This means American automakers will learn their lesson and focus on quality, consumer focused products. Right? Right?!
Narrator: They did not. The enshitification continued. Regulations barring imports were passed and Americans paid for it with their lives and livelihoods.
Well. In Germany we say “Der Markt regelt das”. Translated: economy speaks for itself. <- Ironically spoken
Like it or Not. China made it. They will also flood Europe/EU soon. I’m not mad, when they can, they should. This is our beloved capitalism.
One German politician warned car companies that they need to make affordable EV. They didn’t listen and still don’t.
Edit: Added “<- Ironically spoken” to first sentence to make clear how I was meaning it.
The funny thing is the “True” Americans think a capitalism free market is absolute peak. They say well if it was a TRUE capitalism free market it would be perfect. Its because of the state we have issues! No you idiot, its because of billionaires which capitalism by design creates.
They say this while using government to prevent import of superior vehicles, just like they did for Japan in the 90s (chicken tax anyone?)
Socialism for the rich. Rugged individual capitalism for the 99%.
This is amazing
This is our beloved capitalism.
That’s sort of the joke. We are living in the IRL equivalent of people complaining Communism is OP in Victoria 3.
“What do you mean you’re leveraging a highly efficient network of state owned enterprises to obtain materials and utilities nearly at-cost?! That’s cheating!!!”
China has ten highly productive and innovative EV companies in a bloody knuckled price war because it’s state government makes starting and growing auto plants artificially cheap and easy.
Personally I prefer Communism in Victoria 2 or Peasant republics in EU5. Let me flood the market with cheap cloth then shut it down and tank the entire worlds capacity to build units.
Not a fan of this sentence. Market doesn’t care about human sensitivities, not one bit.
Which one exactly?
Der Markt regelt das. No it doesn’t. Not without enforced regulation.
Absolutely. I’m sorry. I did not make clear that I meant it ironically.
One German politician warned car companies that they need to make affordable EV. They didn’t listen and still don’t.
Being an Asian having grown up in Europe, I can say that Westerners have a short term, profiteering mindset. We think too much if the earnings for the next quarter will keep the shareholders happy. There is no long term planning and vision. I find Western businesses afraid of leaving their initial core industry, even if that industry is going the way of the dodos like fossil fuel cars.
I can’t exactly assess Chinese industries much, but Japanese businesses are excellent and unafraid with diversifying away from their initial offerings, and reaching out to a completely separate field. Nintendo was a card manufacturing company but is now a videogame titan. Fujifilm went from photo and film to biotechnology. Sony just recently eked out to finance and investing. Western companies don’t really do this, but instead waste money by fighting tooth and nail to keep dying businesses alive. Western companies are obsessed with making money now, while East Asian companies prioritise existence.
Yamaha: Pianos through to dirtbikes
We think too much if the earnings for the next quarter will keep the shareholders happy.
That We is pulling a lot of weight and i’d mostly translate it as C-suits and management.
Nintendo was a card manufacturing company but is now a videogame titan. Fujifilm went from photo and film to biotechnology. Sony just recently eked out to finance and investing
Hitachi makes consumer electronics and heavy industrial construction machinery.
But somehow Ford can only make F150s and Mustangs any more…
Don’t forget the worlds most famous “massager”!
Mitsubishi is another heavy weight.
Ford Aerospace was a division of Ford in the 1950s-1970s that made missiles and satellites. Look at the backgrounds of the corporate leadership, the 4th generation Fords have most of the votes. The CEO’s background is in sales and marketing.
Japanese businesses are excellent
The Zaibatsu model has different incentives, particularly when they’re jockeying for position with American internationals on their own turf.
They’re very good at undercutting American industry. But I’d consider the Japanese cartel model flawed in other ways - miserable places to actually work for, agonizingly patriarchal, debilitating drinking/drug culture, zero work life balance, and the pay is shit.
That is true. But I mean branching out is something that Western companies should not be afraid of. EV and renewables are no brainers; but legacy firms in the fossil fuel industries are spending millions to prevent change and would rather see the world burn.
Although, to several Western company’s credit, they do branch out. Many European energy utilities have mostly diversified away from fossil fuels. The state-backed Danish company, Orsted, completely got rid of their fossil fuel mix, and transitioned 100% to renewable. But Trump cancelling their projects in US East Coast ruined their short term profitability. In any case, Orsted is firm with their full transition to renewable energy.
