It's basically the same mechanism that made Tesla succeed with early BEVs where others failed: if the 4000€ e-cargo was a Model S the trailer would be a VW Citystromer.

Another factor is that plenty of people permit themselves to go electric with a cargo bike who wouldn't dare getting seen on a regular bike with assist. "I'm not that old!". I believe that plenty of people have eventually caught themselves making up excuses why this particular ride could maybe require the load capacity (and chances are they were amused by it that's how deep the positive associations go).

And lastly, while things like https://schokofahrt.de/ would certainly be possible with trailers (I'd actually be surprised if trailers have never been part of it), it's just not part of the brand.

The price of a good electric cargo bike is still way cheaper than a fairly decent used car.

That said, a cargo bike seems like there’s less fussiness if you’re routinely hauling cargo (kids, groceries, etc). With a regular bike you’re going to be reconfiguring panniers, back seats, etc.

My 9 year old Hyundai i10 with 30k km and no accidents on it cost €3200. I'd call that "fairly decent". That's less than an electric cargo bike costs.

As a "yuppie" status symbol it has to be the least offensive I can think of. Better a fancy electric bike than some obnoxiously big SUV, or sporty-off-road thing that has never even seen grass.

I think where that analogy breaks down some is that this is mostly about what's happening in urban Europe, where SUVs and off-road vehicles are exceedingly rare. They're so rare that you notice them on the odd occasion of passing one (for me maybe every few weeks?) and I don't know anyone who has one.

SUVs are common in urban Europe now. This doesn't differentiate between urban and other places but 40% overall means it's quite a lot in cities too, which matches my experience: https://www.acea.auto/figure/new-passenger-cars-by-segment-i...

The quoted thought could equally well fit unto a environmentally conscious person's thought bubble. But better to do it for status reasons than not at all as long as it displaces car use.

(Also you can spend much less than that on a e-cargo bike, especially if you go used and/or fit your own ebike kit, eg put a simple bafang front drive on a used christiania or bakfiets bike)

You’re not factoring in the petrol, maintenance and parking cost of that €3k car so I don’t feel it’s really a status symbol, it is pretty practical. Costs aside I literally don’t have anywhere to park a car. A cargo bike I can manage. I agree if you’ve already got a bike trailer it probably doesn’t bring much to the table though.