 hours without electricity that makes it worth it, it’s the self satisfaction of being able to tell your neighbor “Well I never lost power”
That’s how most pickups are sold.
Battery cars only hasten the more and more common failures of electric power in this country.
I’ve dragged the generator out twice this year.
That would be illustrating the lack of investment into basic infrastructure by governments at multiple levels.
Electric cars with Vehicle to Home capabilities help stabilize the grid they don’t hurt it. The problem with grid supply is peak capacity not base load. Both house batteries and EVs can charge off-peak and then power the home during peak demand. Nobody in their right mind is charging an EV on-peak.
(Electricity costs me 9 cent a kWh off-peak and 44 cents on-peak)
“Let’s get into it.”
You don’t really need to say that. This isn’t YouTube. 😉
Needs to be stretched another 20minutes of inane banter before real content is discussed.
My patience for burying the lead is measured in seconds now.
Especially for instructionals.
man i really wish they would drop all the youtube isms here.
Sponsored by PCBWay and DeleteMe.com
What do you think the car landscape will look like in America compared to Europe in 10 years?
Pretty much how it looks today. Pickup trucks, SUVs, and Crossovers here: tiny cars over there.
There are big cultural differences between the two and it’s not going to change in ten years.
Yeah I am unsure what they are trying to point out here? The car landscape has already been drastically different there for pretty much ever I would say. It has always been smaller cars that way and bigger vehicles in the US the comparison of how it would be in 10 years doesn’t make much sense. You have small roads that were originally for horses and carriages there and small countries the size of US states where the population is condensed much more into the cities vs the US.
Hear hear!
Canyoneros as far as the eye can see.
Is it not already?
I don’t think you’re quite at the end game yet – there are still some Altimas over there if I squint a bit.
No top-shot for TMD today?
If anything, it’s going to be much more similar than it has been in the past. They are gobbling up boring egg crossovers at a similar rate to us.
Look, now, a VW Touareg is totally different from the other SUVs on the road – and manufacturers totally aren’t trying to over-saturate the market with the likes of VW T-Roc, T-Cross, Taigo, Tiguan, Tayron on the road. Let alone the Audi Q1, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q8, SEAT Ateca, Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Ursus, Porsche Macan & Cayenne.
They’re nothing alike.