Automakers are in a very awkward spot right now. I doubt traditional manufacturers like VW and Ford want to build EVs. They’re more expensive, the supply chains are vulnerable and demand for them is artificial. Yet they really have no choice. Regulators across the west are forcing them to do it. What happens in the grid can’t accommodate a massive influx of EVs, or if battery production becomes untenable because of supply issues? This could get real messy for the car industry.
But they are responding as if they want to avoid anyone being excited. VW for example have nothing to even come close to the Golf Gti or Golf R, and charge more for the privilege of being bored.
But they are responding as if they want to avoid anyone being excited. VW for example have nothing to even come close to the Golf Gti or Golf R, and charge more for the privilege of being bored.
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Automakers are in a very awkward spot right now. I doubt traditional manufacturers like VW and Ford want to build EVs. They’re more expensive, the supply chains are vulnerable and demand for them is artificial. Yet they really have no choice. Regulators across the west are forcing them to do it. What happens in the grid can’t accommodate a massive influx of EVs, or if battery production becomes untenable because of supply issues? This could get real messy for the car industry.
Tony Taylor
10 months ago
You assert the German car industry has a libido problem, and yet you disprove your assertion with a picture of hot German cheesecake.
Signed
VW Driver, Heidelberg
You assert the German car industry has a libido problem, and yet you disprove your assertion with a picture of hot German cheesecake.
Signed
VW Driver, Heidelberg
Last edited 10 months ago by Tony Taylor
D Walsh
10 months ago
The decline of the German car industry is a good thing, it produces far too much pollution, Europe and Germany need to follow the example of South Africa, as the South African electrical grid collapses they are producing far less pollution, great news
Europe and Germany will be far better off without all that industrial pollution, three cheers for Vladimir Putin and the Russians who blew up the Nordstream
No need to worry. Germany and the rest of Europe have this nailed. They have much more experience dismantling the energy industry than South Africa. They might lag in blackouts right now, but they’ll catch up. I have complete confidence in European leadership in this regard.
On the contrary. Shutting down its nuclear generation capacity made it very clear that “Germany’s self-proclaimed global leadership on environmental protection and climate change” is a cynical lie.
On the contrary. Shutting down its nuclear generation capacity made it very clear that “Germany’s self-proclaimed global leadership on environmental protection and climate change” is a cynical lie.
I’m sure the workers of the Ruhrgebiet were filled with joy when their masters opted for rationalisation and restructuring (ie. moving as much of that dark satanic production as possible to China). In 2001 Essen’s entire Thyssen-Krupp steel plant was sold, dismantled and taken to China for reassembly there. Still, not to worry. The Ruhrgebiet now has rewilding, theme parks, green tourism, that kind of thing.
If any country that is as obsessed with “green” and CO2 emission reduction as Germany, while also simultaneously closing down nuclear….
Then that collection of nutjobs do not deserve to be taken seriously, and good riddance when they go down the South Africa path. Though Germans being Germans, even under the worst of circumstances (which is also the likely scenario at this point) they will be a much better run country than South Wakanda.
And what I hear is, typical Germans genuinely do believe it was Putin who blew up his own pipeline. Which is not a surprise, really.
What about the pollution in extracting minerals for batteries, for building EVs, transporting them and creating electricity for them? Sad that so many mind lemmings fall for this eco zealot drivel! Leccy cars are no better than any other cars, and Germany has the technology to produce low emission diesel and petrol cars that, if you had an iota of knowledge about automotive engineering, you would know about.
No need to worry. Germany and the rest of Europe have this nailed. They have much more experience dismantling the energy industry than South Africa. They might lag in blackouts right now, but they’ll catch up. I have complete confidence in European leadership in this regard.
I’m sure the workers of the Ruhrgebiet were filled with joy when their masters opted for rationalisation and restructuring (ie. moving as much of that dark satanic production as possible to China). In 2001 Essen’s entire Thyssen-Krupp steel plant was sold, dismantled and taken to China for reassembly there. Still, not to worry. The Ruhrgebiet now has rewilding, theme parks, green tourism, that kind of thing.
If any country that is as obsessed with “green” and CO2 emission reduction as Germany, while also simultaneously closing down nuclear….
Then that collection of nutjobs do not deserve to be taken seriously, and good riddance when they go down the South Africa path. Though Germans being Germans, even under the worst of circumstances (which is also the likely scenario at this point) they will be a much better run country than South Wakanda.
And what I hear is, typical Germans genuinely do believe it was Putin who blew up his own pipeline. Which is not a surprise, really.
