I don’t know about that. Only one person I know wants a small car (my mother, who’s retired.). Mostly because they’re not just driving one person to work and back with their car. And if we’re worried about only being available for the super rich, I think owning 2 or 3 vehicles targeted to each different task is even more unlikely.

Part of this is surely regulations / design, but my cousin has 2 kids, and those car seats are bigger than I am, which means he needs large SUV or Minivan to actually fit the car seats in the back seat. Then he says he needs lots of room in the cargo area for “kid stuff” (I kind of doubt that, but it is filled every time I visit with something). Finally, he needs enough space and legroom to comfortable drive and have a passenger ride up front and he’s not a small person.

For me, it’s 2 things, cargo space for shopping, and cargo and passenger space for road trips. I’ve outgrown my Outback for road trips, so I’m seriously considering a second vehicle in a minivan to hold 3-5 adults and their suitcases for a couple week trip plus my camera gear. Last time I had myself and 2 other adults and we couldn’t fit anything else in the cargo space or back seat, and the person in the back was kind of squished.

For others it’s even more cargo space - want to move a large filing cabinet or bookcase? Want to go buy lumber? Want to tow a trailer with a car or tractor or several 4 wheelers on it? Yea, we have pick up trucks for that.

The problem with all of this is I’m paying on 3 vehicles in maintenance and insurance, forget about buying them. For the secondary vehicles I often buy used to save money, but that’s still $16k + recently for something 10 years old!

So a lower priced option is badly needed, but a cheap car that doesn’t do what people want is simply a waste of money for them. If there really was a market for tiny cars that only moved one person around - we’ve had those available for decades and they’re more of a curiosity than a market segment.