It's not as if corner stores are banned, but zoning restrictions have that effect in many places.

Mostly yes -- American residential developments built after 1960 or 1970 have typically forbidden any commerce. There are often no sidewalks either.

Much of the new developments for residential are single family residential. A house, a garage, and a yard - on a street where you need to then go and drive to get {stuff}. Whatever you need, you need to drive there.

The older style with business on ground level and residential above that isn't as profitable for developers and so isn't made as much. Cities, in bowing to demands of developers likewise zone for single family residential and it is thus illegal to build a commercial spot (other than the strip mall along one of the busier roads - that you need to drive to).

> requires some metals Russia has too

it's not like those metals are _only_ found in Russia. The upfront capital expense of opening new mines somewhere else is high, so doesn't make economic sense when Russia has already made this investment in the USSR era, and can pump it out cheap(er) now.

But if the need arises, other sources of such metals can be acquired in the medium to long term. Same can be said for the rare earths from China.

Can't you just recycle the metals from the old cars? I imagine the metal from a truck is enough to make two small cars.

> Can't you just

Usually such conclusions are a good time to Google and better educate yourself on the problem domain and solution space.