What about the pollution in extracting minerals for batteries, for building EVs, transporting them and creating electricity for them? Sad that so many mind lemmings fall for this eco zealot drivel! Leccy cars are no better than any other cars, and Germany has the technology to produce low emission diesel and petrol cars that, if you had an iota of knowledge about automotive engineering, you would know about.
D Walsh
10 months ago
The decline of the German car industry is a good thing, it produces far too much pollution, Europe and Germany need to follow the example of South Africa, as the South African electrical grid collapses they are producing far less pollution, great news
Europe and Germany will be far better off without all that industrial pollution, three cheers for Vladimir Putin and the Russians who blew up the Nordstream
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago
The great majority of people do not give a damn, are not dystopian totalitarian eco sandaloid climate zealots, and do not want electric cars, let alone be forced to have them: this biased myopic piece is little more than national socialist propoganda, and I’m only suprised that there was no racism and lbgt angle?
It also doesn’t mention Trump and Hitler in the same sentence – are they even trying anymore?
Nicky Samengo-Turner
10 months ago
The great majority of people do not give a damn, are not dystopian totalitarian eco sandaloid climate zealots, and do not want electric cars, let alone be forced to have them: this biased myopic piece is little more than national socialist propoganda, and I’m only suprised that there was no racism and lbgt angle?
Peter B
10 months ago
So the FDP is a “tiny party” then ? Historically the third largest party in Germany, frequently (and still) in the governing coalition. Apparently 11.5% vote share and 92 out of 736 members in the Bundestag.
And that was written by someone actually living in Germany !
Last edited 10 months ago by Peter B
Peter B
10 months ago
So the FDP is a “tiny party” then ? Historically the third largest party in Germany, frequently (and still) in the governing coalition. Apparently 11.5% vote share and 92 out of 736 members in the Bundestag.
And that was written by someone actually living in Germany !
Last edited 10 months ago by Peter B
James Stangl
10 months ago
I wonder whether the German auto makers aren’t looking at Toyota with some envy, given Toyota’s investment in hybrid and hydrogen ICE tech.
EVs are all well and good if you 1) have a robust infrastructure for charging them, and 2) accept their current range and payload limitations. What about hauling cargo? To say nothing about the environmental impact of current mining for the materials that go into batteries.
I think that ICE/hybrid technology will still be around for a while, especially when the greenies finally get out of their cloud-cuckoo land of Net Zero.
James Stangl
10 months ago
I wonder whether the German auto makers aren’t looking at Toyota with some envy, given Toyota’s investment in hybrid and hydrogen ICE tech.
EVs are all well and good if you 1) have a robust infrastructure for charging them, and 2) accept their current range and payload limitations. What about hauling cargo? To say nothing about the environmental impact of current mining for the materials that go into batteries.
I think that ICE/hybrid technology will still be around for a while, especially when the greenies finally get out of their cloud-cuckoo land of Net Zero.
Josef O
10 months ago
The name Mercedes is a twisted prank of history. The name comes from the daughter of a Jewish businesman, Emil Jellinek. He was also a diplomat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Nice. He fell in love with cars and asked Daimler-Benz to call a car Mercedes, as the name of his daughter. This is a revenge of history, Hitler’s car was bearing the name of a Jewish girl. I wonder if he knew it, in case he did, Hitler chose to look the other way.
Josef O
10 months ago
The name Mercedes is a twisted prank of history. The name comes from the daughter of a Jewish businesman, Emil Jellinek. He was also a diplomat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Nice. He fell in love with cars and asked Daimler-Benz to call a car Mercedes, as the name of his daughter. This is a revenge of history, Hitler’s car was bearing the name of a Jewish girl. I wonder if he knew it, in case he did, Hitler chose to look the other way.
Andrew H
10 months ago
” the post-war obsession with speed is directly related to Germans’ refusal to face up to the reality of what their country did to the world under Hitler, a leader, she says, they adored.” What utter rubbish. No country has done more to face up to its historic crimes than Germany, even placing a memorial to its own shame in the centre of its capital. And the FDP are hardly a tiny party.
In the modern world no amount of atonement or debasement is ever enough
Andrew H
10 months ago
” the post-war obsession with speed is directly related to Germans’ refusal to face up to the reality of what their country did to the world under Hitler, a leader, she says, they adored.” What utter rubbish. No country has done more to face up to its historic crimes than Germany, even placing a memorial to its own shame in the centre of its capital. And the FDP are hardly a tiny party.
