Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
Not really. China is trying to wage economical war with the world.
Chinese EVs are made by workers who live in cages and work 12+ hour days making $500/mo in a country that’s only 80% cheaper than the US. IE $500 is like living off $650/mo in the US if your living expenses were paid (and your home was a cage coffin). You’re basically an indentured servant because you can leave, but you’ll be homeless because you can’t save enough to live in the city.
Second, the CCP subsidize the shit out of EVs. Then sells them across the world.
These two things are designed to destroy the auto industry across the world. The sad thing is most people are to idiotic to realize it. They just go “I wAnT cHeAp EvS duurrr”. Plus, at least domestic Chinese EVs are scary AF, they have an insanely higher rate of thermal runaway. You can have you cheap EV at the cost of helping destroy your domestic economy, just don’t park that shit within 590 feet of my house.
Somewhat true, but the German auto slowdown isn’t only due to China flooding the markets. The biggest losses they’re making right now is due to the drop of exports.
The upper classes of the world no longer need or want “premium” European goods, because they’ve been revealed not to be that great anyway.
I think you’re forgetting about Tesla. Long before China was the competitor Tesla was kicking European carmakers’ asses and they were not even interested in responding. They ignored EV for about a decade and then when EU tried to push them by banning ICE cars they fought against it. Yes, is China beating them now but they made it really easy for them.
That is not entirely true. VW saw the risk and said that they could beat Tesla in three years’ time by producing a better electric vehicle than Tesla ever could due to their superior knowledge of vehicle construction and supply chain. They were too full of themselves.
We can ignore the early Tesla Roadster which was more a proof of concept and fun halo car than a daily driver for the masses. We can also ignore the EV1 with a far shorter range and a few compliance cars and experiments. Then there’s the model S which was available in Europe from 2013 which you could actually buy. There were barely any fast chargers at that point but the early Model S was a functional fast and cleverly packaged car for its time. It took a while for the masses to get convinced. I vividly remember driving that car at that time and the interest and questions people had.
VW did start development around 2013 it seems and it feels like they were targeting the cheaper Model 3’s future market rather than the much more expensive Model S. They saw the importance.
Where they failed was in building a feature complete car in due time. The ID3 was late and was functionally incomplete. I recall news articles of many produced ID3s waiting in the parking lot for engineers to update them. The ID3 was almost a prototype of what should have been. VW was right in that Tesla would not be able to get the factories up and running correctly, but by ignoring workers’ well-being Tesla did manage to produce. Quality control seemed non-existent but the car was for sale. The ID3 not.
Then there was the charging infrastructure which Tesla had largely set up at that time in a monopolistic way but VW did not have. People need that. One can argue that the Tesla Superchargers still provide a superior experience tot the alternative for other brands.
I don’t think they were blind. Neither was BMW for that matter and probably many others. I think they underestimated the value of the mix Tesla brought and the value of their supply chain. The Tesla was was fast but no one blamed you for it, it was a cultural icon, it was a very strong signal to move away from fossil fuels. A signal VW or any other brand had not dared to play in to. That makes it a tall order where you have to produce a superior offering and they failed at that. Even today Tesla’s vehicles have an efficient chassis design and you could only really destroy the company’s status by going openly against a human friendly stance (ie: Nazi style) or against an ecological stance which is what they did.
VW and many other makes because they were full of themselves. Nearly no new car maker succeeded in breaking into the market. Electric cars made that possible.
So you’re basically saying that they tried to compete but failed because they thought it will be easier and didn’t try hard enough. Could be but it’s still doesn’t excuse them. They were not interested in making the right thing. They knew making EVs is possible but helping with climate change was not their goal. It still isn’t. They still do the bare minimum they think they have to do to survive.
China has always been the land of the cheap workforce. What’s the reality today is robot factories, rapid concept to design to delivery pipelines. Essentially Europe, Japan and the USA have lost the race to innovate.
And the ccp cars are garbage/unsafe/rolling spy machines, but if they flood the market they can bankrupt the the auto industry and cause chaos.
All new cars are spy machines. As for unsafe, we haven’t seen that in Australia.