“One, Maybe Two” Years Left for VW?

By
eric
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The push to “electrify” everything that rolls is turning out to be a lot like the push to “vaccinate” everyone in that both have turned out to have adverse effects.

VW hasn’t died suddenly – but it is dying.

Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz, speaking to thousands of maybe soon-to-be ex-VW employees, said VW has “one maybe two” years to turn things around else there may no longer be a VW in as little as two years from now. The company is reportedly considering shuttering its plants in Germany – a Hail Mary pass to reduce manufacturing/compliance costs. But moving manufacturing operations to places where it costs less to manufacturer things won’t solve VW’s problems because that is not VW’s core problem.

Its core problem is that it bent-the knee to “electrification.”

More finely, that it bent over when it was accused of “cheating” on federal-level emissions certification tests, which the government used to take away VW’s strongest selling point – affordable, high-mileage vehicles – and crippled it financially by imposing unprecedented fines on the company for selling affordable, high-mileage vehicles.

Specifically, VW’s range of affordable high-mileage diesel-powered vehicles.

VW was the only car company selling a lineup of such vehicles, ranging from the $22k TDI Jetta – a family sedan that could travel more than 500 miles on a tank of fuel – to TDI-powered hatchbacks such as the Golf and Beetle as well as the larger Passat sedan. VW sold far more of these than Tesla sold $50k EVs that go maybe 300 miles.

Hence the problem.

The affordable, high-mileage cars VW was selling had to go – in order to eliminate the alternative to $50k EVs that go maybe 300 miles. Very much of a piece with the way the safe and effective alternatives to the “vaccines” being pushed had to be pushed off the stage.

Ivermectin was derided as “horse paste.” VW’s TDI diesel engines were derided as “dirty” – not because they polluted in any meaningful way but because VW had programmed them to pass federal emissions-certification tests. Every car company does this, just as every kid in government schools who wants to pass a history test goes along with the lie that what happened in 1861-1865 was a “civil war” rather than an attempt by the confederate states to secede from a union-at-gunpoint they no longer wished to be part of.

What happened – as regards the federal emissions-certification tests – is that it was “discovered” VW programmed the software that controlled the operation of its TDI engines to pass the tests.

Oh, the humanity!

Out in the world, when the driver of a TDI-powered VW floored the accelerator pedal, there was a slight and momentary increase in emissions that exceeded the federally-allowable threshold. It was an angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin difference and in normal times would have been No Big Deal because it wasn’t one. But it became a Very Big Deal because it provided the excuse needed to get rid of the affordable, high-mileage alternatives to the battery powered vehicles that were just then on the verge of being pushed as hard as the “vaccines” at the height of COVID Fever.

VW has never recovered from this – and it is not likely it will ever recover from this.

VW’s brand name stands for people’s car – a kind of tautology for affordable cars – and that is what VW used to sell but no longer does. Instead it is trying to sell battery-powered devices such as the ID.4 – which has a base price just shy of $40,000 (and a standard range of just over 200 miles) that escalates from there to just shy of $60,000.

On deck is an “electrified” Hippie Bus that only aged and wealthy hippies will be able to afford as it is expected to have a base price of just shy of $50k.

These are not people’s cars. They are affluent people’s cars. And there are only so many of them and for that reason only so many can be sold to them.

And that is why VW has “one, maybe two” years left.  It is not a luxury-car brand that can survive selling far fewer cars (devices) to far fewer people at far higher prices. Mercedes and other luxury-car brands can do it that way because they are luxury-car brands and so – ipso facto – don’t sell many vehicles.

VW cant afford to operate that way, however – because people who have the $50k to spend want a luxury-brand for their money. VW trying to sell luxury-priced devices is akin to McDonald’s trying to sell a $15 plant-based Quarter Pounder.

Now, some news stories are spinning VWs’ woes as arising from union/labor cost woes but this is – to put it bluntly – bullshit. The company’s management is bleeding the company of green to appease the greens who are, of course, red. It continues to go along with “electrification” – much as some people continue to get their “boosters.” The company sluiced $5 billion to Rivian – the device-manufacturer of $70k-plus electric trucks and SUVs that cost Rivian $30k each to sell – as part of a “partnership” to develop more devices.