JR Hartley
10 months ago
Nonsense, really. Dieselgate was about cheating. But the other manufacturers achieve compliant NOx and particulate emissions with AdBlue and particulate filters. Remember, Euro6 trucks and busses are what have made the air in our Cities the cleanest it has been since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
But German (and indeed, any non-Chinese) automaker are right to fear the ridiculous mandatory EV push. All EVs contain computers, and power semiconductors, and rare-earth magnets and circuit boards all made in China, as the costs are still far below Western factories. Already a large slice of the other accessories aside from EV parts are made there. It is a short step for Chinese automakers to fill in the remaining morsels of the assembly, with bodyshells and interiors. So just like with our electronic devices, only expensive boutique items will not be made in China. Bye-Bye all of those auto-making factories in Europe!
You got me interested in looking at the state of Chinese auto production. They make over 20 million cars a year and are the second largest car exporter in the world. As for EVs, they are already the world’s largest producer .I have no reason to not believe they aren’t already making “bodyshells and interiors”.
You got me interested in looking at the state of Chinese auto production. They make over 20 million cars a year and are the second largest car exporter in the world. As for EVs, they are already the world’s largest producer .I have no reason to not believe they aren’t already making “bodyshells and interiors”.
JR Hartley
10 months ago
Nonsense, really. Dieselgate was about cheating. But the other manufacturers achieve compliant NOx and particulate emissions with AdBlue and particulate filters. Remember, Euro6 trucks and busses are what have made the air in our Cities the cleanest it has been since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
But German (and indeed, any non-Chinese) automaker are right to fear the ridiculous mandatory EV push. All EVs contain computers, and power semiconductors, and rare-earth magnets and circuit boards all made in China, as the costs are still far below Western factories. Already a large slice of the other accessories aside from EV parts are made there. It is a short step for Chinese automakers to fill in the remaining morsels of the assembly, with bodyshells and interiors. So just like with our electronic devices, only expensive boutique items will not be made in China. Bye-Bye all of those auto-making factories in Europe!
Nathan Ngumi
10 months ago
A great piece, illuminates the difficult decisions ahead for internal combustion engine auto makers.
Nathan Ngumi
10 months ago
A great piece, illuminates the difficult decisions ahead for internal combustion engine auto makers.
Adam Grant
10 months ago
There’s a potential market for “purist” EV’s here. Most manufacturers getting into EV’s for the first time are trying to maximize the value chain with automation and self-driving features. I’d like to see an EV that maximizes the driving experience, giving the driver more control over the vehicle. Spend the engine component savings (both cost and space) on suspension.
Automakers are in a very awkward spot right now. I doubt traditional manufacturers like VW and Ford want to build EVs. They’re more expensive, the supply chains are vulnerable and demand for them is artificial. Yet they really have no choice. Regulators across the west are forcing them to do it. What happens in the grid can’t accommodate a massive influx of EVs, or if battery production becomes untenable because of supply issues? This could get real messy for the car industry.
All more eco sandaloid fascism
But they are responding as if they want to avoid anyone being excited. VW for example have nothing to even come close to the Golf Gti or Golf R, and charge more for the privilege of being bored.
All more eco sandaloid fascism
But they are responding as if they want to avoid anyone being excited. VW for example have nothing to even come close to the Golf Gti or Golf R, and charge more for the privilege of being bored.
Automakers are in a very awkward spot right now. I doubt traditional manufacturers like VW and Ford want to build EVs. They’re more expensive, the supply chains are vulnerable and demand for them is artificial. Yet they really have no choice. Regulators across the west are forcing them to do it. What happens in the grid can’t accommodate a massive influx of EVs, or if battery production becomes untenable because of supply issues? This could get real messy for the car industry.
You assert the German car industry has a libido problem, and yet you disprove your assertion with a picture of hot German cheesecake.
Signed
VW Driver, Heidelberg
Lotta cheesecake in display in that picture.
Lotta cheesecake in display in that picture.
You assert the German car industry has a libido problem, and yet you disprove your assertion with a picture of hot German cheesecake.
Signed
VW Driver, Heidelberg
The decline of the German car industry is a good thing, it produces far too much pollution, Europe and Germany need to follow the example of South Africa, as the South African electrical grid collapses they are producing far less pollution, great news
Europe and Germany will be far better off without all that industrial pollution, three cheers for Vladimir Putin and the Russians who blew up the Nordstream
No need to worry. Germany and the rest of Europe have this nailed. They have much more experience dismantling the energy industry than South Africa. They might lag in blackouts right now, but they’ll catch up. I have complete confidence in European leadership in this regard.
On the contrary. Shutting down its nuclear generation capacity made it very clear that “Germany’s self-proclaimed global leadership on environmental protection and climate change” is a cynical lie.
