Yes, I’m aware I’m getting the quote backwards, but that’s just where I think the balance is. If there’s a theme of The Morning Dump lately, it probably comes in the next few opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities, which I’ve always found a little more resonant:
[I]t was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Doesn’t that just feel exactly correct to the present moment? Did Charles Dickens predict the trade war?
America is engaged in the worst tit-for-tat with Canada since General Montgomery’s invasion of Quebec, and it’s long been my sense (and the sense of others) that this will mostly benefit China. This also sets up the market for an even stronger bifurcation in car development, meaning that the United States could become its own very specific car market with limited access to cars from the rest of the world. That diminution of the competitive spirit may not help us much. Alternatively, letting Chinese cars in with no barriers isn’t necessarily a better solution.
That’s heavy, so let’s end with something fun. Specifically, let’s end with a decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard light station.
The End Of Fortress North America
For more than a century, American leaders from both of the major parties in the United States looked at Canada as an important ally. Canadian and American soldiers gave that last full measure of devotion side by side along the banks of the Somme and on Normandy’s shores.
We share a long border and an even longer history. Our markets have become interconnected over the years, and this, plus a link with Mexico, has provided a strong bulwark against China. Some call it Fortress North America, but that fortress is crumbling as Automotive News reports:
The trade war comes as the U.S. government and auto industry become increasingly concerned that Chinese automakers and suppliers could use Mexico or Canada as a springboard into the American market. But the chances of the U.S., Canada and Mexico aligning on policies to prevent that have diminished as the future of the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement comes into question, experts said.
“It’s an opportunity for China in Canada and Mexico,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “These are two markets that are open to the idea of a Chinese vehicle being sold there, and because the United States has put up a barrier to those countries, it makes it almost prudent to open up your competitive market to China.”
To what end? To what end? President Trump has stated that he’d basically be happy if Canada didn’t have a car industry, which isn’t going to happen. If Canada can’t make cars for themselves and the United States, it’ll find another partner. At first, that might be China, but I think what’s more likely to happen is that Canada aligns its safety standards with Europe and opens trade there. This, of course, still isn’t that bad for Chinese automakers, as they’re already building cars to European standards.
At the New York Auto Show this year, the head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (the lobbying arm for most North American automakers) said that “a trilateral agreement that supports a Fortress North America, that allows this industry to win in the United States and compete around the world” is of extreme importance. He’s referring to the USMCA, there, though any trilateral agreement could work.
Can American automakers win abroad if it only builds cars to its own standards? I’m skeptical.
There’s a quote from that AN article from Drew DeLong, head of corporate statecraft at Kearney Foresight (what a job), that really sends me:
“It’s hard to build a Fortress North America when there are more walls and barriers being established inside the fortress,” he said.
That sounds right to me.
Stellantis Is Trying To Figure Out How To Be A Global Company With A Walled-In America
The United States will, eventually, get some interesting European products in the form of Fiats and Peugeot coming from Stellantis as Dodges, Jeeps, and Chryslers. This might be the exception to the rule as America risks becoming its own little market, which is the challenge facing Stellantis.
Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said at an analyst conference on Thursday that there is a clear split in the global automotive market today: the U.S., and everywhere else.
The chief of the automaker, which produces Jeep and Ram vehicles, spoke about how the company is navigating a U.S. trade and policy landscape that is diverging from other regions including Europe, especially in regard to how automakers can partner with the Chinese.
“We see clearly the world divided into two things: One is the United States … and then we have the rest of the world,” Filosa said.
When I say this is the “best of times” for enthusiasts, this does mean getting some V8 cars back. Trucks are definitely coming back. Lowered fuel economy regulations might save vehicles like the Golf R. Some older platforms might stick around for a while, though this also means there’s going to be a gap and we’ll have to wait out the new platforms.
I think this is kind of bad for American car enthusiasts in the long run if it persists. We’ve had a golden age over the last few years, when suddenly we weren’t deprived of some of the more interesting cars the world had to offer, like the Audi RS6, because it made sense for automakers to offer low volume vehicles in the United States. Instead, if our market becomes too walled off (and walled in), we risk not getting the rarer stuff because it just becomes too expensive to federalize and import.
