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Yes. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-12/vw-s-audi-porsche-margins-sag-in-costly-shift-to-electric-era https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Yes. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-12/vw-s-audi-porsche-margins-sag-in-costly-shift-to-electric-era https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-12/vw-s-audi... The real news here is that the EV revolution is finally starting to really take off. The auto companies that are not already pushing hard on developing EV's are going to be left behind and go bankrupt. Of the incumbent auto makers, VW is the most committed.

thrower123 7y ago
I really don't buy it. In the US, the best-selling vehicles are SUVs and trucks, and it has only gotten more pronounced now that the US has become a net oil exporter and the spectre of $5/gallon gas that we approached 15 years ago is just a bad memory. Ford alone sells more F150s in a single year than all the EVs all together.
- gvb 7y ago
  You picked a good example with Ford that illustrates the parent's point, probably in a way not intended by the parent post. Soon Ford will no longer be an automobile manufacturer - they will only be building trucks and SUVs (aka fake trucks) with the lone exception of the Mustang. Ref: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-all-passenger-cars-except-mustang-n869256 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-all-...
  - petre 7y ago
    Aren't SUVs and truck protected from foreign competition by the chicken tax? VW is also building more SUVs. They have like 4 models not counting Audi, Skoda and Seat.
    - village-idiot 7y ago
      The chicken truck tax is pretty easy to avoid, you just need to bolt a few final parts onto the vehicle in America and call it final assembly. This is why the Subaru Brat, a light truck by all definitions, came with some very dangerous plastic seats in the back, to dodge the chicken tax. The expectation was that the user would remove them themselves to dodge the 25% tariff.
    - cwilkes 7y ago
      I didn’t know what the chicken tax was. Here’s a write up on it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-strange-case-of-fords-attempt-to-avoid-thechicken-tax/2018/07/06/643624fa-796a-11e8-8df3-007495a78738_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-strange-... In short: the EU wanted to stop a flood of US chickens in the 60s so they imposed a tariffs. The US then retaliated by tariffing trucks, mainly from VW. But what is a truck? Is a minivan a truck? I didn’t know this but the Ford Transit is built in Spain and comes to the US with rear seats and also glass windows in the rear. At customs the seats are ripped out and the rear windows are plated over now making it a popular delivery truck, this voiding $250M in taxes.
- snowwindwaves 7y ago
  Are trucks best selling because people need vehicles to move big or heavy things and when all you are moving is people and luggage you just get an uber, bus, train, plane? I am a remote worker and have an f150 I drive about once a week.
  - yostrovs 7y ago
    No, it's because they're roomy inside, safer to drive, and when you needthe storage it's there.
    - village-idiot 7y ago
      No, it’s because of the perception of utility and self-sufficiency. Trucks are very similar to sports cars, they’re sold on the perception of capability and the way the driver perceives themself, not around how the vehicle will actually be used. Also, sedans are safer than trucks, by a lot. Not only are trucks more prone to rollovers, but IIHS rates a lot of high selling trucks as having a “poor” structure likely to suffer incursions during a collision. Only 1 truck in 2019 got a IIHS top safety pick, a few minivans got honored, and well over a dozen sedans got picked.
      - yostrovs 7y ago
        You should see how much crap Americans like to bring with them to kids baseball games, camping, etc. Sedans can't hold it all and vans are not cool. SUVs and trucks fit the American lifestyle.
        village-idiot 7y ago
        That's more an argument to stop buying so much crap than it is an argument to buy a wasteful vehicle.
        chiefofgxbxl 7y ago
        So how did Americans 10+ years ago manage to live with sedans? I remember my mom and us four children all sitting in a Jetta, and later a Passat (slightly roomier). Was it a little cramped? Perhaps. Would it have been worth spending an extra $10,000 and more on gas to have a larger vehicle like many Americans are doing today and end up driving alone anyway? Nope.

thrower123 7y ago

I really don't buy it. In the US, the best-selling vehicles are SUVs and trucks, and it has only gotten more pronounced now that the US has become a net oil exporter and the spectre of $5/gallon gas that we approached 15 years ago is just a bad memory. Ford alone sells more F150s in a single year than all the EVs all together.

gvb 7y ago
You picked a good example with Ford that illustrates the parent's point, probably in a way not intended by the parent post. Soon Ford will no longer be an automobile manufacturer - they will only be building trucks and SUVs (aka fake trucks) with the lone exception of the Mustang. Ref: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-all-passenger-cars-except-mustang-n869256 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-stop-making-all-...
- petre 7y ago
  Aren't SUVs and truck protected from foreign competition by the chicken tax? VW is also building more SUVs. They have like 4 models not counting Audi, Skoda and Seat.
  - village-idiot 7y ago
    The chicken truck tax is pretty easy to avoid, you just need to bolt a few final parts onto the vehicle in America and call it final assembly. This is why the Subaru Brat, a light truck by all definitions, came with some very dangerous plastic seats in the back, to dodge the chicken tax. The expectation was that the user would remove them themselves to dodge the 25% tariff.
  - cwilkes 7y ago
    I didn’t know what the chicken tax was. Here’s a write up on it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-strange-case-of-fords-attempt-to-avoid-thechicken-tax/2018/07/06/643624fa-796a-11e8-8df3-007495a78738_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-strange-... In short: the EU wanted to stop a flood of US chickens in the 60s so they imposed a tariffs. The US then retaliated by tariffing trucks, mainly from VW. But what is a truck? Is a minivan a truck? I didn’t know this but the Ford Transit is built in Spain and comes to the US with rear seats and also glass windows in the rear. At customs the seats are ripped out and the rear windows are plated over now making it a popular delivery truck, this voiding $250M in taxes.
snowwindwaves 7y ago
Are trucks best selling because people need vehicles to move big or heavy things and when all you are moving is people and luggage you just get an uber, bus, train, plane? I am a remote worker and have an f150 I drive about once a week.
- yostrovs 7y ago
  No, it's because they're roomy inside, safer to drive, and when you needthe storage it's there.
  - village-idiot 7y ago
    No, it’s because of the perception of utility and self-sufficiency. Trucks are very similar to sports cars, they’re sold on the perception of capability and the way the driver perceives themself, not around how the vehicle will actually be used. Also, sedans are safer than trucks, by a lot. Not only are trucks more prone to rollovers, but IIHS rates a lot of high selling trucks as having a “poor” structure likely to suffer incursions during a collision. Only 1 truck in 2019 got a IIHS top safety pick, a few minivans got honored, and well over a dozen sedans got picked.
    - yostrovs 7y ago
      You should see how much crap Americans like to bring with them to kids baseball games, camping, etc. Sedans can't hold it all and vans are not cool. SUVs and trucks fit the American lifestyle.
      - village-idiot 7y ago
        That's more an argument to stop buying so much crap than it is an argument to buy a wasteful vehicle.
      - chiefofgxbxl 7y ago
        So how did Americans 10+ years ago manage to live with sedans? I remember my mom and us four children all sitting in a Jetta, and later a Passat (slightly roomier). Was it a little cramped? Perhaps. Would it have been worth spending an extra $10,000 and more on gas to have a larger vehicle like many Americans are doing today and end up driving alone anyway? Nope.