Don’t forget GB and Edward Health led the way in 1973/4
ahh Mr Rent Bouy
ahh Mr Rent Bouy
On the contrary. Shutting down its nuclear generation capacity made it very clear that “Germany’s self-proclaimed global leadership on environmental protection and climate change” is a cynical lie.
Don’t forget GB and Edward Health led the way in 1973/4
I’m sure the workers of the Ruhrgebiet were filled with joy when their masters opted for rationalisation and restructuring (ie. moving as much of that dark satanic production as possible to China). In 2001 Essen’s entire Thyssen-Krupp steel plant was sold, dismantled and taken to China for reassembly there. Still, not to worry. The Ruhrgebiet now has rewilding, theme parks, green tourism, that kind of thing.
If any country that is as obsessed with “green” and CO2 emission reduction as Germany, while also simultaneously closing down nuclear….
Then that collection of nutjobs do not deserve to be taken seriously, and good riddance when they go down the South Africa path. Though Germans being Germans, even under the worst of circumstances (which is also the likely scenario at this point) they will be a much better run country than South Wakanda.
And what I hear is, typical Germans genuinely do believe it was Putin who blew up his own pipeline. Which is not a surprise, really.
What about the pollution in extracting minerals for batteries, for building EVs, transporting them and creating electricity for them? Sad that so many mind lemmings fall for this eco zealot drivel! Leccy cars are no better than any other cars, and Germany has the technology to produce low emission diesel and petrol cars that, if you had an iota of knowledge about automotive engineering, you would know about.
And now we hear the extra weight of EVs is causing more particulate matter -from rubber burning off tires.
And now we hear the extra weight of EVs is causing more particulate matter -from rubber burning off tires.
No need to worry. Germany and the rest of Europe have this nailed. They have much more experience dismantling the energy industry than South Africa. They might lag in blackouts right now, but they’ll catch up. I have complete confidence in European leadership in this regard.
I’m sure the workers of the Ruhrgebiet were filled with joy when their masters opted for rationalisation and restructuring (ie. moving as much of that dark satanic production as possible to China). In 2001 Essen’s entire Thyssen-Krupp steel plant was sold, dismantled and taken to China for reassembly there. Still, not to worry. The Ruhrgebiet now has rewilding, theme parks, green tourism, that kind of thing.
If any country that is as obsessed with “green” and CO2 emission reduction as Germany, while also simultaneously closing down nuclear….
Then that collection of nutjobs do not deserve to be taken seriously, and good riddance when they go down the South Africa path. Though Germans being Germans, even under the worst of circumstances (which is also the likely scenario at this point) they will be a much better run country than South Wakanda.
And what I hear is, typical Germans genuinely do believe it was Putin who blew up his own pipeline. Which is not a surprise, really.
What about the pollution in extracting minerals for batteries, for building EVs, transporting them and creating electricity for them? Sad that so many mind lemmings fall for this eco zealot drivel! Leccy cars are no better than any other cars, and Germany has the technology to produce low emission diesel and petrol cars that, if you had an iota of knowledge about automotive engineering, you would know about.
The decline of the German car industry is a good thing, it produces far too much pollution, Europe and Germany need to follow the example of South Africa, as the South African electrical grid collapses they are producing far less pollution, great news
Europe and Germany will be far better off without all that industrial pollution, three cheers for Vladimir Putin and the Russians who blew up the Nordstream
The great majority of people do not give a damn, are not dystopian totalitarian eco sandaloid climate zealots, and do not want electric cars, let alone be forced to have them: this biased myopic piece is little more than national socialist propoganda, and I’m only suprised that there was no racism and lbgt angle?
It also doesn’t mention Trump and Hitler in the same sentence – are they even trying anymore?
It also doesn’t mention Trump and Hitler in the same sentence – are they even trying anymore?
The great majority of people do not give a damn, are not dystopian totalitarian eco sandaloid climate zealots, and do not want electric cars, let alone be forced to have them: this biased myopic piece is little more than national socialist propoganda, and I’m only suprised that there was no racism and lbgt angle?
So the FDP is a “tiny party” then ? Historically the third largest party in Germany, frequently (and still) in the governing coalition. Apparently 11.5% vote share and 92 out of 736 members in the Bundestag.
And that was written by someone actually living in Germany !
So the FDP is a “tiny party” then ? Historically the third largest party in Germany, frequently (and still) in the governing coalition. Apparently 11.5% vote share and 92 out of 736 members in the Bundestag.
And that was written by someone actually living in Germany !
I wonder whether the German auto makers aren’t looking at Toyota with some envy, given Toyota’s investment in hybrid and hydrogen ICE tech.
