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      03-10-2011, 06:11 PM   #61
chemgeek
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Drives: '10 335/white-saddle/msport
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Location: Laguna, CA

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Interesting. Definitely for people who want a "sustainable" vehicle. At least in the US, if people want such a vehicle they want it to be really cheap (e.g. Scion) and they don't much care what it looks like (as evidenced by Scions, Priuses, Leafs, etc...). Further, in the US, specifically California, the legislature pushed sustainable cars (Civic hybrids and Priuses) through carpool lane passes, which interestingly ran out.

The problem I see for BMW if they decide to release this car in the US (which they may not) is that the car will be too expensive and won't likely get a special pass to allure people. The pass was really the ticket for Toyota in California. The Prius is/was overly expensive, but you could get a tax credit and a carpool lane pass and people ate that up.

Further, for evidence of US wants, look at SmartCar. They opened a dealer up in Orange County, California because they figured all the liberals with money would want to snatch them up. Interestingly, there were no car pool passes left and nobody wanted to drive a SmartCar, so the dealer went out of business relatively quickly. Even the ultra liberals of Orange County don't want to drive these types of cars. It seems that only the economically challenged buy the small cheap cars, not for the sustainability, but for the cheapness.
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