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Comment by catchnear4321 | Hacker News Reader

that is the point. if you had an old corolla you might not care about the price of any new vehicle. and this isn’t just new, it is new to (limited) market. unproven, over time.

$15k is sufficient to make most individuals hesitate briefly. perhaps you have enough saved away to be a bit more cavalier with such amounts.

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The average price of a new car in the US is ~$48k. This car competes against new cars, not old, used cars.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/buying-a-car/people-spe...

I don’t know anyone who would hesitate at $15k considering current state of the auto market. I do know there’s lots of middle class and below who would finance it and give it a chance, versus a $500-$1000 monthly note at current vehicle prices and interest rates.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/auto-loan-average-payments-2023...

I have my doubts about that being the average car price. Is that considering all consumer vehicles (SUVs, trucks)?

Baseline Toyota/Honda is still going to be ~$25k

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g39628015/best-selling-car...

For a while, trucks and SUVs hold a significant portion of most sold vehicles in the US.

that is a very strange claim to try and make. this car competes against anything that can move a body. how well it competes is yet to be seen.

Those high prices were in a period of both low interest rates and, during the pandemic, limited supply pushed to the most expensive models. I will be surprised if they stay that high under current interest rates and economic concerns.

Average price of a vehicle is not a good metric for this. If a bunch of Americans finance $150k trucks (and they do!), that inflates the average, but it's not relevant.

What's relevant is the lowest price for the economy/compact model of a mainstream brand, which seem to be around $20k. For a $5k difference (or less) I don't know if gambling on a new Chinese electric car would be that attractive.

Do you have the same stat for median, instead of average?

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