I think it would take very little to tweak this design into an SUV for the US market. It might even get built in Spartanburg. Just a bit more ground clearance, and voila.
Regulatory considerations make this sort of vehicle necessary. Whether it makes sense economically in the US with $3.60 petrol is another story and right now the answer is probably no.
There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding plug in cars. As production ramps up shortages of lithium and other rare earths could offset savings from mass production. Nobody knows what to do with spent lithium batteries. What is the value of a 10 year old vehicle facing an imminent battery replacement at a cost of $15,000?
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