Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Once this diesel particle ‘crisis’ came up....the car-makers were everyone’s whipping boy. Toss in the fury by the environmental folks to force everyone to dump their gas/diesel cars. Two months ago, various car-makers were saying that the show in Frankfurt would be the last one. The protest movement from the past five days has virtually guaranteed that this show is finished in Frankfurt.
Of the many factors mentioned for the decline, we should also consider the fact that there are few cars out there that are not fugly.
Really.
A game I have played for years when going through a parking lot is to ask which cars there would I want to be seen in back in the golden years of Detroit. Yup, we all know the answer.
Yes, the new ones are certainly much improved. But they have the visual appeal of Hillary Clinton.
I have a deposit down on the new 2020 Mid Engine Corvette.
It looks like they are already road testing a Hybrid Gas Electric Model even though the standard Gas powered 2020 Model hasn’t even begun Production yet.
I’m sure an all electric Model is already on the Drawing Board.
It’s the wave of the future. Unfortunately, most of the Rare Earth Minerals needed to make the Batteries come from China.
Not only that, but you need taxpayers willing to pay for massive upgrades to the power generation and distribution infrastructure.
But the biggest problem is Brussels.
The EU needs to be disbanded.
Trump evening the tariff playing field with Euro cars has changed everything.
European politicians and the media are pressuring car manufacturers to switch to electric cars. We are seeing a lot of them now where we live. They would not exist without government subsidies. Why? Because just the electric car battery costs as much as a cheap car, typically weighs over a thousand pounds and most do not store as much energy as contained in a couple of gallons of gas. It is not that hard to understand... batteries are still a very inefficient energy storage medium compared to gasoline or diesel. Electric cars are a non-solution to a problem (global warming) that does not exist.
They will start to disappear as soon as the world enters into an undeniable cyclic cooling trend that by many indications is already starting. I wouldn’t hold my breath however, because we are about to witness who the real “climate deniers” are. A cooling climate has always been a far greater threat to humanity than a warming climate. We will witness early snows, crop failures, and frozen orange groves in Florida for years before the media stops fawning over every string of sunny days in Arizona.
The Las Vegas electronic show used to be a really big thing.
The Internet makes trade shows unneccessary.
Eurothugs can make anything unpleasant.
Always look to the next opportunity. Europe is headed for a camel and donkey shortage before they know it.
Do you want to drive a small electric in a highway full of 6,000 pound vehicles driven by technology distracted idiots?
Big vehicles would have to be taxed to extinction to make small electrics a viable choice.
Also mobile technology needs to be disabled in vehicles and busy roads to make electric cars viable.
The cloud consists of legally enforced electrification on a less than eager public. Clearly the buyers must be punished until they are happy.
I’m waiting for the electric F250 pick up. I would love to test drive it and I was talking to my friend who is a Ford dealer. He said that it’ll tow my boat, but I want to make sure. The Rivan SUV looks good, too...
Why would car companies need to go to this show when they can put cars on their own websites for free and do other social media events that cost next to nothing? Europe is also regulating itself into extinction.
I thought this was going to be about book publishing.