Foreign Automakers suddenly are encouraged to just build the same kind of boring crossovers that sell well, and leave the rest to the competition. That would suck.
The ‘Temu Range Rover’ Is A Hit
Allowing Chinese automakers to flood the United States with cars, though, may not be the best solution. China has a lot of unfair advantages and there are reasonable concerns about privacy. At the same time, it would sure help with vehicle affordability.
The UK is probably the most open market that looks anything like the US, and the success of Jaecoo shows how quickly a change can happen. Here’s Bloomberg on how that company is finding customers:
Chery is among Chinese brands that have expanded their collective share of the UK market to more than a fifth in recent years, winning over customers with more affordable models fitted with the latest technology.
While the Chery brand has built a 2.5% market share in less than a year, the group’s surge has been led by the Jaecoo marque with 4.3% last month.
The Jaecoo 7 has become one of the UK’s most popular models, earning itself the nickname the “Temu Range Rover” for being a cheaper version of the British luxury SUV.
Chinese automakers need exports as they’ve built up capacity, even though it’s a huge market. That should also probably be a signal to policy makers in the United States. If we only build cars for ourselves, we can’t build cars for anyone else, and all of that factory capacity we’re hoping to build might suddenly be unnecessary.
XPEL All The Things
While we’ve shown that you can XPEL a lot of different cars, it turns out the paint protection film has other uses. About 34 miles off the coast of North Carolina is the Frying Pan Shoals Tower, a former Coast Guard light station that’s been turned into an eco-tourism destination.
It’s also constantly in the sun, which means that keeping it comfortable requires a lot of work. If there’s ever a high need for some window tint, it’s this place:
With no shade, no landscaping, and near-constant sun exposure over open water, solar heat gain had become a constant drain on the structure’s limited power supply. The newly installed window film blocks a significant amount of solar heat before it enters the building, which helps the tower’s HVAC system work less to keep the space livable, and in turn helps conserve battery and generator power. For a facility that cannot simply plug into the grid, that efficiency gain matters.
Fun!
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Mink Car by They Might Be Giants. Please enjoy “Man, It’s So Loud In Here.”
The Big Question
What’s your favorite low-volume import car?
Top photo: MGM
On this day, talking of historic friendship between Canada and the US, you cant go without mentioning that on 9/11 Gander Newfoundland, this town of less than 12,000 people, took in to their homes over 6000 stranded fliers.
Newfoundlanders perform hostile takeovers on an individual basis. You show up, and they just declare you family for life.
“A bottle of your cheapest rum!”
Oh dear God, keep the Screech away from me.
Don’t forget to kiss the cod.
I recall reading a great social behavior and manners guide for Newfoundland
“The Day The World Came To Town” b J.DeFede.
good book.
Hoooo boy if you’re concerned about Chinese surveillance of your car and driving habits, I have REALLY BAD NEWS for you about what existing companies in the US are doing with all that telemetry.
(Selling it to anyone who will pay for it)
Insurance companies love data.
Yep if anyone gets to mass warrantless surveil Americans, it should be other Americans!
This nonsense of Canada being a springboard for Chinese auto manufactures into the US is a red herring. If Canadians are buying Chinese vehicles, it’s not like Americans will be. Mexico already has plenty of Chinese vehicles. Are they being smuggled into the US or something? The US can keep China out and mind it’s own business as far as what other countries choose to do.
The silver lining may be that US automakers can learn to compete with China by participating in the Canadian marketplace. Then again, with them closing plants up here, it’s more likely Honda and Toyota will be the ones learning the valuable lessons.
Chinese vehicles are created by vertically integrated, often state-owned enterprises with heavy subsidization by the government to artificially lower prices to drive competitors out of business.
Volkswagen’s recent struggles in Europe are by in large a direct result of increased Chinese competition both in Europe and abroad.
Canada de-harmonizing with the US means that Chinese companies will be able to establish a foothold there.
They basically are doing what Amazon did to book stores in the 1990s and early 2000s. I don’t want that for America’s automotive industry. Especially if it’s not based on merit or better product, it’s based on heavy subsidization from an adversarial government that spies on the entire world and whose people aren’t necessarily afforded the best in human rights.
