4 ms·

Why is decimating our local car industry a problem? Why not build something else with the resources if cars are now a cheap commodity?

ButterWashed 4mo ago
You can't really assume the prices will stay low forever and removing local competition exposes you to supply chain issues.
GLGirty 4mo ago
This reminds me of a quote from Peter Schiff, circa 2008 housing crash. To paraphrase, “too-big-to-fail eventually becomes too-big-to keep alive"
hnav 4mo ago
historically car manufacturing gets redirected into defense for wartime though it's unclear how that would pan out with today's factory specialization
- bruce511 4mo ago
  Historically being WW2. I'm not sure they've contributed much to the "war effort" since then. A legacy of WW2 was the explosion of the whole defence industry. While a lot of the civilian factories got repurposed in WW2 to build trucks and planes and ships, the tech in all that stuff was very basic. For example the aircraft carrier Yorktown was "fixed" (at least good enough for the Midway battle) in 3 days. I somehow doubt a modern carrier could do that, simply because of the tech required. The US built 150 more carriers in the next 3 years. The defense industry today gets a trillion $ a year. There's no civilian ship-building to speak of, and military vehicles are now highly specialized. So why keep Ford et al afloat? Politically it's sold as "national security." In reality it's like more "they didn't die on my watch." And of course, having the ability to make local affects the supply chain. [1] For example if China invades Taiwan, the US loses pretty much all electronics- especially PCs and Phones. That's a lot of leverage for a foreign country to have. [1] US cars aren't really local - that's a fiction exposed by the proposed tarif on "car parts", which the industry squashed. In reality car parts are made all over the place (including the US) , and then assembled in the US (or anywhere else.)
- fsuts 4mo ago
  Mercedes Benz and other car companies in Europe are going into defence directly as EU is investing more so any company in the engineering space see potential new market growth https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/11/mercedes-benz-anti-drone-vehicles.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/11/mercedes-benz-anti-drone-veh...
toast0 4mo ago
Our local car industry is tightly related to our local military vehicle industry. Should we get into a big war, we'll likely need mass production of military vehicles and having mass production of consumer vehicles is a good start.
- bayarearefugee 4mo ago
  > Should we get into a big war, we'll likely need mass production of military vehicles and having mass production of consumer vehicles is a good start. And all those military vehicles we build will be destroyed by tiny fpv drones that cost a tiny percent of what the vehicles cost. Why do people cling to this WW II era idea that we need car factories in case we go to war?
  - toast0 4mo ago
    Gotta move infantry some how. If they're being destroyed all the time, gotta build new stuff. Last world war, a lot of the mass production facilities got pushed into building munitions too. Harder to do that without manufacturing facilities.
  - budman1 4mo ago
    Those tiny fpv drones pack a tiny punch. Sure, it will destroy a current generation Chevy Equinox. But two weeks after the war starts, countermeasures will be created. The vehicles will be changed to make them harder to find, and harder to kill. A small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures. As much as I dislike the current US administration, Ford moving to making missiles and other military hardware is a good idea. They sure can't build a cost effective vehicle; yet there is a lot more potential profit in a Standard Missile, not to mention less competition.
    - stackedinserter 4mo ago
      > But two weeks after the war starts, countermeasures will be created. The vehicles will be changed to make them harder to find, and harder to kill. A small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures Where did you get this? Nobody solved FPV's in four years, why do you think US or any other country will solve it in two weeks? "small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures" – only a person that lives under a rock and doesn't follow RU-UA war in any way can say such things.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

ButterWashed 4mo ago

You can't really assume the prices will stay low forever and removing local competition exposes you to supply chain issues.

GLGirty 4mo ago

This reminds me of a quote from Peter Schiff, circa 2008 housing crash. To paraphrase, “too-big-to-fail eventually becomes too-big-to keep alive"

hnav 4mo ago

historically car manufacturing gets redirected into defense for wartime though it's unclear how that would pan out with today's factory specialization

bruce511 4mo ago
Historically being WW2. I'm not sure they've contributed much to the "war effort" since then. A legacy of WW2 was the explosion of the whole defence industry. While a lot of the civilian factories got repurposed in WW2 to build trucks and planes and ships, the tech in all that stuff was very basic. For example the aircraft carrier Yorktown was "fixed" (at least good enough for the Midway battle) in 3 days. I somehow doubt a modern carrier could do that, simply because of the tech required. The US built 150 more carriers in the next 3 years. The defense industry today gets a trillion $ a year. There's no civilian ship-building to speak of, and military vehicles are now highly specialized. So why keep Ford et al afloat? Politically it's sold as "national security." In reality it's like more "they didn't die on my watch." And of course, having the ability to make local affects the supply chain. [1] For example if China invades Taiwan, the US loses pretty much all electronics- especially PCs and Phones. That's a lot of leverage for a foreign country to have. [1] US cars aren't really local - that's a fiction exposed by the proposed tarif on "car parts", which the industry squashed. In reality car parts are made all over the place (including the US) , and then assembled in the US (or anywhere else.)
fsuts 4mo ago
Mercedes Benz and other car companies in Europe are going into defence directly as EU is investing more so any company in the engineering space see potential new market growth https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/11/mercedes-benz-anti-drone-vehicles.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/11/mercedes-benz-anti-drone-veh...

toast0 4mo ago

Our local car industry is tightly related to our local military vehicle industry. Should we get into a big war, we'll likely need mass production of military vehicles and having mass production of consumer vehicles is a good start.

bayarearefugee 4mo ago
> Should we get into a big war, we'll likely need mass production of military vehicles and having mass production of consumer vehicles is a good start. And all those military vehicles we build will be destroyed by tiny fpv drones that cost a tiny percent of what the vehicles cost. Why do people cling to this WW II era idea that we need car factories in case we go to war?
- toast0 4mo ago
  Gotta move infantry some how. If they're being destroyed all the time, gotta build new stuff. Last world war, a lot of the mass production facilities got pushed into building munitions too. Harder to do that without manufacturing facilities.
- budman1 4mo ago
  Those tiny fpv drones pack a tiny punch. Sure, it will destroy a current generation Chevy Equinox. But two weeks after the war starts, countermeasures will be created. The vehicles will be changed to make them harder to find, and harder to kill. A small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures. As much as I dislike the current US administration, Ford moving to making missiles and other military hardware is a good idea. They sure can't build a cost effective vehicle; yet there is a lot more potential profit in a Standard Missile, not to mention less competition.
  - stackedinserter 4mo ago
    > But two weeks after the war starts, countermeasures will be created. The vehicles will be changed to make them harder to find, and harder to kill. A small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures Where did you get this? Nobody solved FPV's in four years, why do you think US or any other country will solve it in two weeks? "small drone will be rendered ineffective by small countermeasures" – only a person that lives under a rock and doesn't follow RU-UA war in any way can say such things.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]