Hari meet kari.

The same, by the way, is happening to Stellantis. Or at least to the Dodge and Chrysler brands owned by Stellantis. They no longer sell the models that Dodge and Chrysler buyers want to buy. In fact, they sell hardly anything at the moment. Chrysler is down to just one model – the Pacifica Minivan – and Dodge has nothing to offer other than the Hornet, a small crossover that’s a far cry from a Charger or a Challenger and the leftover Durango, which probably won’t be around for much longer, either.

Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, said the other day that there is no longer a market for cars; rather there is a “state-imposed supply chain.”  The industry manufacturers what the government demands – and the market be damned.

Exactly so.

The disease process has entered its terminal stage. VW – and Stellantis – and not just them, either – haven’t got much time left.

Just as was intended by the pushers of “electrification.” Of a piece with what was intended by the pushers of “vaccination.”

Behold the results.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. It Was Only 11 Years Ago
  2. 30 Years of Stagnation
  3. VW Loses Money For The First Time in 15 Years
  4. VW Exec to Plead Guilty to Non-Crime, Faces 169 Years
  5. Four Years a Slave

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94 COMMENTS

  3. They will be bailed out and then they’ll be under more obligation to the state to produce what it wants produced. It may get that we’ll just expect that all car companies are money losing propositions and that they need to be subsidized by the government, much like public transport. This will give the government what it wants, which is a car industry that it can’t just cajole and issue rules to abide by, but a car industry that is completely reliant on the government for it’s ability to stay afloat.

  4. Not surprisingly VW is backing off the all electric by 2030.

    That is if they even make it to 2030…..

    VW is running ads that feature their cars of the past, kind of like that recent GM ad did.

    When you let government dictate your products, you are going to go broke. Remember the people “running” governments are the people who fail at running businesses.

  6. Today the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% last month.

    But a recession indicator called the Sahm rule is based not on a single data point, but rather a three-month average. And the three-month average actually rose from last month, triggering the Sahm rule again for the third month in a row. It says, recession dead ahead.

    The last deep recession in 2007-2009 bankrupted GM and Chrysler. Very likely, the recession that’s beginning now will bust them again, along with other weak players such as Nissan and Volkswagen.

    Our task is to clamor to Clowngress: NO BAILOUTS. Let ’em die! Or in the immortal words of Andrew Mellon:

    “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate, liquidate auto makers. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.”

    [I tampered with the quote by adding auto makers.]

  7. VW’s biggest market was China…but the Chinese market has gone mostly to EV’s now…cheap EV’s produced by their domestic manufacturers like BYD, Geeley, etc…these domestic manufacturers are subsidized by the government…which gives them a price advantage….so VW’s EV’s are not selling very well…VW has huge problems….and EV’s in general are not selling well anywhere outside of China….

    these domestic Chinese EV manufacturers are subsidized by the government…which gives them a price advantage…..they have a huge price advantage over any manufacturer anywhere…..so countries are now putting up to 100% tariffs on Chinese made EV’s…..if they could dump their cheap EV’s on the market they would kill off all the other EV manufacturers…..own the whole car industry….

    This whole EV push only benefited China…they supply 80% of all the important components and batteries in EV’s….whose idea was that?….bought off politicians?….

    • VW’s biggest market was China…but the Chinese market has gone mostly to EV’s now…

      Not long ago…before EV’s ….a lot of the taxis. police cars, etc., in China were Mk2 VW Jetta’s manufactured there…some under Chinese names…millions of them were manufactured and sold there…

      the Mk2 Jetta was built from 1992 to 2012 in China

      A 1.9 SDI naturally aspirated diesel engine was available during the 2000s – this model is famed among taxi drivers for being astoundingly reliable and fuel efficient.

      In 1996, Mr Su Yaohong, a cab driver from Zhuhai, Guangdong set the record for having driven his FAW-VW Mk2 Jetta taxi over 600,000 kilometers without an engine rebuild.

