Why does every affordable EV have to look like they got all their design principles from Herbie Fully Loaded
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
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Awwww
The intersection between comfort, drivability, and functionality in a family-size vehicle always looks really dumb. See: station wagons, minivans et al.
station wagons are cool
I think an EV version of an old-school station wagon would be extremely popular. Here's a 1970s Toyota Corona station wagon.
The last vestige of my mom's youth that she refused to let go for a surprisingly long time was her Fiat Spider convertible. She really loved that car. A small convertible is very much not a mom car so eventually she sold it and replaced it with that . But she always was a real convertible guy. Decades later she bought herself another convertible.
I wasn't a car guy as a boy. But I knew the Spider was cool and the station wagon wasn't. But later on I developed a fondness for old-school wagons. I'm still not a car guy but they have wagony charm.
as much as I hate cars the 70s - early 2000s station wagon is like the perfect private car. Like if we're gonna have cars to this amount ideally you'd have one that you drive as little as possible and only when needed, i.e. hauling some shit or 3+ people or similar and the ye olde station wagon does all of that brilliantly
yeah the modern SUV is a pale imitation
not aero enough
You could have the front be super low and shallow like the electric USPS truck that got shitcanned:
those would've been sweet
Especially the dumb cool performance ones like the Subaru Levorg
I straight up don't get how this looks like an oldschol VW Bug
My first connection was VW Bus not Bug
but herbie isn't a bus?
@LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net Go!Go! Cory Carson 😆
(in fact i like it)
@MaKaNaS in Spain its called "Tut Tut, Cory bólidos" (the translator here always doing what he/she wants, nothing new)
i'd take herbie over any of the 'self driving' vehicles on the road today.
I figured that the square shape is cheaper to manufacture than rounded shapes
Yeah so how can I get one in the states
I'll answer seriously even though you're joking. There will be a very strong bipartisan push to effectively ban them from US roads.
You mean the freedom to not own one?
the united states of mexico, yes.
Guess what, you don't! 
A prototype of Olinia’s cargo model, which resembles a small pickup truck, will be unveiled in July.
I know it's a wee bit silly but I've always secretly wanted a 90's Tacoma with an EV swap because of my extremely specific car use cases. Being 100% Mexican designed and produced sounds like only a plus.
i saw a youtube vid of a guy who did this with an 80's model toyota sport truck. the coolest part was he left in the 4-speed stick instead of fabricating or buying an electric transmission. very slick.
EVs don't really require a transmission so if you do a swap you are generally just looking for a manual that you leave in like 3rd gear most of the time.
What is meant here by "backed by the Mexican government"? It's a non profit? Or it's a for profit Corp receiving Mexican government money?
It really seems to be a government car brand https://www.gob.mx/presidencia/prensa/olinia-es-transformacion-y-mexico-esta-en-transformacion-presidenta-claudia-sheinbaum-presenta-el-vehiculo-electrico-olinia-1
at a top-speed of 50 kph this thing will 2000% be illegal and dangerous to drive in the US since it can't reach highway speed here unfortunately.
In all seriousness I think all cars should cap out at 50 km/h. Like consumer vehicles anyway. If we made all cars weigh much less by making them smaller and made them cap out at a reasonable speed like that it would drastically reduce accident deaths. And if you really need to go somewhere super far away very fast you should just be taking a train or plane anyway.
I always have people passing me when I drive because I drive the speed limit and most people are 10-20mph over it at all times. Atleast where I live. It's so dangerous.
oh yeah totally, i'm mostly lamenting the inability to use this car in the US due to protectionism and stupidity despite literally sharing a border with mexico.
Not sure if it's common in the US but in Europe there's usually a higher speed limit for cars than for trucks and busses on highways which seems super unnecessary.
the reason to do that is stopping distance
that isn't uncommon in the u.s., but it's not found everywhere. some jurisdictions have a lower nighttime speed limit for trucks or all vehicles, too.
Train infrastructure first, then massive car limitations. Because it would not be beneficial to the average person to make it prohibitively expensive to travel to the next big city over in your state. I have to drive about 3 hours on a relatively regular basis, your proposed speed limit would turn it into like a 9 hour drive
I'd much rather just take a train but no such animal exists
50kph (31mph) is a bit slow for intercity highway travel. we could start by re-enacting nmsl, signed by nixon (some people will need to be reminded that it was a republican, nixon, that implemented 55mph.. not carter) in '74, that established the 55mph maximum speed limit after israeli allies found themselves on the wrong side of an oil embargo (the '73 oil crisis).
Yes, OP mentions that as well
The vehicle is designed for short city trips rather than highway use, placing it in a category aimed at affordable, low-speed transport.
Good thing that doesn't matter to us here at all 🤷
Thank you for the link!
its hard to know for sure, the entire thing is shrouded by a myriad of fake news. What i can tell is that it's mostly developed by a public university, IPN (Instituto politecnico nacional). Obviously there will be a lot of contracts with private companies which will lead to a lot of speculation of corruption.
Hope these can get approved for inspection in the U$
¿Para cuando en España?
Looks pretty cool, decent ground clearance and very urban functional with decent looking visibility. This could be great utility van with some solar panels on top. It could also be ideal as a taxi/rideshare fleet vehicle. I'd really like an upgraded version with AWD, but range is the big question. Maybe that can be upgraded too. ~$20k for an AWD version with good range battery pack would still be an amazing deal.
I think is kinda expensive but it's a good first step.