The automotive industry is complicated and has a ton of layers. Do we want what happened to the American textile industry to happen to the automotive industry? Absolutely not. Bravestar jeans are still made in LA and they cost about $150 a pair. I don’t want Saleen and Hennessy making specialty cars to be the only automakers left in America. That’s the kind of thing that is a reality if we let them in.
Canada is our very best friend and very best customer with Mexico is a close second in both. Why would you want to make your best customer someone else’s best customer?
“Why would you want to make your best customer someone else’s best customer?”
Ask your administration…
> Canada is our very best friend
Not anymore.
Sadly enough they probably still are. Let that sink in for a moment and realize how messed up America’s status has fallen.
TBQ: McMurtry Speirling. They’re a show-and-display car, but the imports have already begun. I saw that thing debut at Laguna Seca and felt like I was witnessing history. There’s nothing else like it.
For someone who grew up with flying cars only a decade away, watching the McMurty drive upside down was akin to a blessed beam of light accompanied by heavenly song aimed right at me.
It’s stupid & silly & I love it
Me too, bud. Me too. I dodged car week this year because the supercar scene has become so obnoxious (and also because my folks needed help) but the McMurtry is so radically amazing that it doesn’t get tarred with that brush.
TBQ: The Morgan 3-Wheeler
The whole “Fortress North America” is gonna be hard to do when the largest land mass on the continent has decided to shift the customer base to “Literally anywhere else” for material exports.
The ship has sailed at this point. It’s just gonna take a couple decades to fully complete the shift.
And we all know who can be blamed for that.
There are some similarities to this monologue from Season 4 of Babylon 5. Lets hope some of the good parts of this quote happen soon.
Monologue from Season Four
spoken by just about everybody
Lennier: It was the year of fire,
Zack Allen: the year of destruction,
G’Kar: the year we took back what was ours.
Lyta Alexander: It was the year of rebirth,
Vir Cotto: the year of great sadness,
Marcus Cole: the year of pain,
Delenn: and the year of joy.
Londo Mollari: It was a new age.
Stephen Franklin: It was the end of history.
Susan Ivanova: It was the year everything changed.
Michael Garibaldi: The year is 2261.
John Sheridan: The place: Babylon 5.
So you’re saying it’s the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind?
I’m hoping it’s not the beginning of the end…
Right, then we’ll be like Babylons 1-4 and that’s no good.
The coming collapse of population will cause a massive shift in power.
The US is hosed in the short term and medium term. Nobody wants to do any business with a country that doesn’t honor its contracts or laws. Locking up the Korean Hyundai workers for a “ticked the wrong box” violation sent that message clearly. Throwing tariffs at goods from other countries despite having existing trade agreements is another. Nope, the US is on its way to being globally irrelevant in any manufactured goods or services.
Or in any alliance that involves the military.
Economic activity relies on trust. Good luck with that.
We have a lot of wealth and a lot of momentum, but yep the money and goodwill are being drained as fast as this administration can manage.
No need to guess where the money is going!
What countries want an alliance with socialist, islamist America?
TBQ: Lotus Elise
XPEL
I’m shocked they haven’t’ painted everything with paint that has ceramic microballs in it.
Ceramic Insulating paint and insulating paint additive
I know companies that have used it and it does and doesn’t work as well as advertised. It absolutely will make the paint act like high quality insulation. However, if the paint isn’t good for the temperatures you are going to, it won’t fix that problem. I know a place that painted a bunch of steam pipe and it worked just as good as high quality 3″+ insulation.. until the paint popped off because the paint wasn’t good for 600 deg F.
This stuff is available in bags from Amazon. If my house didn’t have so much shade, I would consider using it when it’s time to repaint it.
Way cooler than that (literally) is the infrared cooling paint. If you can get it to reflect in a narrow range of infrared light it can actually turn the surface underneath it cooler than ambient air temperatures when in direct sunlight. It would make for a cool film to be able to apply to the roof, and even better would be if it can be made transparent so it can go over sunroofs and rear windows.
