To the Maxi

I was at a street fair in my hometown yesterday, and the local car dealerships - owned, of course, by a  single local dealership conglomerate - had some new cars on display . . . Subarus, Hondas, Toyotas, and Chevrolets.  Many of them were SUVs, though there were also sedans on display.  I got into several of them and was sickened by them.   The compact Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla on display had starting prices of $25,000, pretty exorbitant for cars in their class.  In all of these cars, the instrument panels were dominated by high-tech features as GPS and MapQuest-style directional screens.  There were more buttons on steering wheel columns than on dashboards.  As is to be expected, the infotainment systems were designed by people who think that no one listens to compact discs anymore.  The SUVs were priced as high as $40,000 and a Chevrolet Suburban on display cost $77,000.  I mention all of this because my own car stalled again, and it's undergoing what could be major work at the VW dealership.  I just might need another car.  And this is what awaits me in the new-car market - or even the used-car market, where vehicles are only marginally less expensive and tech-driven?

And as if that weren't all bad enough, I just found out something about Mini.

A month ago I wrote on this blog about the Mini Cooper and said that it "has been a fantastic success in the United States . . .. Mini thrives because, contrary to popular wisdom, Americans will buy a small car if it is unique, well-appointed, and fashionable."  I have since learned that that is no longer true.  Mini sales have been tanking of late for the same reason every other small car in the U.S. market is in danger of extinction - my fellow Americans, who are obvious morons, are buying way too many SUVs and crossovers.  Mini was the cool car of the early two thousand zeroes despite, not because of, its size and its hatchback configuration; Americans by and large have always disliked small hatchbacks, having only bought them in droves in the seventies because a bunch of vindictive Arabs and crazy Persians wrecked havoc on the oil supply.  If any small hatchback car could overcome the small-hatchback syndrome in times of cheap gasoline, the Mini was it.  Now its sales are down considerably from its 2013 peak, and if its sales decline any further . . . well, that will be it.

This is getting scary now.  I soon won't able to get the sort of car I want because other Americans have lousy taste in cars.  Miniature cars are giving way to cars of maximum size.  If I ever become an expatriate, it may be more for the opportunities to own the sort of car I want than for the increase of public transportation choices.

Unless there's another oil crisis.

As for all the tech in cars, that's not going to change.