      This record was widely reported by Chinese news, and made the durability of the Jetta well known throughout China. All versions of the Mk2 Jetta were widely used as fleet vehicles in China – taxis, police cars, driving school vehicles… the mighty Mk2 did it all.

      Now the Chinese market has gone to cheap EV’s…lots of lithium battery fires now….

      https://hanchungclassics.com/blogs/hcc-blog/the-30-year-history-of-the-mk2-jetta-in-china

      • In 1996, Mr Su Yaohong, a cab driver from Zhuhai, Guangdong set the record for having driven his FAW-VW Mk2 Jetta taxi over 600,000 kilometers without an engine rebuild.

        Go buy a Mk2…or Mk3 or Mk4 VW diesel……40 mpg city, 60 mpg highway…..

  10. They had great engineers….

    The king of them all..

    Audi’s Craziest SUV – The £155,000…$196,000… Q7 V12 6.0 lt. twin turbo DIESEL…..

    Exclusive Concept!

    738 lb ft torque detuned from 1000 lb ft…to save the transmission…

    The only V12 diesel in a road car in history….they are now a collector’s car….

    It sold terribly, only about 50 units over the full course of production of 4 years.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAcjeGOVwWQ

    • They had great engineers….

      The Audi A2 3L – The REAL 100 MPG car!

      Powered by proven technology, a diesel engine….an engine that can last 400,000 miles….and has a huge range…..not an EV with hardly any range…..not an EV that is scrapped at 100,000 miles…because the battery is dead and the car is unrepairable anyways……

      Maybe the perfect ice powered car…..a car that could get up to 125 mpg…..so less polluting, because it uses far less fuel….a car far smaller and lighter that wasted far less resources when it was built, then an EV…. which gave it a much smaller carbon footprint when built……and no 1000 lb lithium fire bomb battery, to burn your house down when charging….no replacing expensive tires…in some cases… every 5000 miles…like an EV….

      Car only weighs about 1900 lb….the engine only weighs about 200 lb….it can get over 100 mpg and carries four people….

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPnQneEtVs

      • Why the Volkswagen XL1 was the Veyron of eco cars.

        10 liter…2.6 gallon gas tank…range 800 miles….refuel in 20 seconds….300 mpg…during testing they got 340 mpg….best fuel economy in history….

        to maintain 60 mph requires only 8.3 hp….designed for long distance driving or short commutes….curb weight about 1600 lb….

        2013 VW XL1 new price about $122,000…..most recent used price the same…no depreciation….

        after ten years an EV has about 100% depreciation….because it needs a $22,000 battery….

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_xxF0v1Yrs

        Thrown away in favor of useless EV’s…

        • 2013 VW XL1 new price about $122,000…..most recent used price the same…no depreciation….good things don’t depreciate….

  11. The German government has one of the controlling seats on VW’s board. The cars they build are gimped because of government edicts, both in the US and EU. The rest of the world gets EU-spec cars since those are easier to build, but the US and EU control automakers’ product features. VW also thought they could play nice with the labor unions.

    It’s is impossible to appease government, and labor unions, because once you accede to their demands, the demands change, in an ever tightening ratchet.

    In a free market, VW could choose not to use union labor or to build a car that customers want, but we don’t have a free market. We have government mandates over the manufacturing of cars, the hiring of labor, the usage of energy, the emissions of fuel. This is a textbook definition of fascism; private ownership, but government control.

    So, VW is being killed by the fascist governments of the US and EU. Yes, they’ve made some bad product decisions, such as overly complicated systems, or touch screens which nobody likes to cut costs, but they’re operating in an increasingly tight “window” of design possibilities, and that window is set by government.

    Unlike others here, I don’t hold VW solely responsible for their own demise. They used to make really great, affordable products. Today, they are required to have a bunch of airbags, cameras, speed limit assist, distracted driving mitigation, backup cameras, tall doors and trunk for impact standards, tall front for pedestrian impact standards, heavy structure for passenger crash cell strength, which makes the car heavy. On the other side, they have increasing efficiency standards, which are at odds with safety standards because you want low weight. The moment they spend $billions developing a new engine, it’s out of date with emissions requirements, and they have to now develop a new engine, and so forth.