Nighthawkinlight or something like that on youtube has several interesting videos on how this works and testing various home-made recipes vs commercial ones.
Also to get into something more active, as long as the weather isn’t too humid, just plain white canvas to provide shade and swamp coolers or misters to do evaporative cooling can make an insane difference. I’ve been in the desert and been to outdoor cafes that are not much more than 75 degrees in the shade with misters on a 110+ deg day.
Only works in low humidity.
But shade works everywhere even in black material.
Your best of times take that you proposed is V8 motors and pickup trucks? I’m wondering who can afford those things as fuel hits record highs and inflation will make this winter season the most expensive ever.
I’ve been fleeced and grifted enough. I’ll keep my old cars, fix them as needed and the new car industry can f-off with the inside-car cameras and regulations. Why spend $50k on ANY new vehicle when you can fix a decent one up that won’t rat on you to insurance companies and fight you with right to repair issues.
This!
I would like to subscribe.
When do you release your Manifesto?
Favorite low volume import to the US? Jensen Interceptor – while the engines were produced stateside, the finished car had to be brought back over.
As a thought exercise, let’s take it to the extreme, to the point where all imports of cars and car parts are tariff’d out of existence, leaving only some GM/Ford/Stellantis factories in production, along with the US factories of Honda/Toyota/etc. as viable places to build cars for sale in the US.
First of all, I’d reckon that ALL of these factories use SOME level of imported parts, so they would have to be shut down until all parts could be sourced domestically, which would take 5-10 years. But even after that, there simply is not enough US production to meet the current or future demand for vehicles.
Get your ox carts out of the barn and restore them now.
So basically we become Cuba except with cars from the 2020s instead of the 1950s.
But with a fleet of cybercabs mowing people down
If taken to the extreme, I think this would mean that touchscreens and android auto / carplay would cease to exist. AFAIK there is no screen manufacturing capability in the US at the moment, and given that the US manufactures virtually no other products that use screens I just don’t see somebody setting up a cutting edge factory to server just automotive. If they do they’d cost somewhere around $1000 per unit instead of $40.
Whelp, now I’m in support of Fortress America if it means no more screens in cars.
There’s always lemonade in the lemon stand or something like that. Gotta look at the bright side.
I hate to be cynical and contrarían, but there really isn’t any “Best of Times” for the auto industry right now, and lots of “Worst of Times” going on:
– tariffs are making cars more costly to make and expensive to buy, which is bad for consumers and producers
– environmental deregulation slows down the technological progress that tends to make cars better for consumers.
– the segregation of the US car market from the rest of the world will make US products uncompetitive in the rest of the world, which will impact producers negatively.
The last 21 months have been the worst of times for the US car industry (and perhaps for the last 50 years of our country – the time I’ve been alive). It’s hard to be optimistic for the car industry when we still have 2+ years left of this incompetence and corruption. I hope we can rebuild it when this madness end.
I don’t think it’s cynical or contrarian. I think it’s reasonable and realistic.
I love MH but he often treads so lightly that the actual negative aspects of things are vastly downplayed. “Yeah we might become a hermit dictatorship with unbreathable air, but we’ll get some V8’s back maybe!” isn’t exactly a strong case for it being “the best of days.”
Going further, this is how you get sane washing, shifting the window of discourse until being able to roll coal is a question of personal freedom rather clearly deleterious and antisocial behavior, or writ larger the almost certainly crippling consequences of regressing 300 or 400 years economically in a deeply global economy.
I get that Autopian wants to be a place for everyone, but it doesn’t benefit anyone to keep taking bites of shit sandwich and trying to play it off as roast beef; eventually you’re going to get shit sandwich poisoning. This matters on every scale, from writing off huge, dangerous trucks as “automotive freedom” to erratic (American, in this case) dictatorships fomenting war when they’re not just starting one outright.
Lol, or maybe, just maybe, MH doesn’t have a nasty case of TDS and his “sane washing” is just being in touch with reality as it actually is.
Oh no, democratic elections are somehow producing a dictatorship! Also, US emissions have been steadily decreasing for a while now- China’s are up though, as usual.
