How much does it weigh? The battery size expectations in the American market are skewed because the manufacturers have been chasing the high-profit margin SUV market with the idea that everyone is taking a huge vehicle on all-day drives. Something sized for normal urban usage is far more efficient.
It would be more efficient, but that's not what American drivers want. They want a huge, luxurious vehicle they can take on all-day drives, even though they pretty much never do, and just use it to go to work by themselves or get groceries. They they cry and moan about how much new cars cost and how much fuel costs...
America isn't singular. The rich buy luxury new cars, the poor buy luxury used cars. The problem is that doesn't leave much of a market for economy new cars.
A lot of SEA countries as well as Russia's FarEast have limited used Japanese imports (Japan makes it hard to own a car past 5-6 years) because the used Japanese cars can destroy their new car market.
If that’s accurate they are very close to the range of a compact gas car, at around the same price. Factor in the gas cost (especially in Europe) and it’s a pretty great deal.
I hope they get to export them in EU to disrupt the market a bit…
I didn't say that and I don't think it's helpful to use language like that. The EU quoted ranges are also higher than the EPA ranges:
> "The European Union + some other territories (Turkey, Israel) rely on WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure), which replaced the wildly optimistic and now obsolete NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) in 2019.
The CLTC (China Light Duty Vehicle Test Cycle) replaced the NEDC in China and is usually the most unrealistically optimistic of the three.
...To make things a little confusing, though, not every automaker applies the results from the tests equally.*
Besides, 48 kWh battery is pretty small. Newer Chevy Bolts pack on 66 kWhs, and those vehicles are priced pretty low as-is.
As with most standard models, I'd bet there are a lot of features you'd want requiring an upgrade to a higher trim.