EV and renewables are no brainers; but legacy firms in the fossil fuel industries are spending millions to prevent change and would rather see the world burn.
When you see reports come out from fossil fuel companies, they quite literally describe “$X trillion of hydrocarbons in the ground”.
Many European energy utilities have mostly diversified away from fossil fuels.
Europe only really has the Baltic as a reserve. They’ve been cut off from much of the Middle East by decades of war.
So, unlike the US, which has become an oil exporter for the last twenty years, Europeans either went woke or went broke.
Those fossil fuel companies are trying to invoke the greed in us, but for most people it’s not really working with respect to climate change. I won’t consider myself an optimist, bu the fact that renewable energy and EVs are growing says that people really do care.
In theory, the “invisible hand of free market” ought to pick out the most innovative and profitable companies, while those who refuse to keep up with the times vanish. But in practice, the legacy companies, despite their business model becoming obsolete, don’t want to go away quietly. They spend money to spread misinformation to put down cutting edge technologies and business models, despite growing market demand like green technology.
Even if fossil fuels still has some value, is it really worth it in the long run to extract them and cause mass extinction? Who will be the customers when society collapse? As someone asked before, “what if we improved society for nothing?”
It’s the result of their mythical beginnings. Creatures made out of mud, while you Asians are descendants of the dragon god. Or something. I dunno I am just a random person on the internet
And they miss obvious things too. How did Sears, a company that became famous and hide by offering magazines to show the cost of their goods to everyone before that was a thing, lose to an online bookstore? How did a video rental place (Blockbuster) not see the obvious benefit of mailing DVDs and then later internet streaming and get beat by a no name company like netflix?
Probably exactly as you say. It would have cost a year or two of missed quarterly earnings as they entered new markets, so they missed the opportunities entirely.
Like most successful companies of the past, they were bought by a hedge fund or real estate fund and milked for any cash before assets were disposed. There are plenty more big name companies about to die because their business is no longer the product they made, it is only return for shareholder.
How did Sears
That one baffles me. They were doing catalog based mail order since the start of their business.
They should have been in the perfect position to compete with what Amazon has become. They already had all the infrastructure in place. All they needed was a decent website version of their existing catalog with a simple ordering method, and they utterly failed at that.
They had online ordering years before amazon was even a thought, but the high ups canned it saying that the internet was just a passing fad. They put themselfs out of business while saying they knew better then the customer the whole while.
The problem is China subsidizing their cars to suffocate the European manufacturers. When all the European manufactures are closed or sold to China, you’ll see the real prices.
EDIT: Also, soon? They are already here.
The subsidies aren’t special at all compared to US and EU ones, and they’re apparently going to be phased out over the next 5 years. This supposed evil scheme just doesn’t seem to exist; the truth of the matter is that China just makes better and cheaper cars.
China just makes better and cheaper cars.
Why wouldn’t they?
After decades of being the west’s factory they’d be stupid not to learn.
And better is just upping the QA more than their western customers (who want the cheapest possible 'cos line must go up).
Yes. I’m aware that they subsidize the shit out of a lot of stuff. They saw the chance and took it. Of course, I’d like to see European cars, as that also means workplaces and plus for our economy.
For a greater time we already compete a lot with Japanese and Korean cars - I mean they build good cars. But in the end it seems more fair. And for what I know is that they also do very good options on the EV market - but will hardly compete with BYD or Xiaomi vehicles.
Sucks it’s China doing this. Wish it were Dacia
*Stealers
Seize the factories in Ontario and make a national daily driver EV!
Our national neighbors to the north have already caved
I don’t recall China threatening to annex, use military actions, damage the economy or using other means to destabilise the region, or be hosting towards Canada. That came from the big neighbour down the South. No wonder Canada is more open to other trade routes.
There’s definitely an issue in Canada regarding Chinese expats/immigrants and their organized influence in Canada.
Arm go Up. Line Go Down.
FAFO fascism is wack idiots
Greed, lack of standards and sub-standard vehicles finally caught up with them.
They’ve been so busy downsizing their workforce, they forgot how to make a car under $40k
Government bailout then?
