this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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I mean, I want one but that's still unaffordable for me and like, a vast majority of people. Beautiful car, though.
It’s like we are entering an economy where you are either rich and can afford basic things like a car and house or you are poor and feel like you are being kept out of this world.
This is by no means a "basic" car though.
It not just this car though. Everything seems to be going that way.
Possibly, but you moaning that you can't afford a premium vehicle from a luxury car maker is a bit silly.
He is referring to how everything is becoming premium. A model T in 1916 was $350. Inflation adjusted that's $11,000. You can't buy a new car for $11k. Now of course a new car does so much more. But that also means there have been no productivity gains in 100 years to offset the cost of the added features.
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. If companies could get away with making a car as unsafe as the model T, you’d probably see quite a few $10k cars on the road. But as it stands today, most cars are required by law to have all sorts of safety features built in.
As our standard of living and safety goes up, so does the price of goods because more is required to go into R&D and manufacturing.
That's why I claimed there are no productivity gains if those safety features can't be added at a lower cost than 100 years ago.
According to the Bureau of Labor and stastics, productivity has increased almost 500% since 1950. That means it should be possible to make a Model T today for less than $2,000. That leave $9,000 for safety improvements.
You could probably make a model T today for 11k though.
Besides, there are definitely death traps that are only road legal in places like India that you can buy for 11k