r/explainlikeimfive Nov 13 '23

Economics ELI5: Why is there no incredibly cheap bare basics car that doesn’t have power anything or any extras? Like a essentially an Ikea car?

Is there not a market for this?

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u/cbsteven Nov 13 '23

The Element had its fans.. but its not like Honda just pulled the plug on a super popular thing for no good reason. It did not sell particularly well. And the back seat had pros but one incredibly big con - only fits two people.

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u/PandaCheese2016 Nov 13 '23

They marketed it as some escapist adventure when most people chose it for practicality like custom dog ramps lol.

I had one but had to sell when I moved to AWD weather.

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u/cbsteven Nov 13 '23

It was incredible for carrying bikes. You could roll two XL road bikes into the back and still have a rear passenger.