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Actually, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi all offer the 5/60 bumper/bumper and 10/100 powertrain warranties on all their new cars to this day. I dare say it hasn't translated to higher sales for Mitsubishi as effectively as it did for the Koreans.

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/ass...
http://www.kia.com/us/en/conte...
http://www.mitsubishicars.com/...

Since Hyundai bought Kia Hyundai has been the upscale version of Kia, so if you are looking cheap look at Kia.

http://www.kia.com/#/rio

Kia rio starts $13,600

Kia has a 10 year warranty

...but now I'm just being pedantic :P I agree with your analogy about a $600 dollar electronics equipment and the length of time they should warranty the product.

Would you expect a car manufacturer to offer a 10 year warranty on all of their cars?

Yes.

http://www.hyundaiusa.com/global/warranty/warranty.aspx

http://www.kia.com/#/warranty

http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/jsp/owners/warranties.do

And for a short period of time, Chrysler had a lifetime warranty on their powertrains. If these companies can warranty a vehicle with an internal combustion engine and hundreds of moving parts for 10 years, Microsoft can suck it up and backport the patch.

Would you expect a car manufacturer to offer a 10 year warranty on all of their cars?

Yes.
http://www.kia.com/#/warranty

How about a Kia Rio for $11.5K? They actually include "Body-color Exterior Door Handles" in the list of amenities, so I don't think it could be stripped down much more. It's still more than $2k, but even a raw ton of steel plate costs $800, so I don't think a $2000 car will happen. You can't blame it all on features, engines and transmissions do cost money too.

Very exciting looking car. Much more practical than a small motorcycle or scooter, these pop up for sale everywhere when gas prices go up. Now, how much is it?
If it's too much, then people will just go to Nissan or Honda and ask to see something with a little more power, that can survive on the Interstate Highway System. It's not what a car costs, it is how much per month. You drive it until it needs too many repairs, tires, etc. then trade it in. You are never without a car payment. Not safe to get on the main roads in an old car. Get caught in a sudden downpour? You need a really safe car to get you through that.
These little cute cars get lots of attention, but one week behind the wheel, in your daily routine, and you'll find out that you may need more than average skills to stay alive, for one thing. Is the average driver going to be able to measure up?
Price is no object, just want the small electric car to drive to the store, just around the neighborhood, presuming that you have a nice neighborhood to drive around in. Wouldn't that get old? How about insurance. That costs plenty in most locations. Cops stop odd looking non-mainstream vehicles, especially if they dart around in traffic, attracting attention. Need to have that insurance card ready.
Also, don't plan on taking this car out late at night, drunks are out there, and due to it's small size, you lose in a crash.
What about service? Nissan takes good care of you, visit one of their dealerships and take a look around. Here's a page on the Nissan Versa. This car has plenty of power, take a look at the photo of the engine at that site. It'll run.
Another alternative is Kia, here is a neat little car that comes with 15" wheels, better to take those rough roads, compared to the small wheels on the electric car.
Just a reality check here, don't mean to discourage anyone wanting one of these electric cars of the future. After you tell all your friends that you are saving energy by driving an electric car, that will soon wear off, they will get tired of listening to you. What do you want the car for, to be able to brag about it, or to drive it. So, you can tell everybody that lots of people in Norway drive this car, all they are going to say is that in Norway, they are going to get stuck in a snowbank in that little car.

Rapidweather

...why big companies keep selling things with italian/spanish names, pulling them out randomly from a dictionary? Apart from calling an OS "view" (gee... "pussycat" wuold have been better), I can remember the Kia Sorento. Great idea. I really think that everybody in Sorrento (which is written with TWO Rs) wants a SUV. Sure.

Maybe that's because a new car is over $10,000 for about the cheapest cars out there, while you can easilly find a computer for around $500. Even a Mac. That, and cars are much more of a necessity for most people than computers are. Without a computer, the average person can't check their e-mail or play solitare. Without a car, they can't go to work, go shopping, pick up the kids from soccer practice, get a haircut, etc.