At some point there’s going to be one too many bailouts and nobody will want to keep holding the bag that is USD.
I booked a hostel for August in Iceland this past September. They didn’t actually take my money until the end of January. The USD price went up like $60.
Yessssss
They can cry about it, I also don’t think it will upend socity as quick as they imagine
Good. No one should buy American trash.
its also overpriced, and the handles trying temulate tesla is a very big turnoff, as well as a safety issues.
I don’t disagree about our cars being overpriced, so fair point there.
I used to own a Tesla Model 3 (I got rid of it for reasons you can probably guess), though, and the one thing everyone - including me at the time - universally disliked was the handles, inside and out. For the outside half, there were several times I struggled to get in during cold weather. For the inside I never had a problem with them but I understand how they could be difficult (my wife printed stickers to make ours more clear).
I know the outside ones are supposedly more aerodynamic; neither are as bad as how some people represent them … But everyone hated them.
I suspect you were trying to troll, in which case I almost want to apologize for interfering but can’t bring myself to, but if you’re being earnest I feel I should offer some input.
The lack of purely mechanical interior handles in the back seat is the most egregious offense. Sure, technically they exist but 95% of Tesla owners probably aren’t aware.
For context, there are easily accessible (though sort-of hidden) handles in the front, but in the back they’re steel cables underneath the liner in the door pockets. Back seat passengers just burn in a fire I guess.
The dealership system is garbage. Let the battle begin.
Say what you will, but I’ll take BYD over Tesla any day.
My “fear” with the Tesla system is customer service after the sale. Usually a local dealer will have to consider repeat sale and after-market service and repair. Building a good customer relation is key to that. Alternative is am anonymous underpaid call center “drone” in another country or dead email drops that never gets answered. Or worse some kind of AI chat feature on a glossy professional web page.
My issue with all electric cars is the development rate and the risk of platforms not being supported for an extended time. How long will software be serviced? Right now I do not dare own an electric car older than five years as there are so many bugs due to rushed development
The US has laws saying vehicle manufacturers have to produce parts to service the cars for x number of years, or something like that. We just put in some new law that covers EVs similarly.
Local dealers dont give a fuck about repeat sales. They are a monopoly. Many own several dealerships in the region, so even going to the next town… congrats, you just bought from the same person.
And customer service? Lmfao. They just do the bare minimum. God fordbid you try to get a warranty fix. They’ll do everything to avoid fixing the problem.
and dealerships change hands every [x] years so they really don’t care about repeat sales. new name on the big sign at the auto mall every five years out here
Shitty dealerships thrive, what are you talking about? They don’t give a fuck about customer relationship, they just say that in their radio commercials.
Why are dealers complaining? Could they not simply deal those Chinese EVs?
I’d expect US automakers to complain, but unrightfully so, because their products are inferior.
A- 10,000 dollar car
B- 50,000 dollar car
Intrest is 5-15% (depending on credit score)
6 years loan
Interest paid over loan:
5% A- $1,595 B- $7,977
15% A- $5,224 B- $26,122
If the dealership sells a 50k car they can get 6.5k-21k more money than if they sell a 10k car.
They want to sell you the most expensive car they can
So even if they could sell you the “cheap” Chinese EVs they would make less profit
This is just one reason. Sales margin is another. When you’re a Ford dealership and get special treatment from Ford you have higher profit margins. If you just flip a Chinese EV with no special treatment you have lower margins.
If there was a solid 10k car available less people would buy the 50k car (average cost of a new car today)
Inexpensive cars on the US market is not good for dealerships in anyway
dealerships are too scummy and a little racist to POC potential buyers to be allowed to exist anyways, i dont think anyone would lose any sleep if they were to disappear suddenly.
Why are dealers complaining? Could they not simply deal those Chinese EVs?
One word: tariffs. Sure, they could theoretically still sell Chinese EVs, but with the tariff nonsense the buyer would have to pay more.
Maybe American autodealers should’ve made cheaper cars and not relied on monopoly-like status and government protections manipulating the market.
Also, maybe American’s shouldn’t have been such cunts to their neighbours. I mean, they throw a big Trump diaper at Canada and Mexico, start demanding all the car companies shut down plants and shit, wtf did they expect Canada and Mexico to do exactly?