    The problem is government, folks, not VW.

    • Hear! hear! Definitely fascist with a tad of commieism for flavor but the NPCs will tell you it’s the land of the free. Sure enough is! Anyone that is NOT a natural born citizen gets it all free. We have lost control of corpgov, (did we ever have control?), and corpgov now has a despotic mind of its own and has lost control of its spending,

    • VW started out as a Government initiative, actually under the Nazi regime as Hitler’s KDF, or “Strength Through Joy” car, though it’s chief designer, Ferdinand Porsche, and everyone else, called it “Der Kafer”, or Beetle. Much of the Wolfsburg factory design was taken from Ford’s River Rouge plant. The cars intended for the German private motorists, rather than being bank financed, were to be paid in advance, via a savings program. Meanwhile, sales of VWs to the military and civilian agencies would keep VW going until private buyers saved the purchase price, equal to about $500 US. However, WWII intervened before one Beetle was delivered to a private customer, and in 1945, the Soviets confiscated the nearly 300 M DM of the VW saving fund as war reparations.

      However, thanks to the determination of a British engineer to restart production at the abandoned Wolfsburg plant, VW was reborn, and the rest is history.

    • Its always the government, US being the worst. What do they add of any value? I cant think of one thing. Unless its creating the conditions for epic collapse, hopefully resulting in the elimination of stoopid people.

  12. My biggest problem with VW is that they keep decreasing the available engines, body styles, and features that I want. I loved their 6-speed Jetta TDI wagon. That was probably the pinnacle of what I wanted in a car. Even disregarding the whole diesel-gate garbage, VW still, later on, got rid of the Jetta/Golf station wagon (it changed names from Jetta to Golf a few years ago). That, and getting rid of the 2-door Golf, was the last straw for me. Now they’re just as bad as every car company, offering little to no options for body styles. I do give them slightly more credit than companies like Ford, who have NO cars at all (except Mustang), but still…

    • And I’m still toying with the idea of finding a manual 2dr Golf TDI to make my work car/project car, damn shame ain’t it?

      Only good company really is Toyota, as other than verts & HD Diesels, they got exactly whatcha want: https://s3mag.com/toyota-is-earning-their-fanbase-the-old-fashion-way/. No, they’re no longer perfect, but you got 3 affordable-ish sports cars, a truck with a stick, and a board didn’t dive head first into the shallow end (EV’s).

      Shame about the others, sure Dodge and VW are gonna be gone soon enough

  13. Jumping on the EV bandwagon is just ONE of the things killing VW. Another is not-so-robust electronics, and their the over-abundance of plastic used in their cars (and not just cosmetics). Notice that you rarely see a >10 year-old VW on the road. Better chance of seeing a 50 year-old VW on the road than a 15 year-old one, as 50 years ago they made them very simple, with all electro-mechanical parts and only used plastics on the interiors (And even at that very sparingly.)

    Killing the old Bug and making the Rabbit was the beginning of the end, just like Cadillac killing the reliable old V*’s and switching to the HT4100 was the beginning of their slow lingering death.

      • The Seville might have have taken Cadillac down a notch in status, but that’s not what killed them, as they weren’t terrible cars, and were quite popular. Ditto the Cimmaron (Gussied-up Chevy Cavalier)…but the HT4100, as well as downsizing, going front-wheel drive, etc. really destroyed Cadillac’s commercial market base, and of course the luxury/old fogy base, which left them with nothing. And then there was the 350-diesel and the 4-6-8 and Northstar. Considering, it’s amazing that they’re still in business, but I guess being a part of GM and the gov’t bailouts……

        Cadillac is a textbook example of how to destroy a company whose name was once a world standard of quality and status.

        • Amen, Arthur –

          It’s worth noting that the only Cadillac that’s still a Cadillac (sort of) that sells well is the Escalade. Why? Because it’s big and brash and has a big V8. That is what defines a Cadillac. A BMW-emulating “sport sedan” isn’t. Neither is a FWD mid-sized car with a four or (maybe) a six.

