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From a technical point of view, i think all the big German manufacturers are perfectly capable of building full EV models. It's not technology that is stoping t

by kennell 10y ago

From a technical point of view, i think all the big German manufacturers are perfectly capable of building full EV models. It's not technology that is stoping them. It's the stale, inflexible, slow moving corporate culture that comes along with a 100 year old company like Volkswagen or BMW. Add to that the deep goverment-ties and you have even more nonsense involved. Just look at how many models VW is building. Right now, they have more than 30 different base models, each with 4-6 additional variations. With the their full and semi EV models, they are heading for the same chaos. For the last 30 years, they have been incapable of streamlining this, so i really doubt we are going to see a EV with a competitive price–performance ratio anytime soon.

izacus 10y ago
Why would they have to streamline this? They actually are building cars that fit their (very loyal and wide) customer base. Some people want the sporty Passat CC, others want the Allroad version. We don't need Appleization of all markets :/
Vik1ng 10y ago
> they have been incapable of streamlining this Because it's not the goal. The goal is to offer many variations to have the perfect fit for every customer. Why do you think all German manufacturers have been building more and more SUVs in the last decade. Because that's exactly what American customers want.
Corrado 10y ago
I think you are exactly right, the traditional automobile manufacturers don't stand a chance in the "new world". I liken them to carriage makers in the early 1900s and the likelihood that they could make the transition to a completely new way of life. Sure, some of them did make the jump and you can even find a few modern day carriage makers, but for the most part they all died out when the Model T came to town. They just couldn't adjust & adapt as their whole world was wrapped up in the traditional way to make a vehicle.

by kennell 10y ago

izacus 10y ago

Why would they have to streamline this? They actually are building cars that fit their (very loyal and wide) customer base. Some people want the sporty Passat CC, others want the Allroad version. We don't need Appleization of all markets :/

Vik1ng 10y ago

> they have been incapable of streamlining this Because it's not the goal. The goal is to offer many variations to have the perfect fit for every customer. Why do you think all German manufacturers have been building more and more SUVs in the last decade. Because that's exactly what American customers want.

Corrado 10y ago

I think you are exactly right, the traditional automobile manufacturers don't stand a chance in the "new world". I liken them to carriage makers in the early 1900s and the likelihood that they could make the transition to a completely new way of life. Sure, some of them did make the jump and you can even find a few modern day carriage makers, but for the most part they all died out when the Model T came to town. They just couldn't adjust & adapt as their whole world was wrapped up in the traditional way to make a vehicle.