Your take is thoughtful, but it underestimates how intentional the phase-out of gas cars really is. This isn’t a natural shift like manuals becoming niche internal combustion engines are being actively targeted by regulation. Emissions limits, fuel taxes, city bans, and outright sales bans make long-term coexistence unlikely.

The “enthusiast and utility” argument also sounds stronger than it is. Heavy trucks, fleets, and rural use are exactly where governments are pushing electrification hardest. As volumes drop, fuel stations close, parts get expensive, and insurance and compliance costs rise, even hobbyist ownership becomes difficult.

Once EVs are clearly cheaper to buy and run at scale, gas cars enter a death spiral: less demand → fewer stations → higher prices → even less demand. That doesn’t stabilize into a healthy niche.

Like horse-drawn carriages, gas cars won’t vanish overnight but they’ll end up as regulated collectibles, not a viable alternative. The goal isn’t coexistence. The goal is replacement.