At €45k you're far from "basic" imho. Not so long ago you were into the premium car category at that price in Europe. In 2010 you could buy a new bmw 335i for that price... or in 2012 two new basic (for real this time) peugeot 308
This is starting to feel like another topic altogether. My original point is the Niro is not a luxury vehicle. It's really just a very average/typical vehicle they slapped an electric motor into. And roughly costing us about the same as a Honda Accord after the tax credit supports that. For as long as I can remember, the Accord was considered a "typical family car", at least in the US. Us being in late stage capitalism and suffering from massive inflation and income inequality is not really relevant to my point.