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Comment by jerlam | Hacker News Reader

This article seems quite similar to the one posted two days ago on HN about Brother printers - they're great because they have very low innovation.

The top car brands - Lexus/Toyota, Acura/Honda, Subaru, and Mazda - have been widely scolded for not trying very hard to build EVs and would rather refine the same exact ICE cars for decades.

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Subaru and Mazda are fairly small so I wouldn't expect a lot of R&D from them. Toyota has been really successful with hybrid which to me, seem like the best solution until EV range cost, and infrastructure improve.

Those two are weird; they use to have a lot of out-there designs (boxers & rotaries respectively) but seem to have slowed down on the innovation since then.

Not much similar. Mazda is known for new engine architecture since 2010s. Subaru is known for stucked at boxer architecture.

Mazda engine R&D is seemingly quite impressive: the SkyActive X engine is an unusual ICE gasoline engine that takes ideas from diesel, with greater fuel efficiency and horsepower.

Subaru finally made an EV (the Solterra). I love the way it drives, but it's more expensive (at least at my dealer) than an entry level Tesla. I'd trust Subaru way more than Tesla though.

The Solterra is actually manufactured by Toyota

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_bZ4X

But it's jointly developed by both Toyota and Subaru (similar to how they did the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_86):

https://ts2.space/en/is-solterra-toyota-or-subaru/#gsc.tab=0

https://www.torquenews.com/1084/why-subaru-takes-credit-new-...

And Subaru might pull away from that partnership after early models had wheels falling off:

https://www.torquenews.com/1084/why-it-s-smart-subaru-pull-a...

It's all kinda incestuous anyway. Toyota owns 20% of Subaru already: https://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru-officially-joins-toyo...

> I'd trust Subaru way more than Tesla though.

Is it because "Elon bad" or you have some technical reasons?

Mostly because they have a history of dishonesty (like with self driving) and poor build quality. Also I hate their UX, especially that touch screen (I'm old and prefer physical dials and buttons and doorknobs). Don't really want a cool car, just a stable (mechanical) platform for an everyday electric driver with AWD and good clearance.

But Musk doesn't help matters either. I used to really respect him (and still grudingly do, mostly for SpaceX and Starlink), but he seems more and more unhinged over the years. Maybe if he were more hands off Tesla like he was with Starlink? To me Tesla just feels like an edgy image company rather than an old fashioned car company like Subaru. I don't want that whole baggage or culture, I just want a car.

Kudos to Tesla for jumpstarting EVs, but I'd much rather go with the stale Japanese option.

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