Price sounds good, finally. Now please start to offer some station wagons instead of SUVs.
Ioniq 5, EV6, GV60
Compact recreational vehicles AKA “crossovers” are not station wagons, or if in Europe, touring cars.
It’s about the back. It’s big, like rear facing seats big; but the car is low, and less massive for it.
This is the high point of the category. We need to bring that shit back.
Give me the Benz as reissue EV, just do it you cowards!
Baby got back
Too bad they won’t sell them in the US. We desperately need small affordable EVs that rival China’s offerings. I wonder how easy it’d be to block the ID2’s telemetry antennas.
Why’d they stop making the Chevy bolt? A friend got one for pretty cheap but can’t anymore from what I can tell
Because they felt the EV Canyonero…er, Hummer would be more profitable.
There’s no excuse not to sell it in the US.
Trump’s tariff war is a great reason not to sell anything here. Why bother sending all that bulky inventory here if any profit margin they make is taken from them? Increase the price and it is no longer affordable.
Even with a tarriff, a $20k car would still be cheap. There are also no tariffs on goods from the EU (yet) or you could just (god forbid) build them here in the US.
I dunno why they wouldn’t sell them in Canada or Mexico either.
you’d have to get it here, too. no way this administration is gonna let that happen.
Another knob and switch deficit design. Regressive.
Looks like it has physical buttons.
It would be better for consumers that Volkswagen & other car companies price their products closer to what it is sold for in China. The ID.3 can be had for USD $9,400 there.
I wonder how much it’d cost to buy a car there and drive it home by ferry to Europe.
You’d still have to pay for customs, insurance and a license plate, at least in my country. Customs is 10% of the car’s worth plus transport cost, so it would still be cheaper but not by much anymore
are the people who make the cars in Europe willing to take a pay cut and be on par with Chinas pay levels to get those prices down?
Why do people continue to pedal this bigoted propaganda?
Is the minimum wage lower in China compared to the UK? Yes, across the board. But let’s compare Guangzhou to Solihull. Minimum wage lower? Yes. Cost of living lower? Yes. Are you able to afford to live in an apartment and buy groceries based on what you make building cars? Yes.
Why do people continue to pedal this bigoted propaganda?
I don’t know why people would do that:
VW was considering closing up to three factories in Germany and had been calling on its workforce to accept a 10% pay cut.
At the time, the union was calling for a 7% increase.
The two sides have, however, agreed to cut more than 35,000 jobs across the country in a “socially responsible manner” by 2030, in order to save some €15bn (£12.4bn).
This was considered a win:
While the deal will also see a reduction in production capacity across its plants, it was celebrated by union leaders.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cje9kv3q94po
…
The French carmaker is turning to one of the few markets where battery-powered cars are selling well to access new technology and learn how to make EVs faster. The company has hired some 200 people in Shanghai
Expanding in China is a sensitive subject in France, where some unions are pushing back against management efforts to raise efficiencies via measures including limiting remote work to 2.5 days per week. Renault’s decision to develop much of its new Twingo in China has been criticised internally, and the manufacturer also employs about 3,000 engineers in India.
Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO Thomas Schafer told Euronews the car maker’s operations “cannot continue as before”.
“We have to get to the root of the problems: we are not productive enough at our German sites and our factory costs are currently 25 to 50 per cent above target.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/volkswagen-considering-closure-of-three-plants-in-germany/
While Mercedes pledged to improve its cost position, it didn’t elaborate on where cuts would fall. The manufacturer operates several plants in Germany, where labor and energy costs are relatively high. It’s also investing heavily in research and development for its electrification shift, all while producing both electric and combustion engine models at its sprawling network of factories.
https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/mercedes-pledges-cost-cuts-after-china-slump-hits-margin
Any attempts on their part to catch up are further hampered by increased energy costs for production, high labour costs when compared with other countries like China and India, as well as stringent EU regulations.
