Czechia was a car superpower before the World Wars and after the World Wars but during the Commie days, Škoda made cheap ass wrecks for the plebs and Tatra limousines for the Commie elite. Škoda, together with Yugoslav Zastava, and the Soviet Lada had a very bad reputation for quality among Western consumers. The other commie brands were Polski Fiat and Dacia, which made bootlegs of Western cheap ass cars. The only positioning was towards price, it is cheap, buy cheap. Everybody is poor, buy cheap.

And following the break up of Commie block, and the collapse of Bolshevism, these companies weren’t able to get off from their selling point of cheap ass cars. Škoda was bought by Volkswagen and produced some more high end models but Zastava closed shop and Lada continued to produce cheap ass clunkers. The New Right types view individualism as selfish and immoral ultimately. But I would rather ride a Lada than be on bus in some places.

I live in a rural place, and I need a passenger car to get food and move things. I don’t necessarily need anything high end. I wouldn’t mind something simple as long as it has an automatic box. Personal vehicle allows you more freedom of movement. You really don’t want to take the bus to shops out here.

It is funny that Westerners make luxury cars, and Easterners make cheap clunkers to appeal to the masses. And the elite in the East drives Western cars and the lower classes ride on cheap clunkers. And for some reason, many of the cheap clunker makers couldn’t make it even in cheap ass market. They get pushed out by mid-tier producers and many mid-tier producers try making half decent cars. Dacia is no longer an embarrassment. In Uzbekistan people drive either Chrysler, GM Daewoo or whatever that is or Chinese vehicles, like BYD. The car situation there was really interesting.

Ultimately you need a vehicle to get from point A to point B without experiencing cultural enrichment or booty banditism. If there was any safety on the public transport in Western liberal nations than public transport could be a much better option but the cabins are dirty and the people are weird. And individualism to me means, I don’t owe anybody anything. I’d drive a fucking tank to work if it means I will not have to give a fuck about anything beyond safety on the roads. And yeah, Moscow went a long way to making metro look great but you can still experience cultural enrichment and booty banditism.