Posted on 02/23/2020 3:57:44 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Germany is on the brink of recession as its auto industry hits a 22 year low. Tesla - and the EV movement - has disrupted the backbone of Germany's economy.
The economy is being dragged down by a seismic slump in car manufacturing. The Tesla effect – and the shift to electric vehicles – is leaving Germany in dire straits.
The latest economic figures out of Germany aren’t pretty: zero growth for the fourth quarter.
Reuters compared the challenge facing Germany with 1970s Detroit, where a rapid decline in the auto industry decimated the entire city.
It could well be that we have passed the peak of automotive production.
When Tesla launched the Model 3 in Europe last year, it instantly outsold rival sedans at BMW and Mercedes. It was the third best-selling car, period, in December.
(Excerpt) Read more at ccn.com ...
A big falloff in General exports to China is a big factor in Germany’s slowdown as well. Germany ran a big trade surplus with China, and China is slowing pretty sharply.
Yeah, I love my 2018 Audi A4 and it’s crazy electronic dashboard. However, I only bought it because Tesla kept pushing back the delivery date of my Tesla. My next car will be electric.
The folks I know that have Tesla’s love them. They make a lot of sense for a significant portion of the population. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
Call me when you are off warranty at about 100,000 miles. Hey, I have 4 of them that we use the crap out of. But now with the new ones problems are legion. Check the depreciation on a 6 year old German car, then do the same on a Toyota. The depreciation tells the tale.
I wonder how long the virus is going to have an impact on Chinese economic activity, in this context, the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai.
Germany was always the model lefties would say America should look to. Free this, free that. ...zero growth.
That’s a long way off in a practical sense and not a sure thing even then.
Recycling is a magic word that often doesn’t play out in the real world. But it sounds so nice in the same sentence with sustainable - warm and fuzzy. I don’t consider either worth much when they require the heavy hand of government mandates coupled with punitive taxes and penalties to happen.
Anyway, I’m not trying to provoke an argument here. We’ll see how it plays out.
What’s not to love, you pay 25% of the bill.
“That’s a long way off in a practical sense and not a sure thing even then.”
https://www.retrievtech.com/recycling-technology
“The electric car is not practical or efficient.”
They are more practical in Europe than here. Gas is MUCH more expensive in Europe. And, people don’t drive nearly as far.
First the jews, next was the uk leaving, now its tesla.
Damn they’re my people but this blame-shifting to everyone else like a woman makes me really pissed off.
Scale
Fewer miles. For sure. America is a huge country.
There’s no good economic reason for gasoline to be so outrageously expensive. The governments tax it to death.
Subsidizing EVs and over taxing gasoline does not make EVs inherently more efficient. Smoke and mirrors.
I'm at 63,000 miles now and it has been rock solid. This is my first Audi and knowing about their past reliability problems I did a ton of research before buying. Audi has gotten its act together and has been near the very top for reliability for the past five or six years. (Consumer Reports gives the B9 A4 a score of 5/5 for predicted reliability.) I drive my cars until the wheels fall off, so depreciation is irrelevant to me. I'm sure I will have issues at some point, just as one would with any car, but my experience so far has been quite good.
Scalable
Thanks, I love your post!
One good thing about Germany switching to all electric is that in WW3 their tanks will run out of power after 40 miles and need to be recharged for a few days.....
The A4 is about as “white bread” as German cars get. We had a 2006 with a manual that was a very good car. It’s basically a VW Passsat, same platform. Any deviation from the “workman like” German cars opens one up to a world of hurt. When a car has anywhere from 90 to 100 can-bus modules and any one of those can take down the can-bus it makes them a maintenance nightmare. When a door handle can prevent your care from starting and very few techs have the ability to diagnose the problem, the designers have jumped the shark.
There were about 75 million new cars sold in the world in 2019. Tesla sold about 300,000 or less than 3 tenths of 1%. German automakers sold about 10 million cars. German automakers have no reason to fear such a minuscule competitor, but they have real competition from Kia and Hyundai (each with > 4 million sales).
What is causing Germany to fall into recession is their Energiewende (renewable energy transition) policy which makes their energy cost for industry more than double that of the US.
https://paylesspower.com/blog/european-cost-of-electricity-per-kwh-by-country/
https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/
Despite defacing their entire country with 400 foot grotesque windmills they have not yet closed their nuclear plants or coal plants. The further they go in abandoning fossil fuels the longer and deeper their recession will be.
Anybody remember Chris Schenkel and what a big deal pro bowling on ABC used to be? :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.