Lulwut? My dude, total trade with Canada is, on a very good year, 4% of the GDP. And it’s a 4% that’s deeply slanted towards Canada, they have gotten away with being far, far more protectionist than the US has ever been. Also most of the problem on their end is their own stupid internal trade barriers.
“I don’t ever want to hear the dissenting opinions or the other side of the story, I like my echo chamber” is precisely the attitude that killed the old site. Fortunately it seems the Autopian has learned from the mistakes of others. Sometimes hearing opinions you disagree with is healthy.
Democratic elections are all well and good, but you have a former and current president who spent years decrying the election was stolen and damaging the faith in the election process.
You have a current president urging his supporters to “Cheat like hell”. Trump also appears to be trying to bribe the populace with $5,000 for an election win. A not insignificant number of people don’t see a problem with this.
Biden giving $2,000 stimulus checks during COVID was apparently the worst thing to happen to the economy, but $5,000 checks from Trump as election bribes is somehow not bad.
It’s only bad when Trump does it!
Nah, it’s a terrible idea setting a terrible precedent. Trump and the GOP are very far from perfect, and this is a big whiff.
No else has ever come close to attacking the election system the way Trump has. And it is very bad when Trump does it!
Do you get some sad satisfaction out of posting idiotic lies?
Aside from all of the other times it’s happened. But who needs history when you have propaganda from Reddit!.
What lie? Point to it- should be easy, no?
LOL – I’m not going to click some random link posted by a troll.
Do you consider anyone who disagrees with you a troll? How boring.
Spoiler: I clicked and there is no link. It’s literally clickbait.
Your post is a perfect example of what happens with shit poisoning.
“REEEEEE I SHRIEK INVECTIVE AT YOU, YOU DOO-DOO HEAD!!!!”
Pound on that keyboard harder my friend, you’ve almost changed my mind.
I’ll counter that I think we passed the point of environmental regulations helping the consumer about 10-15 years ago. Look at how many major automotive companies are having trouble with engines blowing up, which is largely due to the super thin oil and tight bearing clearances thus required we’re using now. Ford, GM, Kia/Hyundai, Toyota, Honda. All for minuscule increased in fuel economy for the consumer. Any savings from getting 2 mpg more is wiped out by losing an engine prematurely.
Then you have the electronic nannies which are driving up repair costs and thus insurance costs.
Agreed on the cost-benefit analysis on some of the emissions strategies. But if ICE is at peak maturity, all the more reason to incentivize hybrid/EV development. But that would make too much sense…
So I’m all in on hybrids, especially for my delivery car. I had a Ford C-Max until it was totaled 2 years ago. While the initial hybrid transmission had some issues, the engines were rock solid (you can get them for a couple of hundred bucks in junkyards.)
Based on my experience with it, I got a PHEV Escape, as the trans has been updated (they put better bearings in them, which was the problem) and no reports of major problems. The engine was also ‘updated’ and had a proclivity to throw a rod early in it’s life. I got mine used and beyond the mileage where that normally happens!
But, I will say I think PHEV is the technology that needs to go away. If you do enough electric only mileage to make it worth it over the price of a regular hybrid car, you should just get an EV (particularly if you have a 2 car household, you get 1 EV and 1 hybrid for long trips.) Otherwise it’ll take forever to recoup the price difference, and you’re hauling around a heavy battery all the time. Plus, on a societal standpoint, you can make 6-7 hybrids using the same amount of battery capacity. The difference for me was because I was able to take advantage of the PHEV tax credit on a used car, I was able to get the Escape for the same price as a hybrid, so there was no cost penalty for me.
I’ve heard that anecdotally from people with PHEV’s. They go through one tank of gas in 6 months or something crazy. It’s the peace of mind for them having the engine.
My son has a Chevy Volt and he was 18 months on one tank of gas.
See, I go through 1-2 tanks of gas a week (~10 gallons a tank.) I get 30-40 electric miles every day I go to work, so the PHEV part just increases my range by about 120 miles per tank. It gets about 50 mpg doing it this way, when I first bought it they had to order the charging cord, so I drove it for a couple of months with no charging, got 38 mpg. The straight hybrids get in the low 40s. So hauling around the battery with no charging costs about 4-5 mpg.
