“Flashpoint, I agree with you that we do live lavish lives, however arent you the one who was bragging about your S550 in the Lincoln MKT Review?”

Zing!

If even 1/10 of China’s population starts driving, the pollution levels will be ridiculous. Since EV’s still require so much energy to produce, it wouldn’t even help matters if those 1/10 had EV’s.

This is assuming ceteris paribus, or all things being equal. Here’s where market forces work its magic. Rising energy costs will keep China (and the rest of the world’s) consumption in check.

I don’t think China [as a whole] can ever live as “lavishly” as Americans live [as we like to present ourselves or imagine ourselves to]. The only way it may be possible is to drive prices down. And by “prices” I mean just prices, not quality. And this applies to products outside of automobiles.

From a moral perspective, it seems wrong to deny 1.3b people the same standard of living that we would like to enjoy. From an economics perspective though, increasing the rate of consumption for 1.3b people has to be very taxing on Mother Earth.

If even 1/10 of China’s population starts driving, the pollution levels will be ridiculous.

So if there are 800 cars per thousand people in the US, it’s fine. But if there are 100 cars per 1000 in China, it’s the end of the world? Don’t we all strive for everybody in the world to have the same great lifestyle as we do?============

NO WE DON’T WANT CHINA LIVING THE SAME LIFESTYLE WE DO.

First of all, Americans live a lavish, wasteful lifestyle. We are the largest consumers in the world (buying loads of crap) and we produce less and less each year. All we major in is “services”.

I think its funny you said this because Walmart in Japan is FAILING for this very reason…Asians don’t consume or waste like we do.

When I lived in China I was shocked that most Chinese live on such a small amount of “stuff”. Less shoes than I have, smaller dishes for food and cooking than I have here, smaller rooms, houses, etc.

Then I think about George Carlin who suggested Americans just go out and buy stuff and when their house gets too small, they buy a new house for more stuff to fit in. We create museums in our houses for god’s sakes.

If China was living our wasteful lifestyle, the world would be so polluted and overpopulated it wouldn’t be funny. Same goes for India.

If even 1/10 of China’s population starts driving, the pollution levels will be ridiculous.

So if there are 800 cars per thousand people in the US, it’s fine. But if there are 100 cars per 1000 in China, it’s the end of the world? Don’t we all strive for everybody in the world to have the same great lifestyle as we do?

And guess what, more than 1/10 of China is already driving, in a way. China had some 168m motor vehicle registrations by the end of September of 2008. That’s anything with an engine, from a scooter through a trike to a giant truck. And guess what, the air is actually getting drastically better, at least in Beijing, where I live. Anything below Euro 4 won’t even be admitted to the city. We have something I thought doesn’t exit anymore: Blue skies, and stars at night.

I think, there is some greenwashing to camouflage an old fear. Namely, that Chinese will use all of “our” oil.

If even 1/10 of China’s population starts driving, the pollution levels will be ridiculous. Since EV’s still require so much energy to produce, it wouldn’t even help matters if those 1/10 had EV’s.

As far as trade restrictions go, China rips off so many manufacturers designs and turns out such a poor/ safety test failing end product that they will actually endanger our streets.

The 750 is the old Rover 750. Still looks nice. The 550 looks the part. Seen by google images.

By the way Eastern EU countries are not somekind of thir world development “bomb holes” where people drive Ladas and eat potatoes three times a day. Overall living standard is approx at the same level as Western Europe, only government’s social aid and assistance system is weak.

Second hand prices for cars is higher in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe compared to new cars. Gas is cheaper and there are tax issues which hurt sales of cars based on older technology in Western Europe.

Or am I being naive?