The German car industry

[Baron von Lotsov]

So women are in charge of which car the bloke wants as well. I had a feeling this was the trend. Cars look so dappy these days. A friend of mine described them as noddy cars.

[patman post]

Since 2015, Aston Martin, like other luxury marques, has sought to increase its appeal to women as a luxury lifestyle brand. A female advisory panel was established to adapt the design of the cars to the taste of women. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/luxury-automakers-are-finally-discovering-the-power-of-women-buyers">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... men-buyers">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/luxury-automakers-are-finally-discovering-the-power-of-women-buyers

[Baron von Lotsov]

Meanwhile Aston Martin has joined up with the Chinese. Sales of their cars have been increasing at a rate of 89% in one year. All Astons will be either electric or hybrid from now on.



This chap explains how that works here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYDdekr05nU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYDdekr05nU from 17:00



Meanwhile in Germany, Volkswagen are putting a large investment into a new electric car, but it is too early to say whether it will work or not. Production in Germany is very expensive compared to China.

[patman post]

Tesla has chosen Berlin for its new battery plant. European research and development base is also planned for Germany.

The company already has an assembly site in the Netherlands, but the plans for Germany are on a far larger scale.

In 2014, Musk said he wanted to open a UK factory. However, industry sources had been more hopeful that Mr Musk would choose the UK for his research and development facility in the UK.

The excellence of German engineering and the uncertainty over Brexit combined to boot the idea of a UK plant into touch...



https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/108395/tesla-gigafactory-europe-to-be-built-in-germany-not-uk-as-elon-musk-blames-brexit">https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/108 ... mes-brexit">https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/108395/tesla-gigafactory-europe-to-be-built-in-germany-not-uk-as-elon-musk-blames-brexit

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50400068">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50400068

[Baron von Lotsov]

A few facts I recall.



400bn euros to the German economy

23% of the Chinese market in combustion engine cars, 0.4% in electric & hybrid cars



I don't know if you have noticed, but a common feature of Chinese city life is to go around with a breathing mask to reduce the intake of deadly car fumes. I do not think the Chinese are that concerned that the climate is going to make them all extinct, but they do understand the health hazards of car fumes. I mean carbon monoxide is a poison. Life expectancy in the city is significantly lower than the country, and in China, their cities are huge and very compact, with millions of cars.



It is very common to see electric vehicles in China and their buses are electric as well. So in China they are going electric and the key economic point here is that Germany has 130 years of experience in combustion engine cars and is world leader. This is not so with electric cars where each country started from the same position. However Germany has held the slot of master combustion engine car builder and the German government have been the protector of the industry, hence it has clung to a market that will vanish eventually. This means that while China has electric cars in production on display at motor shows, Germany has only concept cars. That includes BMW and VW. They really do not have anything that will match the Chinese cars in the electric range, and this is why their market share is piddle in that country. Clearly though, 23% of the car market is huge, so if that money goes then Germany is in big trouble, and it will go for certain.



It's interesting to note the implications of this. We manufacture cars for German companies over here, so we can expect a big knock, but not anything like as large as Germany because it is their national industry. This would be like our financial services all going bust simultaneously. A poor Germany will look to the UK to help it financially, so perhaps this is in part why the EU are keeping us in and regulated by it even when we are supposed to leave. They are playing the protectionist game and a bigger protectionist bloc is better than a small one to rip your competitors with.



Also the Norwegians are going fully electric, so that's another market collapsing for them. Some woman bigwig in the Norwegian government says if consumers are faced with a equal choice of electric or internal combustion they will definitely opt for electric, but the same woman is also part of the government's schemes to give electric free tax, free parking, free road tolls and in some places local councils are actually banning internal combustion cars. The Yellow Vest idiots are very much behind it. This Norwegian politician says with electric cars, all countries who participate will be at the forefront of the electric revolution. Clearly the dappy blonde does not know what forefront means!!! China - very likely, where as Norway, very unlikely.