this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
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Thats great for GM and Ford shareholders. It just means Americans can’t afford cars.
Sure. And - ya know - not funneling money into a totalitarian regime.
It's not so much about where it goes, more so the fact that it doesn't stay in America. This is about saving the American auto industry. Whether it's for the jobs that would be lost or the profits of the shareholders.
The military will just order a million new pickup trucks as light utility vehicles.
And the Answer to jobs isn't more punishment.
That's a bingo.
The idea that "they" don't want the American public driving EVs is ridiculous.
You misunderstand. This is protectionism plain and simple. US car companies are horribly inefficient. Better yet, the US car cartel eliminated most of their budget models to push trucks and SUVs that are more expensive. It doesn’t take much to undercut them, so the US government is banning the competition.
So what about Tesla, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, and all the rest? You say we can't afford cars yet 15 million new cars are sold every year here. New cars have never been something that just anyone can buy which is why the used market is so much larger.
Selling Chinese EVs here below cost isn't going to improve anything. It's just going to put a bunch of competitors out of business and drive wages even further down.
The cost of cars has not scaled with incomes. EVs are also much cheaper to manufacture yet because of lack of competition they only sell luxury cars. Nissan admittedly tried but I think that was just too early to market with a mediocre product.
The added price is likely partially due to the development costs for these companies retooling their factories and doing R&D to develop these new platforms in a company that has been building ICE vehicles for the past 50-100 years. Luxury vehicles bring a markup that helps to offset these costs until these vehicles become more ubiquitous, parts are easier to source, and prices come down. You can't compare the cost of a brand new design to something like the Camry which had the general design ironed out 40+ years ago.
If you look at sales numbers, the Model 3 is outselling the cheap alternatives like the Leaf and Bolt 20:1, so it seems like many people are willingly choosing to pay more rather than buy the econobox option. The average sale price for a (any) new vehicle is around $50k currently, and there are a multitude of options in that price range.
This is all true. I just genuinely believe more EVs to market would be good for the consumer over the coming years.
I agree, but I think we'll have to wait for the technology to mature a bit. It seems the battery chemistry and design are what's stalling things but lots of companies are investing in new tech like solid state batteries.
If you want everyone to switch to EVs you need some that are cost competitive with gas vehicles.