    • Since 2000…since the Mk 4 VW Golf…they have been galvanized, there is lots of Mk 4 Golfs on the road still…..and lots of Mk5, Mk6, Mk7 and Mk8’s

      When Fiat brought out the FWD 128 it forced VW to design something to compete with it…VW brought out the highly successful Mk1 Golf, to replace the Beetle…they invented the hot hatch…..the Fiat 128 was a great design, with a fantastic Ferrari designer designed Lampredi engine…the Mini was the first production, small FWD car that started that trend….the Fiat 128 came out next…a long time ago Fiat made some great cars….

      • That right there sums it up. Throwing away a durable simple, economical “people’s car” to make disposable transportation appliances, because competing with F(ix) I(t) A(gain) T(ony) instead of continuing with what made them successful. Of course, as usual, government is the ultimate culprit-destroyer, as the Bug was outlawed in most major markets, like the US and Eurofornia…

  14. Anybody that knows much about cars could see this coming. Yet all the so-called experts (except Eric) went right along with it, and continue to double down on it. What a shame.

    • “Anybody that knows much about cars could see this coming.”

      By that I mean the bankrupting of auto makers caused by government meddling forcing them to build vehicles that few people want where they lose money for each one sold.

    • From the first paragraph:

      “Here’s an extreme, but not irrational prediction: Most of the legacy car manufacturers won’t make it. They will not survive this EV wildfire that’s taken over the industry.”

      The wildfire hasn’t “taken over the industry”. The wildfire is happening because some men with guns are pouring fuel on that fire. EV’s weren’t a market phenomenon, they were a regulatory mandate. Tesla seems to have initially started building EV’s that were fun and people wanted to buy, which showed that maybe EV’s are technically possible now, and that’s when the mandates started happening.

      • As I said, last year, so it needs an updating. Still, a lot of manufacturers dove into the water head first not realizing it’s the shallow end, and won’t recover from this, VW and Stellaris being prime examples.

        Only hope is the family of Dodge buys back Chrysler/Dodge and they fix it all up, as well as “the mandates” and shit being dropped, so they can do a slightly modernized Challenger without being gimped

      • ‘Tesla seems to have initially started building EV’s that were fun and people wanted to buy, which showed that maybe EV’s are technically possible.’ — OppositeLock

        Of equal importance, in March 2007, Tesla reported the Roadster’s efficiency on the EPA highway cycle as “135 mpg equivalent, per the conversion rate used by the EPA.” By 2010, EPA ‘crats (probably after lobbying, wining and dining by Elon) adopted Tesla’s profoundly misleading MPGe criterion, which totally excludes thermal power plant efficiencies in the 35 to 45 percent range.

        Regulatory lawyers who only understand numbers preceded by dollar signs saw triple-digit MPGe figures and shrieked like three-year-olds grabbing a chocolate birthday cake with both hands. ‘Three times more better than hokey old hydrocarbon chuffers! EeeVees for all! For the climate! For the children!’

        The comically mistaken belief that traditional MPG and MPGe are comparable reminds one of the role of ‘sea level’ in the Laufenburg bridge fiasco:

        ‘Germany and Switzerland agreed to build a bridge over the Rhine between their cities on either side, both named Laufenburg. It was nearing completion in 2003 when both nations realized that one half of the bridge was 54 cm (21 in) higher than the other.

        ‘The error came up because of how each country defined “sea level.” Germany uses the North Sea to define sea level, while Switzerland prefers the Mediterranean Sea. The two differ by 27 cm. Both parties knew this and had factored it into their calculations. However, someone reversed the adjustment, such that the disparity was doubled, causing one side of the bridge to rise 54 cm too high.’ — listverse.com

        Repeat after me, Michael Regan: there is no such thing as 100 MPGe, measured in coal consumption at the smoke-belching power plant. Based on this simple conceptual error, you pissed away hundreds of billions. And Woke automotive ‘journalists’ (who can’t balance a checkbook) still don’t understand what happened.

        • I’m an engineer who sees through this BS and I know how to do math…

          MPGe is a lie. It originally started out as a way to compare energy consumption disingenuously. A gasoline engine is about 30% efficient, diesel about 40%, meaning, they turn that percentage of the chemical energy in gasoline into motion. So, someone did some backwards math, and computed the kJ (kiloJoules) consumed per mile.

