Auto loans could pose a bigger threat to young Americans than student loans. For the first time, the outstanding volume of auto loan debt just surpassed student loan debt.

To be fair, the automobile centric city has worked for about 70 years.

I’m not sure I buy this. Countless communities have been obliterated by overpasses/freeways paved through their neighborhoods. We have horrible suburban layouts we’ve embraced that are completely defined by parking lots that cause water management and housing issues. We’ve completely ripped up the little public transit we had and made few gains in that time.

Cars have created tons of problems over the 20th and 21st centuries.

Has it really worked, though?

but consumer’s want air conditioning, power everything, fancy infotainment systems, heated seats and quick 0-60mph times.

This is the same lies that the big three have been trying for decades. I want a normal boring fucking car. I want to spend as little money as I can on repair maintenance and fuel. I don't want some garbage bullshit infotainment system.

And no I can't buy a new car in India. Go ahead and sell me one.

So I looked up the specs for the first 5K-ish India car I found.

https://www.cardekho.com/maruti/alto-k10/specs

As far as I can tell, it has every feature you’re saying is responsible for western automakers charging around 6 times the cost of this car… sans heated seats and purported safety standards.

Chevy charges an additional $1K for the package that adds heated seats to their Bolt EV.

So, am I to take you at face value that you’re inferring that safety concerns and standards are responsible for the remainder of the price gouging?