You are wrong. American manufacturers are captured by the oil conglomerates to sell fuel. That’s why you have giant behemoths barrelling down the highways. F150s have almost doubled in size over the last two decades.
Comment on Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 1 week agoNot enough Americans will buy small euro cars. Do you seriously think they wouldn’t just do that if they could justify the cost of switching off a f150 assembly line to make a small car they would. Ford and Chevy both had a ton of small cars throughout the years but the sales aren’t there anymore.
AlexLost@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Ok👍
We will put that on there headstone.
leftytighty@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Maybe they should advocate for better fuel regulations and densification ;)
AA5B@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I’m not convinced it’s lack of sales. Trucks are the most profitable to manufacture but sales vary by region and some parts of the country are much more interested in smaller cars, but they ceded that market to Japanese manufacturers
It’s not they they can’t make them or that the sales aren’t there but that trucks are the easy route. They’re more profitable per unit and easier sell in some areas.
Part of this is also sleazy dealerships. Trucks have by far the biggest incentives so sleazy dealerships can get people excited about the “deal” they get over list price
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 6 days ago
The average new truck costs 50% more. Every small car they sell is a lost truck sale.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Must be a pricing issue.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Ford stopped making cars because they can’t compete with the current crop of cars coming from Japan/Korea and Europe regardless of how much money they throw at the problem. They have their niche with trucks and SUVs and are happy to stay there. China builds cars using massive government subsidies, slave labor, and local resources that aren’t available to anyone else in the world which is why I think it’s right to fight against them because it’s impossible to compete against them just like a small local grocery store can’t compete against Walmart.
jaek@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Why are Japanese and Korean cars also better/cheaper than American cars then?
Citation needed
The US doesn’t massively subsidise auto-makers
But yeah china bad
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
They’re not cheaper than American cars. Go price some out.
reuters.com/…/canadas-trudeau-suggests-china-uses…
China subsidizes Chinese companies. The US gives subsidies to manufacturers from all over the world via tax credits to buyers.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 6 days ago
The federal government ended the the EV subsidy a few years ago.
lmao. We know what slavery looks like, you can see it in the cotton fields outside Angola Prison. I saw farmers driving combine harvesters in Xinjiang.
You’re getting closer. Through 1 and 5 year plans, the CPC uses SoEs (and sometimes just asks private companies “nicely”) to ensure the foundational inputs, steel, rubber, chips, college graduates, etc are all available to industry at the specific price point and volume that competing private firms need to produce say, 100m EVs or a million more apartments.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Buyers of any EV not just American EVs.
I’m glad you find slavery so comical.
Were these inmates enslaved for their religious beliefs being different than the official party line? We they imprisoned for not wanting to be controlled by a dictatorship? No. No they weren’t.
Gee, it sure sounds like you’re listing even more slavery than I mentioned. Imagine Trump declaring that every college grad needs to make themselves available to build a border wall.
The only exploitation mentioned here is the government exploiting the people. It seems your argument is based on your warped belief that if the US is committing atrocities than it’s okay for everyone else to do so, yet your examples are in stark contrast to what’s happening here. Your views are frankly quite disgusting and proof of how absurd the Chinese government’s propaganda arm is.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 6 days ago
I was talking about china, their federal govt ended ev subsidies in 2022. I suspect some city and provincial level govts still do various types of subsidies.
Bro are you trying to justify slavery in the US? You dont have to do that to criticize China. But you have to have to learn about its actual problems, not just accept any silly stories western media comes up with. Try visiting some time, its incredibley cheap, you can rent out decent sized apartments for 15/night in most cities, theres also sleeper trains, combine transport and 1 nights lodging, and food is often <2usd/meal.
That’s not how that works at all, they simply invest more into educating people into a particular field to ensure there will be enough people with the required skills in a particular area.
How did you even misinterpret my post like that?
AA5B@lemmy.world 6 days ago
You’d have an argument if legacy manufacturers were trying. We could talk about support if they were willing. They don’t want it. They’ve already given up
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
By “legacy manufacturers” you mean every major auto manufacturer in the world that isn’t based in China?Nobody else is selling new cars for as little as $4k because other countries aren’t using slave labor in mines and factory floors. It’s impossible to compete against that unless you engage in it yourself.
AA5B@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Yet Chinese cars that meet US standards are quite a bit more than that. Where such vehicles are sold in developed markets, they are more like €30-40k
By “legacy manufacturers” I mean those who are stuck on internal combustion engines, and focusing on large trucks and luxury trims.
Average new car price in the US has greatly outpaced inflation and is currently almost $50k, closing in on a full year gross average income. Most people can’t afford that. For that rice you get old technology engine, old technology transmission, same features we’ve had for years.
Yet a replacement for my Subaru is much cheaper, only a little over what I paid nine years ago. It has safety features, electronics, and transmission more innovative than us made cars costing twice as much. Many more people can afford this vehicle, and it’s similar in price to what Chinese cars are selling for in Europe.
We don’t need to compete with $4k cars. We need to compete with cars affordable on average salaries, with new features and unique capabilities.
While the transition to electric vehicles has been politicized, it’s coming and it’s inexorable. “Legacy manufacturers” are those avoiding that change