jus2shy wrote:
There's always economy of scale. Steel is cheap because of the massive scale in which it's produced. Last I checked (A long long time ago), the US is the world's top manufacturer of Aluminum. Maybe we'd see more mines start up to sell the material? Then as repairs become more common-place, they'd get cheaper. How much cheaper? I have no idea, but I'm sure there's something to be gained with economies of scale.
It's an absolutely pipe dream to think that anything will ever get less expensive. From the perspective of: today it costs 75% more than steel but tomorrrow it will only cost 60% more than steel (once it becomes more common), then while it gets cheaper, it's still more costly. The trend in the last 15 years is that all vehicle cost have shot up dramatically, many times exceeding the rate of inflation by significant margins. In my lifetime, I've never seen anything related to the transportation world decrease in cost (except the fluctuations due to oil prices). As these general costs increase, so the do the associated costs like insurance, taxes, etc.
Just another prime example of an over-reaching government that causes hardships on the people with their regulations.
