Yeah, but the tint allowed here is really low. Any car modification on this part of the east coast will trigger everyone. Good luck trying to import too.
I like A full electric vehicle minus the BS. It has no digital displays or any comfort technology, it is pure function. Designed to be used and abused off-road and actually put to use. I hope they can sell enough of them, hopefully the defender crowd might catch wind of it.
While the retro 80s simplistic styling is nice, id imagine it might as well be a brick when air resistance comes in, giving it subpar fuel economy.
I imagine its drag coefficient isn't great. But that simple boxy design is great for utility and wears dents very well compared to more rounded designs.
Yeah but i cant help but get the feeling that the kind of people who will drive this are the kind of people who go on long winding rants about how "everything was better in the ____ies and all these new fangled gadgets are destroying humanity..." And those people annoy the heck out of me. Cool car anyway.
Does it need to pass them? For example there are many cars in Europe that never get crash tested, because not enough of them are made. Specifically the Land Rover Defender was never crash tested by Euro NCAP, it wouldn't pass crash tests either, but it was never required to. The people who buy LandRover Defenders do not care for economy, engine performance, reliability, safety or any such things. They buy them because they are simple to maintain and robust, while also being good off road. Oh, and also because it's a Landrover Defender. If this is considered cool enough amongst those crowds, or even intriguing enough, then it stands a chance.
Isn't there a safety standard new cars sold in EU/USA have to comply with? If I remember correctly, safety regulations was what killed Defender.
It got killed because it couldn't be made to comply with the latest Euro 6d-TEMP emissions standard. BMW alone killed (temporarily) 3 of its X-Drive models (760Li, X1, X2) because they had trouble meeting that standard.
Personally, I am rather convinced that Land Rover killed the defender, not regulations. Generally you can work around regulations. However I am not sure that Land Rover really care about making this sort of vehicle any more. The SUV market is huge and they are likely more focused on that. For example: If emissions were the problem, they could update the engine, they have neglected that for years If safety was the problem, Land Rover have the resources to engineer around that (softer or thinner metal for pedestrian impact area's etc) If Land Rover actually cared about the defender or that market they would still be in it. In reality they never updated the tooling for making the vehicle, the vehicle had known issues that they never bothered to fix because they never updated the tooling they used to build them. A "people are still buying them so we will continue to make them, but the moment we have to put any effort into updating or improving the vehicle, it's done" sort of attitude.
I’m from Ohio. 4 out of 88 counties require emissions testing, the rest is fair game. Very easy to own a car here. $50/year for registration too.
Still, you haven't answered whether new car safety standards in EU and USA exist and provided proof they don't. I am sure they do, since there is a reason our markets aren't filled with hilariously unsafe indian, russian and chinese cars.
I should move somewhere like that Connecticut requires emissions testing unless your car is over 25 years old,with no exceptions and it is $100/year per car which hurts a lot if you have 6(soon to be 7) cars
I'm not sure. I would hope there is a baseline standard, but not everything gets crash tested. Not to mention the whole heavy quadricycle sector that makes road vehicles that don't even have functioning seat belts. Regardless, it's clearly not an NCAP rating that gets you a pass. Since Ferrari and Caterham also don't get their cars crash tested (externally, I assume they do internal tests and simulations). The G-Wiz was lethal in crashes of under 30mph, yet it could be sold (however this is an older example). I know for sure that there are regulations amongst normal cars about fitting seat belts, making indicators visible from different angle and headlights the right height off the ground etc. As to how effective those safety systems are, maybe you have to provide compelling evidence that they are implemented correctly? Maybe you don't? In the UK anyone can build their own car: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/individual-vehicle-approval If you are building your own car on a chassis that is already road legal I think there are less hoops to jump through. I presume you would need to ask someone in industry. But regardless, any issues the above vehicle could face in regards to safety issues, are not likely to be a huge problem for them. They have built an entire car. If they need to implement a change based on regulations, I am sure they are capable.
Wow. You have to pay so much just to keep your car registered. I'd rather have an $40 technical inspection as we have now. My car passes them without any problems, despite these 24 years being cruel. Well, I agree that a standard is hard to find, but I found this: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32009R0661 It's hard to understand though, and it seems like there is no certain standard in it.
I just looked it up what ended the defender, as stated above by MrAngry it was engine emissions. This is what you need to build your own car in accordance to in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/iva-manual-for-vehicle-category-m1 You then need to pay for your vehicle to be inspected by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency who will test that it meets the above. After which your vehicle is considered road worthy. I imagine a mass production car is a whole different kettle of fish though. Which is where you really need to hire people who have experience with the regulations. Since there are probably a lot of unwritten rules and technicalities that you need to understand. For example, seat belt regulations:
