[naravara]

This may not be the worst thing honestly, from an environmental perspective. The cars themselves have much longer usable lives now so it's for the best that cars move down to new users instead of needing to build more and more.

The downsides, however, is that while the car part of the car is more durable and long-lasting than ever, the software/computer parts of the car are hamstrung by terrible decisions that are sure to age very poorly. This will only get worse when GM decides they want to turn the infotainment screen into a data-harvesting cash cow.

Also, this will slow down the transition to EVs. And it ends up saturating the used car market with cars designed with the tastes of show-boating new-car buyers in mind. This screws over people who just want a humble, reliable, practical vehicle instead of an overspecced, oversized, brodozer.

[nayuki]

Discouraging car use through high prices could be a great thing. But cities have been designed to favor car convenience so much, at the expense of everything else (walking, cycling, mass transit), that people are essentially forced to buy a car in order to work, shop, and survive. We discuss these things on Reddit/FuckCars.

[naravara]

People will still drive, they will just buy and drive used cars instead of new ones. Since the cars themselves are more durable, they will last longer and create less of an environmental burden to produce. (Assuming they are properly and adequately maintained. If people buying new are cycling through in 3-4 year intervals and not maintaining them since it's someone else's problem then that'll be much worse.)

[GalenErso]

More expensive cars are better for the environment if people start driving less or stop driving. But it's worse for the environment if people hold on to older cars, because they are less fuel efficient than newer models and release more fine particles in the air.

[naravara]

Is that still true of new cars made in the 2020s? I assume the emissions difference between a 6-10 year old ICE vehicle and a brand new ICE vehicle are probably pretty negligible in light of the footprint required to produce and bring a brand new ICE vehicle to market.

[jonathankoren]

> This may not be the worst thing honestly, from an environmental perspective.

From a purely carbon perspective, new cars are always cleaner than old cars. This is simply due to less wear and tear, and technology improvements.

[ska]

From a systemic point of view, you have to look at carbon impact of production (and end of life). Being a bit more efficient doesn't necessary net out well.

[ROTMetro]

But you are forgetting that people aren't stuck with this system and could choose to revolt against it. Life is getting significantly harder for people and giving some future politician a convenient tools of a scape goat 'green leftists are taking away your cars' when taking away the car means taking away work, having to choose between having a home somewhere affordable and driving to a job to either giving up the job or giving up the housing could ultimately result in a long term more undesirable environmental result from people lashing out against being put into losing situations. So many people ASSUME the status quo will hold despite everything going on. You get Trump types all the time, but if things are good enough they don't normally catch on with people.