Ahh, you just need to do it with proper flair... Every 10-20 years it happens again, only thing is this time, people are eatin them up

http://www.kia.com/

"...in the long term they will be failing." Long term here being what, 5 years? How many portable audio players, CD, Tape, MP3, etc, have a product life cycle of 5 years? Zero. Sure, the Walkman has been around forever but it certainly hasn't remaind the same product for the past 25 years, or even the last 5 years. Portable CD players 5 years ago didn't know what MP3's were. Now, even the inexpensive ones play MP3 encoded discs.

USD30 mp3 players? Maybe eventually and at that point, Apple and all the other device manufacturers will have a new product with new features that people will gladly pay a premium price for. 10 cent downloads? Riiiight, that will happen....maybe with indie music, but never with mainstream, RIAA endorsed/encoded, DRM'd music. If you've ever read any type of financial article about iTMS, you'd know that it is a loss leader to sell iPods, cited here. Those songs will not be less than $0.99 for a long time, maybe $0.69 on sale, or something to that effect. Yeah, yeah, $0.79 at some of the other sites, that's got them where in market share and profitability? $0.10/song gets you what? In legal trouble with the music industry, and a real quick sucking sound of your VC funds because for ever song you sell, you lose $1.00 or so.

Apparently Mercedes-Benz, Giorgio Armani, and Rolex have never learned your lesson about "Nobody cares about quality." I know I do, which is why I bought an Apple Powerbook G4 instead of some POS HP/Compaq. Does this make me biased toward Apple? No. I bought the better product for my needs and the comparable Dells, which I do not believe have better quality or service, were several hundred dollars more and did less than my PB. I also don't shop at Walmart because of the low quality of much of the items they stock. Obviously, Walmart is doing something right to become the number one retailer in the world, but I still refuse to shop there and a completely separate discussion. I don't buy Kia's because I believe that they are lousy automobiles. My point here is that many people, including myself, care about quality.

I'm not quite sure what universal law of economics you are talking about, unless you have some odd perception of the supply and demand curves. If there was an economic law that stated that the cheapest product wins the most market share, we'd all be driving Kia's (or taking public transportation), doing all of our shopping at the dollar stores, buying clothes at the salvation army, and buying old computers off eBay as "upgrades."

Yeah and a car is just a box that gets you from place to place, but I'd rather be seen in something like this, than something like this. Even if both will get me from place to place equally quickly (at the speed limit), economically, and safely.

Behold The Kia Rio

In the US go to your local KIA dealer & test drive one. Get a certificate, call the number, answer the prompts, presto 4-6 weeks later you have a Free (as in Beer, in case you couldn't figure it out) Copy of the Aug 6th release.
See: Kia's website for details!

I just saw a commercial today that if you go test drive a Kia car or SUV, they will give you a free copy of Lord of the Rings on DVD! I don't know if this is just in the Cincinnati area (where I heard the ad) or everywhere, but if you don't mind getting to play with a car and listen to a sales pitch, you can score a free copy of the DVD.

Check out the information here

Just test drive a KIA and get a free copy of the current release. Then buy the extended one, if you want it, in November when it comes out.

For those of you who want to be "franchise sluts" but don't want to pay twice, go take a Kia for a test drive and get the theatrical copy for free!

KIA Partners With The Lord Of The Rings

"Individuals who test-drive the new Kia Sorento or any Kia model between August and October, 2002 will receive by mail a free copy of the "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" home video or DVD courtesy of Kia."

I think I know who's laughin now!

Kia's main page redirects to www.kia.com/index-netscape6.shtml when I look at it in mozilla.

Not earth shattering, I know, but still kinda cool.

Clearly, if I were in the market for a new car, this would be the deciding factor ;).

Kia's main page redirects to www.kia.com/index-netscape6.shtml when I look at it in mozilla.

Not earth shattering, I know, but still kinda cool.

Clearly, if I were in the market for a new car, this would be the deciding factor ;).

That is the nearly half the price for a modern luxury car!!! What more could you ask for?