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Comment by beefield | Hacker News Reader

I would blame primarily the higher gasoline price. When gas costs two times more than in US, people suddenly start thinking more whether they really need full size truck to take their groceries.

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> When gas costs two times more than in US, people suddenly start thinking more whether they really need full size truck to take their groceries.

Might be a factor but take a look on the streets of Munich and you'll see a lot of what I call "street-legal tanks"...

That's also one of the richest parts of Germany. Maybe people don't care so much about gas prices when they're driving a company car and make six figures.

Of course there will always be people that can afford/want to have big cars. But it won't change the fact that doubling the gas price will change the behaviour of many people. (Even the tank driving people may have a small second car in the family instead of two tanks)

In London known as "the Chelsea tractor".

They're about status. Plenty of people want something small and cheap, and in London EVs don't pay congestion charge, so the incentive is even higher. But that said, if you're an obnoxious commodities trader who just spent £10m on that new place just off the King's Road, you're probably going to buy your wife an X5 to keep the kids safe...

buy your nanny an X5 to keep your kids safe /ftfy

My cousin works in the City, lives in Surrey and drives an X5 in, paying the charge. His excuse is he's too claustrophobic for the Tube.

Or take a peek at the streets around pretty much any school these days, they are crawling with Straßenkampfwagen.

Based on personal observation, most of the big cars you see in much of Europe are also expensive cars, meaning that they're used as a sign of wealth and thus driven by people who don't care so much about gas prices. You see relatively few big, cheap cars, especially compared to the US.

They're there, e.g. old delivery trucks.

True. I was referring to privately owned cars, not commercial vehicles.

Based on my personal experience, there are a lot of Germans who buy used luxury cars that cannot even afford to fully insure them. They buy either big SUV or sporty Mercedes/ BMW with a big engine that burn gas like crazy just to show off. They also drive it very little and do the bare minimum of service because they cannot afford either. They are also some people who live in very small and cheap apartments just to afford them.

They just have them as a status symbol because they want to feel important/powerful/rich.

Think the BMW factory has more to do with that

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