          Enter electric cars. Electric inverters + motors + batteries together are nearly 90% efficient at turning energy stored chemically in batteries into motion, so when you compute kJ of battery charge consumed per mile, you immediately get about 3x the mileage per kJ of a gasoline engine, and you ignore the fact the thermal engine with its losses is running elsewhere to produce the electricity.

          It’s really a nonsensical thing to compare.

        • “profoundly misleading MPGe criterion, which totally excludes thermal power plant efficiencies in the 35 to 45 percent range.”

          If you assume/believe magic fairies… magically put the energy in the battery…with no losses doing that…. then with a 90% efficient motor turning the wheels…. you can calculate great MPG numbers….the whole EV myth is built on 100% lies….

          Someone asked the GM CEO where the electricity comes from….she pointed to the wall plug….moron….

          This is great until you realize that in the very beginning there was a 65% energy loss at the generation plant….the gas, coal, oil, etc. powered steam turbine is only about 35% efficient, burning the fuel. to produce steam, to turn the turbine, to turn the generator….then there is more losses in the transmission and distribution lines and in the charger…net, net, after all those energy losses…. at the wheels an EV is about 25% efficient….

          An ice gas engine is up to 35% efficient, an F1 gas engine is 50% efficient, a new diesel is up to 50% efficient, a new steam engine is over 50% efficient….so a 25% efficient EV uses more fuel…pollutes more…a step backwards…why are they pushing them?…for control…no other reason…..

          • Go back to steam power…..

            There is a modern steam engine to power vehicles that can burn various fuels, it is up to 60% efficient, that is better then any ice or EV vehicle, with today’s technology it could be near zero emissions….

            A steam engine is the same as an electric motor as in….it has 100% torque at one rpm….

            https://cyclonepower.com/#

            During the first three months of ownership, EVs were 2.3 times as expensive to service as gasoline-powered cars. At the 12-month mark, repair costs were about 1.6 times what owners of gas-powered cars paid.
            It’s Not Parts. It’s Labor

            Electric cars depreciate over two times faster than their internal combustion engine counterparts, a serious black mark when it comes to tallying up your actual yearly cost to run your vehicle!

            A 1913 Bugatti type 22 is 108 years old and still daily driven. A Tesla is scrap after 10 years.

            But mechanical systems, like Jay Leno’s 1832 steam engine can last for centuries, get a steam powered car, they run on wood.
            Steam powered cars have the same advantage as electric cars, instant torque.
            A new steam engine is over 50% efficient, an EV is 25% efficient, if it is very cold out it is 12% efficient.

            Howard Hughes’ 1925 Doble E20 went 0 to 75 mph in just 5 seconds, with its engine turning over at less than 1,000 rpm, a steam engine is a very low rpm engine.

            The tesla plaid motors runs at up to 19,000 rpm, that sounds dangerous, will wear out quickly, car electric motors are too high rpm. The steam engine goes 600,000 miles without an overhaul. After 100,000 miles the tesla battery is dead so it is worthless, scrapped, at 19,000 rpm the motors are probably gone too..

            Howard Hughes’ 1925 Doble E20 top speed was 133 mph in 1925, with today’s technology the steam powered car might be quicker then anything.

            The steam engine goes 600,000 miles without an overhaul, this better then most gas ice engines. In a tesla the battery goes in 100,000 miles so in 600,000 miles you go through 6 teslas, a huge waste of resources….

            NOTE RANGE: Steam powered vehicle 1500 mile range on 17 gallons of water, they are the king of range better then ice. BEV has a very short range, Mercedes BEV at top speed on highway = 100 miles.

            A steam engine burning hydrogen is zero % emission, an EV is remote high emissions at a coal burning power plant.

            • There is a modern steam engine to power vehicles that can burn various fuels, it is up to 60% efficient, that is better then any ice or EV vehicle,

              The controllers don’t want this released…..too much mobility for the slaves….and it can burn various fuels…electricity is better control….just turn it off…

  16. “But moving manufacturing operations to places where it costs less to manufacture things won’t solve VW’s problems because that is not VW’s core problem.”