I will say I don’t even notice the increase in my electric bill.
By the EPA ratings the Escape gets just as good or better mpg than the FWD hybrid, depending on model year. With my wife’s when we were under the do not charge tanks were typically 40-44 MPG and when we take it or mine on road trips the tanks are also in that 40-44 MPG range. Chances are if you only get 38 when not plugging it in then you wouldn’t get any better with the standard hybrid.
You are definitely one of the edge cases while the majority of Americans drive less than the Escape PHEV’s 37 mile range on their typical daily use. I regularly do my 32 mi commute and trips to the store or out for dinner fully electric. My current tank is at 1350 mi and it still has 3/8 of a tank.
PHEVs really were where the emphasis should have been 15 years ago or more. All those DCFCs would never had to have been built, more PHEVs could have been built and sold with less resources with a much larger impact on CO2 emissions.
I’ll hit 2 months on my current tank of gas in my PHEV while my wife will probably go 3 months with hers.
I haven’t seen many hyper efficient light cars like the Insight.
Battery cars?
Plus the poor don’t need all the Nannie’s. Instead it’s a weird reverse thing where the rich got extra safety toys in their vehicles then decided that the poor should pay out of their pocket to use the same toys or be unable to drive. Cars used to be $12k.
Backup cameras are the best example. They say the poor have to have them so they don’t back into any rich kids playing. But now the car has to have a screen, which changes the hvac/ac, increases complexity, ruins repair ability, prevents after market head units, etc.
The poor person didn’t need this or want it. It was forced upon them by someone else who could afford it and thought that meant no one else should be able to drive if so unprivileged.
Gross. Disgusting. Simple minded “more good better” thinking.
I’d say the reverse camera is the best of them, it really is helpful and the camera is fairly protected from damage, and it doesn’t need calibration (unless it’s tied into something else.) It’s the collision avoidance tech that takes all kinds of sensors in bumpers and windshields that require replacement and recalibration after an accident that really drive up the cost. Like a bumper you used to be able to replace with a used one for cheap now requires a trip to the dealer to get recalibrated. Or a $200 windshield is now $1500.
Oh, and those lights that are on the corner of every vehicle (headlights and taillights)? Sure, the LEDs last a lot longer, but if one gets damaged it’s a $1000 or more to replace the entire assembly. But they look so cool. Meanwhile a regular housing costs $50 bucks and the bulbs are under 20 for all of them in the housing.
I see your point, that perhaps we’ve reached peak ICE technology improvements due to environmental regulation.
But I think we would see continually improving (hopefully cheaper) electrified options as we push ourselves with continued, reasonable environmental regulations, whether with hybrids, or with full-on ev’s.
The wrinkle in my argument is the word “reasonable”, which means different things to different people (and interest groups).
But I still contend the overall improvement of cars since the 60s has been driven in a significant part to environmental regulations (along with safety regs, fossil fuel geopolitics, so on.) I would consider environment regs as a societal net-plus, and I hope we don’t keep backtracking from this progress.
(I can do with a few less nannies in my car, though…)
I have told people for years to avoid years with new unreliable smog tech.
It’s built into car sale prices now.
I know of a tier one EPA truck without def required.
That is the prime factor in sale value.
The market recognizes bad technology.
Friends in UK don’t pay anywhere close to what we pay for insurance.
It truly is the blurst of times.
“You stupid monkey!”
Montgomery C. Burns
https://youtu.be/9uYhIiW6lok?is=2xYU2FfazxDqa1l3
Thank you for going exactly where I was headed.
I really hope there is an AI model being trained on these comments.
The Ferrari 550 Maranello
Morgan of Course.
https://dealers.morgan-motor.com/
I would not bother with anything in the past. I see the question as present tense.
Is a Mink Car low volume enough? Driven by a guitar?
Bonus points for learning about the instruments used on Older (rauschpfeife and contrabass sarrusophone). Man I love TMBG.
Wow, 21st Century TMBG…I’ll never forget the day that album was released. Well played, Hardigree.
Of all time? If so, 80s Merkurs. All two models!
