Pedantic point: In many cases I believe you can import them, it's just expensive and annoying to jump through the hoops. Manufacturers could even sell them, they'd just have to pay a fine/fee/whatever.

As a fan of light compact trucks, the kind they don't sell here in the U.S. anymore, my understanding is that a badly-written function in the CAFE standard calculations is one of the primary reasons I can't buy a truck that's smaller than my bedroom. The function calculates acceptable mileage based on vehicle footprint, and was nominally intended to encourage better fuel efficiency, but had the perverse effect of making trucks larger. Even then, it's legal to sell smaller trucks, but manufacturers have to pay a fine that apparently ruins the profit margin for them. And then there's the infamous chicken tax, and so on.

It's not just inconvenient, it's inconvenient enough to almost say you can't do it. I believe there is a firm lockout period of 2 years (so no 'new' cars can be imported). And then if it is not already licensed with various agencies you have to do that yourself, per-car, at a cost of (I heard) $7-15k. Not to mention the shipping, customs, etc.

And none of those small EVs are all-wheel drive, which I consider a basic requirement for any new car because I live in Colorado. Sure, I /can/ (and already do) drive a car without AWD, but if I'm buying a new car it's a hard requirement. There's no real technical reason why AWD can't be put into these smaller vehicles, it's a market-segmentation choice where anyone that wants AWD is forced to a crossover.

I hope to remain out of the market for cars for many years, but find it interesting that AWD is appearing in many hybrids now, where the main hybrid drive is the front wheels but the rears get an additional motor for on-demand AWD.

I used to be an Audi fanboy for the real mechanical quattro AWD system of my late '90s sedan. Front, rear, and center differentials, always connected. But now, for fleet efficiency, basically everyone is going to some kind of clutch-based, disconnecting AWD on demand. So at this point, I feel like these hybrid/EV style drive axles are no different and quite likely to improve costs and reliability, since drive electronics should outlast clutch packs.

AWD only helps with acceleration (and acceleration if you need to get out of a ditch). It slightly hampers most driver's ability to control the car around a slick curve. It's a nice perk, but why is it a hard requirement for you?

Did Subaru and Hyundai get rid of their AWD cars? I thought the impresario, legacy, and elantras had AWD models recently. The Taurus did too, but that was a few years ago (not sure if they even make it now).

Edit: sorry, I missed the small and EV part.

Inded Subaru is still AWD in all the ICE product line. However, Subaru only has the SUV EV ported over from Toyota (it reviews poorly). It's sole hybrid is in the Crosstrek which essentially only exists on paper. Subaru is losing the EV/hybrid/PHEV game. It's very sad to see (as a huge Subaru fan).

Their problem is their main partner is Toyota, and Toyota basically has the stance that they want to do hybrid to maximize the benefits of a constrained lithium supply (ie better to have more hybrids on the road than a smaller number of EVs). Subaru is too small to create EVs on their own at an economically competitive scale. Until Toyota has EVs in large numbers or Subaru finds a new partner, Subaru will not have access.

Subaru doesn't offer an EV. Hyundai doesn't offer an EV version of any of its AWD vehicles, other than crossovers. There are /many/ options for AWD vehicles without it being a crossover, but none of them are EVs. The only intersection point, with the exception of Tesla, where you get both is on crossovers.

I missed the small EV part.

"There are /many/ options for AWD vehicles without it being a crossover, but none of them are EVs."

There are optional for AWD EVs that are sedans (not sub compact though, but also not crossovers). Stuff like Benz EQE, EQS, etc. Audi makes some too.

The Chevy Bolt is smaller than the volt, and it is no longer discontinued.

In europe we regard the cars you mention as quite large already.

Nobody in Europe thinks any of my sports cars are large. I've driven them in Europe and they are roughly similar in size to most European cars. Some of them are even from European companies.

I really hate manufactures try to shove "small" cars down our European throats. Yes lots of people live in cities with medieval road architecture, but most of those people don't drive in the first place.

I'd wager around 70% of Europeans live in the surrounds of a big city and countryside so bigger cars would definitely sell. They started selling the Raptor here and it sells pretty good. Not sure who came up with the idea that European car needs = small econobox.

In fact there is a new chinese make that only sell SUVs and they are the #1 most sold here in Spain.

I wish they would stop with the trade protection bullshit, and just allow people to import European cars to the US, and vice versa.

My daily vehicle is one of the only "city car" options ever sold in the US, it was originally made for the European market, and I love it. Most of my sports cars are only larger in length than the typical Euro econobox, but aren't considered particularly large. I see plenty of VW, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes, Renault, etc hatchbacks and sedans in Europe and have driven a few myself. I don't think "city car" has to be the only option in Europe, and I don't really see any evidence that there's an attempt to make it so. In some parts of Europe the fastest selling car is the Tesla Model 3. None of these are large vehicles by European standards, and definitely not by US standards.

The same guy who came up with road safety I presume.

I don't know - when I was in Europe this summer there were noticeable larger cars.

As we consider them even larger. There are many smaller than Leaf, like E-corsa, and even more non-electric cars

But those cars are so unsafe so we can't have them here. Now get on your motorcycle and lane split through traffic to work.

So, why are those cars unsafe? As far as I can tell, it's only because other people drive monster cars which is the whole point of this thread. If most people were in smaller cars, then smaller cars wouldn't be unsafe.

The low mass of the frame means the restraint system puts more force on you during a collision.

Motorcycles don’t have that problem. Neither did cars back before seatbelts; a bit of shattered pre-safety glass old school windshield never hurt anyone.

Lane splitting through stopped traffic is safer for everyone

That's been my frustration as well. I live in city and only drive on weekends, so I'd absolutely love a little 4 door AWD electric hatchback, but the US car market pushes people like me into hybrid crossovers like RAV4 and the CRV.

Take a look at:

Hyundai Kona EV

Kia Niro EV

These two have been around for a few years and are on the second gen. You can get a low mileage first gen for under $25k, which means you may get an additional $4k federal tax credit. One issue to watch out for is the cover for the gear reduction unit should be replaced with a magnetic one and cleaned periodically, to avoid motor damage.

Volvo EX30 - out next year, going to be under $35k

There's also the generation of used compliance EVs like the VW eGolf and Hyundai Ioniq hatch.

All are sold as SUVs but they're really compact hatchbacks with some SUV like styling.

if you meant the Chevy Bolt EV/EUV (the Volt hybrid has been axed for a while), GM has committed to bringing it back on a new platform.