    That’s true of most every manufacturer in Europe and North America.

    • In fact they often make less profit by moving to other countries because labor is not that big a factor in automated production. And 3rd world standards are much lower for quality and customer satisfaction. But moving offshore does get you into a much less communist regime (even in China or Vietnam) since a simple honest payoff beats a shakedown by the american communist government.

  17. I never understood why VW didn’t hire the most high powered law firm in DC to fight that ridiculous fine. If that failed they should have told Uncle to get stuffed and closed down their entire USSA operations rather than pay a nickel in fines. Maybe thousands of people suddenly losing their jobs and crying to their Clowngress person would have stopped the insanity; unfortunately we’ll never know.

    • That’s what people with backbone do.

      You know, the kind of people who never actually get promoted into management because management is all about being a political chameleon.

      • Publius: Maybe Eric:

        I am really vague on this since it happened so long ago and I read the book many, many years ago. I believe it was written by one of the men who “rescued” a dying auto firm. (History points me to Chrysler, since they were so near death so many times.) Name of the book, name of the man, totally escapes me. He claimed he always made sure he had at least one on his staff who he could rely on to cry “Bullshit” when he proposed something hare-brained. It pulled him back to sanity, and at least made him consider his plans more thoroughly. How many executives tolerate the kind of guy who doesn’t say “Yes, Sir, brilliant!” never time he proposes something idiotic? How many politicians?

        (Doesn’t sound like either Romney or Iacocca.)

        • It sounds exactly like Iacocca.
          Doesn’t sound like you did much research, or cared enough to do it, but Ford fired Lee Iacocca because he told Ford how full of shit he was. Lee was actually the inventor of the Mustang, without him there’d have been no Pony cars at all. He wanted Ford to bring the original minivan to market and was fired for it. So when he was brought in to save Chrysler, he helped bring the K car to market quickly and then the minivan followed for Dodge, Chrysler. When the public bought them like hotcakes, then rest of the Crowd, GM and Ford, and foreign makers followed with their own copies. Learn something before conjecturing, it’s all out there, just look for it. And yes, autos are in a world of hurt cuz of apathy by consumers and demands of political (((leaders))).

          • Saxons Wrath: “Learn something before conjecturing, it’s all out there, just look for it.”

            Maybe you need to read my post more carefully. I cannot believe Iacocca would tolerate a “Bullshit Man” any more than I believe Trump would. Or maybe you should point out to me the name of the book and the quote. Seems like you are the one conjecturing. I said I didn’t know! Have you the humility to do the same?

            If you can give me the citation, I will gladly make notes, so I won’t have to admit I don’t know if I try to cite the comment again..

  18. Remember when diesel powered cars were the environmetalists’ solution to the MPG and emissions problems? Then the environmentalists saw that the diesel powered cars were working as intended and changed from positive to negative on diesel engines.

  19. What did VW expect, after it signed up for the suicide death spiral? There is no appreciable market for EVs. What there is has been created at gun point. VW, along with Stellantis, just so happen to be at the point of the spear, on the receiving end. More to come.

  21. Volvo is shooting for a 2030 line-up of models that are all electric. Good luck with that.

    The meddlesome Demonrats are imposing their will on the US Steel deal with Nippon. Does the gov own US Steel to tell US Steel and Nippon what they can and can’t do? Doubtful, so why do they stick their noses into somebody else’s business?

    X lost six dollars per share yesterday on the big board all because of Biden and his slippery motives and chicanery.

    X traded 51 million shares yesterday, on any other normal trading day it would be two to three million shares.

    A sell-off of epic proportions. Cashed in near its 50 dollar share price except for a few shares. The money is there, and US Steel shares are gone.

    FJB

    • Volvo is shooting for a 2030 line-up of models that are all electric. Good luck with that.

      Actually, they have recently slightly started backtracking:

      Volvo Cars said in the statement that by 2030 it now aimed for between 90% and 100% of cars sold to be fully electric or plug-in hybrid models, while up to 10% would be so-called mild hybrids, where electric power only supplements the combustion engine.