Eh, this is a temporary problem, Democrats will have Congress as January, 2027 and the White House as of January, 2029, there’s a hard time limit on how long this trade war stuff can last
You deeply underestimate the ability of Canadians to hold a grudge. Canadian industry and multinationals, different story, but the people…
I am anti-trade war, but this doesn’t sound like much of a downside to me, as someone who doesn’t care for the direction the rest of the world’s auto industry seems to be going.
Yeah, what could possibly go wrong when our biggest domestic automakers become completely uncompetitive in the global market.
1 – Are they competitive now?
2 – Does anything about this situation prevent them from continuing to build vehicles for the rest of the world, either here or in the rest of the world?
1 – They have been in the past. Right now certainly isn’t peak, but there was a time (a long time) that Ford and GM were big in foreign markets. And those times in the past, the global and domestic markets were a lot more similar than they are today.
2 – How would distancing the products offering in the domestic market from what is offered in the foreign market, make our domestic brands more successful abroad? Sure, they may be protected here at home, but you think that fracturing is somehow going to make Ford or GM more competitive in foreign markets?
I guess where I’m not getting the connection is the idea that it’s either-or. Ford and GM already sell different stuff in North America than they do other places. They already can’t sell most of the stuff they specialize in here, elsewhere.
Nevertheless, both find some success overseas, by selling different products.
Big truck sales alone largely pay for the operating profits of these companies and those are North America-only. Nothing about that situation is going to change. So what exactly is going to make them less competitive overseas if they no longer have to lose billions on slow-selling compliance EVs here?
The situation I’m referring to is less choice among Americans for import cars. That’s how I interpreted Matt’s statement. I understand that many will bemoan that lack of choice. My opinion is simply that it’s less of a deal to me, because little about the present and future direction of imported cars holds appeal to me.
You have the typical American attitude where it doesn’t affect you so you don’t care. That attitude is killing this country. Sometimes you need to view things from another perspective.
I never claimed my comment to be anything more than my own opinion, and in fact acknowledged both that I understand others feel differently, and that I’m not happy with the larger circumstances that brought us to this point.
If you still want to interpret it in a hostile manner, be my guest.
Is there a historical analogue that further bolsters your angle? My gut feeling simply comes down to this: Protectionism tends to create niche markets and niche companies within them. It–as far as I’m aware–doesn’t tend to create global market leaders. More succinctly, if protectionism worked, more countries would do it.
Everything you say sounds logical, but it’s not borne out of evidence.
The primary counter example that seems relevant right now is China and its protectionism toward its own auto/EV industry. It’s arguable whether they are global market leaders yet, but certainly that’s the direction they’re headed.
Not a perfect analogue, but similar to how Boeing has money to splash around in jumbo jets because of its status as a large defense contractor, I can visualize a world where selling millions of high margin trucks in a more permissive regulatory climate and in a market protected by tariffs allows Ford and GM to bank enough profits to structurally invest in building market share in overseas operations.
Is that the most likely scenario? Probably not. Is what the administration is envisioning? Again, probably not. Is it what execs at those companies are telling their shareholders and lobbyists is the plan? It might be.
So a limited selection and higher prices for Americans so corporations can make bank?
The US is one of the least protectionist countries on earth.
China is the big automotive conversation because they have the most subsidized and protected auto industry on earth.
This whole US-Canada thing? Canada has historically had extremely high tariffs (200%+ in some cases) on US imports in a number of sectors like lumber and agricultural goods.
Economists like to say protectionism is bad because it increases the costs of goods without an appreciable increase in utility. This is game-theory correct only if you ignore the fact that certain nations have been mashing the DEFECT button for decades now.
The correct response to protectionism is counter-protectionism, followed by a negotiated settlement that de-escalates the situation. If you just sit there and take it, your country gets plundered.
In the apparel industry, a defect button refers to a button that is missing, damaged, or improperly attached, which can affect both the garment’s function and its appearance.
If the 70s fuel crisis taught us anything, it’s that North American automakers will, well, to paraphrase Churchill:
“We can count on domestic automakers to do the right thing, when all other options have been exhausted.”
If the imports didn’t show up and eat their lunch, they’d have told people to just deal with it.
