The Guardian: It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance

[Biker16]

It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance

 

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Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts say

 

By the 1980s, Detroit’s once titanic carmakers were being upended by rivals from Japan. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had grown rich selling gas guzzlers, but when oil prices rose and suddenly cheap, fuel-efficient Japanese models looked attractive, they were unprepared. The collapse in sales led to hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive heartland of the US.

 

Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line. This time, however, the threat is from China.

 

Cheap, well-made electric cars from brands such as BYD and Leapmotor are finding buyers across Europe. BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest EV seller this year. Chinese marques are fast seizing the market share once dominated by the likes of Volkswagen, Ford, Peugeot and Renault.

 

In the US, the pullback has been even more severe. Donald Trump has in effect wiped out the country’s electrification push by cancelling tax credits for consumers and dismantling exhaust emissions rules, which he calls a scam.

 

Andy Palmer, a former chief executive of Aston Martin, said: “The worst possible response [from the Europeans] is to blink, slow investment and hope the market somehow resets in their favour. It won’t.”

 

[Texasota]

Did rperez get unbanned?

[twintornados]

But, are they? The decision to cancel several EV models happened prior to the current events unfolding in the Middle East - I would counter that the EV's that were cancelled were prior designs that are outdated and obsolete and that companies such as Ford are still moving ahead with EV's, just in a direction that makes them profitable and lower priced and all this was coming as a result of the discontinuation of the generous subsidies that were paid for EV adoption. I have long contended that the real race for better EV product will come once the tax breaks were ended on EV sales. 

 

Quote

Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line. This time, however, the threat is from China.

 

[akirby]

There is nothing about the Iran situation that changes the landscape for vehicles in the US.

[akirby]

45 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Did rperez get unbanned?

No but Biker16 did and he's skating on thin ice right now.

[Biker16]

2 hours ago, akirby said:

No but Biker16 did and he's skating on thin ice right now.

 

For what?

[Biker16]

2 hours ago, akirby said:

There is nothing about the Iran situation that changes the landscape for vehicles in the US.

 

Oil isn't a stable energy source.

 

Basing the global economy on something so volatile isn't good.

 

You're delusional if you think otherwise.

 

 

 

[akirby]

We're not going down this rabbit hole.