EVs are all well and good if you 1) have a robust infrastructure for charging them, and 2) accept their current range and payload limitations. What about hauling cargo? To say nothing about the environmental impact of current mining for the materials that go into batteries.
I think that ICE/hybrid technology will still be around for a while, especially when the greenies finally get out of their cloud-cuckoo land of Net Zero.
I wonder whether the German auto makers aren’t looking at Toyota with some envy, given Toyota’s investment in hybrid and hydrogen ICE tech.
EVs are all well and good if you 1) have a robust infrastructure for charging them, and 2) accept their current range and payload limitations. What about hauling cargo? To say nothing about the environmental impact of current mining for the materials that go into batteries.
I think that ICE/hybrid technology will still be around for a while, especially when the greenies finally get out of their cloud-cuckoo land of Net Zero.
The name Mercedes is a twisted prank of history. The name comes from the daughter of a Jewish businesman, Emil Jellinek. He was also a diplomat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Nice. He fell in love with cars and asked Daimler-Benz to call a car Mercedes, as the name of his daughter. This is a revenge of history, Hitler’s car was bearing the name of a Jewish girl. I wonder if he knew it, in case he did, Hitler chose to look the other way.
The name Mercedes is a twisted prank of history. The name comes from the daughter of a Jewish businesman, Emil Jellinek. He was also a diplomat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Nice. He fell in love with cars and asked Daimler-Benz to call a car Mercedes, as the name of his daughter. This is a revenge of history, Hitler’s car was bearing the name of a Jewish girl. I wonder if he knew it, in case he did, Hitler chose to look the other way.
” the post-war obsession with speed is directly related to Germans’ refusal to face up to the reality of what their country did to the world under Hitler, a leader, she says, they adored.” What utter rubbish. No country has done more to face up to its historic crimes than Germany, even placing a memorial to its own shame in the centre of its capital. And the FDP are hardly a tiny party.
In the modern world no amount of atonement or debasement is ever enough
In the modern world no amount of atonement or debasement is ever enough
” the post-war obsession with speed is directly related to Germans’ refusal to face up to the reality of what their country did to the world under Hitler, a leader, she says, they adored.” What utter rubbish. No country has done more to face up to its historic crimes than Germany, even placing a memorial to its own shame in the centre of its capital. And the FDP are hardly a tiny party.
Nonsense, really. Dieselgate was about cheating. But the other manufacturers achieve compliant NOx and particulate emissions with AdBlue and particulate filters. Remember, Euro6 trucks and busses are what have made the air in our Cities the cleanest it has been since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
But German (and indeed, any non-Chinese) automaker are right to fear the ridiculous mandatory EV push. All EVs contain computers, and power semiconductors, and rare-earth magnets and circuit boards all made in China, as the costs are still far below Western factories. Already a large slice of the other accessories aside from EV parts are made there. It is a short step for Chinese automakers to fill in the remaining morsels of the assembly, with bodyshells and interiors. So just like with our electronic devices, only expensive boutique items will not be made in China. Bye-Bye all of those auto-making factories in Europe!
You got me interested in looking at the state of Chinese auto production. They make over 20 million cars a year and are the second largest car exporter in the world. As for EVs, they are already the world’s largest producer .I have no reason to not believe they aren’t already making “bodyshells and interiors”.
You got me interested in looking at the state of Chinese auto production. They make over 20 million cars a year and are the second largest car exporter in the world. As for EVs, they are already the world’s largest producer .I have no reason to not believe they aren’t already making “bodyshells and interiors”.
Nonsense, really. Dieselgate was about cheating. But the other manufacturers achieve compliant NOx and particulate emissions with AdBlue and particulate filters. Remember, Euro6 trucks and busses are what have made the air in our Cities the cleanest it has been since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
But German (and indeed, any non-Chinese) automaker are right to fear the ridiculous mandatory EV push. All EVs contain computers, and power semiconductors, and rare-earth magnets and circuit boards all made in China, as the costs are still far below Western factories. Already a large slice of the other accessories aside from EV parts are made there. It is a short step for Chinese automakers to fill in the remaining morsels of the assembly, with bodyshells and interiors. So just like with our electronic devices, only expensive boutique items will not be made in China. Bye-Bye all of those auto-making factories in Europe!
A great piece, illuminates the difficult decisions ahead for internal combustion engine auto makers.
A great piece, illuminates the difficult decisions ahead for internal combustion engine auto makers.
There’s a potential market for “purist” EV’s here. Most manufacturers getting into EV’s for the first time are trying to maximize the value chain with automation and self-driving features. I’d like to see an EV that maximizes the driving experience, giving the driver more control over the vehicle. Spend the engine component savings (both cost and space) on suspension.