Bro, they want to put fucking cameras in our cars to spy on us. At least Europe has consumer protections. We are all gonna be watched for insurance prices to rise.
Let’s make sure we get the opening lines to “A Tale of Two Cities” correct. It goes like this:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Message, Spock?”
None of which I am consciously aware, except, of course, happy birthday. Surely the best of times.
Revenge is a dish that is best served cold. It is very cold… in space.
Moousk in the the great unknown in the luxury leather padded space cell for himself and the shower of idiot Tech Bois rimming the git to get the appreciation of their licking. Twat is Musk, an over publicised nonentity known as a business opportunist impegnating remotely. Couldn’t be a sadder little man on the face of the earth.
It’s almost jejune to cast shade on the Elongated Muskrat, but the fact that a borderline eugenicist from the land of Apartheid helped install our current regime and is revered as an innovative genius (as opposed to a savvy buyer of prior art) stings a lot. Remember how John Oliver did that “Make Donald Drumph Again” bit? I’d like to see a campaign to rename Elon after William Gibson’s slick malefactor Hubertus Bigend.
The Muskrat is truly a LOMBARD.
TIL a new backronym. It’s perfect!
Wut?
Either AI slop or terminal Musk derangement syndrome. Can’t tell them apart these days.
Wasn’t there a similar opening quote on Babylon 5?
Dystopian cross product of Chaplins “The Dictator” and Marx Bros “Duck Soup” brought to life and shown live on all the networks. Sad.
I suppose if I had to pick a low-volume import, it would be Morgan.
Second that.
With the correct number of wheels (three)
I’d take either one. My one gripe is I don’t think you can get a four-wheeled one with a stick, unless they are offering the sixes with one since BMW now does again.
So in other words, the American car market will basically be what it has always been? Pretty much NOTHING American has sold in any quantity in the rest of the world until Tesla, and thier day seems to be coming to an end in the rest of the world, if not here as well.
And even most of what the import brands sold here in real quantities are cars that were specifically designed for American sensibilities, like the Camry and Accord, and for the past many decades built here too. The truly world cars sold here sold in relatively small numbers or were luxury brands. And even then, we always got models that weren’t REALLY all that representative of what those makes sold elsewhere, even if technically you could get the same spec in other countries. Mercedes being seen as some top-tier luxury brand here while being the world’s leading maker of taxiis in the rest of the world being a fine example.
The American car market has long been an island for reasons both social and regulatory, and one more than big enough to sustain unique product.
But the “American” car market has been largely unified with Canada for a long time. And while they have had sub-compact options that weren’t sold in the US (I see plenty of B-classes and Micras near the border) the market for 4wd/awd vehicles has long been disproportionate to their population (as in, they buy relatively more higher dollar trucks and SUVs) making them very important to to US automakers.
So “the rest of the world” used to mean south america and europe and asia, with the US, Canada, and Mexico having a ton of overlapping vehicles. Now “the rest of the world” will presumably include trying to sell things to Canada and Mexico after doing our damnedest to burn those bridges and shut down their plants.
The chaos of Trump will be gone in two years max, and then things will go back to normal, as MAGA dies with Trump. Any company (or government for that matter) thinking the current situation is permanent is being seriously stupid.
But ultimately, compared to the US, the Canadian new car market is almost rounding error at ~3M cars per year (even though NAFTA made it an important manufacturing center along with Mexico), and as you say, they already allowed in (and bought) things that the US was simply not interested in – the Quebecois in particular LIKE poverty spec hairshirts (so do the French across the pond). Alberta aka Texas North loves pickup trucks, but it’s still not many sales compared to the US. At the end of the day, with a population 1/8th or so that of the US and a housing cost crisis that makes the US seem like housing paradise pretty much across the populated part of the country, Canadians have rather less disposable income than Americans to blow on fancy profitable cars and trucks.
Mexico is a COMPLETELY different car market, and has been for many, many years now. They might as well be Europe, and for much the same reason – the relative poverty of the populace compared to the US (at least the new car buying populace of the US).
Dismissing 80% of the voters as irrelevant didn’t work so well last time, but it probably will if they just keep trying it.
I believe there was some “shut down the bridge” in the mix, too.