      “Volvo Cars abandons 2030 EV-only target”

    • [Does the gov own US Steel to tell US Steel and Nippon what they can and can’t do?]

      No but it can regulate both. Over regulation has sliced and diced economy pooch. It is why America cannot compete in the world.

      For a “Free Economy” to work,,, it has to be free.

      Government should tend to its business and leave the private sector mostly alone.

  22. The freedom Reversal of Freedom Act aka Clean Air Act is nearly the same age as me. Left unconstrained by 61 years of government interference I often wonder where the automotive industry as a whole would be. Carburetors or injection? Rotary engines or pistons or gas turbines? Sigh. What could’ve been…

    BTW, “reversal of freedom act” is from the Simpsons mocking the Endangered Species Act.

    • I have wondered the same thing. In the absence of government regulations, I believe that we would still have electronic fuel injection and electronic overdrive transmissions. I’m not sure that we would have have gone from leaded gasoline, but for those things to work, there might have been a market for unleaded gas. I believe that with more precise metering and combustion, the “emissions” levels would have dropped enough to substantially clean the air. Electronics also have the side benefit of simplifying mechanical systems and also reducing their assembly costs. Growth in the electronics world has been nothing short of staggering in the last 60 years. Much of that would have made its way to cars regardless, as engineers would find new applications for the technology.

      In the absence of government regulation, I believe that cars would have been as “saaaaafe” as they are today, maybe safer.

      Ask anyone who drives a car and they will tell you that a modern car is safer than one made 60 years ago. Ask anyone and they will say that it is because of safety regulations. That’s where they are wrong. In a previous article on Erics website, he showed that many of the things that people said made people safer did not occur because of regulations. Radial Tires, disc brakes, anti roll bars (sway bars), upgraded shocks, unibody fwd cars, halogen headlamps (followed by LED), and other items had nothing to do with government regulation and were introduced and placed on the road beginning in the early 1970s. As the cars entered into the vehicle mix in the 1980s, the fatality rate dropped from about 3.5 to 2.0 by 1990. So much for NHTSA’s justificaiton. As airbag equipped automobiles entered the market in the middle 1990s, the fatality rate was around 1.7 for a numger of years. It didn’t drop apprciably. The 2008 recession caused the numbers to appear lower for a few years.

      As the latest round of FMVSS standards began to be required, the highway fatality rate reversed and turned up from 2014 on.Part of it was due to a stronger economy. Part of it was due to the crap outward visibility of cars made since 2009. It has shown up in all categories, especially pedestrians. In 2009, fewer than 4000 peds lost their lives. By today, over 8400 lost their lives. I’m pretty sure that has translated on all highway classifications.

      As much as the EPA, NHTSA needs to be shuttered and thrown in a landfill.

  23. I have driven VWs all my life. My first was a 1968 Microbus, then a 1972 Beetle, a 1975 Rabbit…all the way to my 2018 Atlas.
    I will mourn, but all things eventually die. Sad that it was a case of suicide.
    The diesel thing could have been fought on a number of factors at a tiny fraction of the cost of what the ended up paying. But VW management threw themselves at the mercy of the court. A court that has no mercy and delights in inflicting pain.
    Germany is getting what it voted for so no sympathy there. It may turn, or may not. Germany had changed. Most Germans today are total beta-cucks afraid of being called racist. They might actually go extinct soon. But it would be their own doing, a sad end to a long heritage or art, music, culture, literature and engineering.
    What id like to do is find a way to buy the designs and tooling for those diesel Jettas. We could make them at the old VW plants in Mexico.
    Aa fR as the US feral government, well that is an entity whose days are numbered. I wouldn’t count on their continued existence for much longer.

  24. Not only the cheap VW TDI, but also their fantastic V6, which AFAIK was not involved in the tempest in a teapot scandal. The Audi A7 TDI was a masterpiece of automobile engineering, now gone forever.

  25. I ask this question in all seriousness…could anything the car manufacturers produce today truly make us happy? It doesn’t matter if it is an ICE, EV, or hybrid I believe we are past the point of eyeing any automobile with a look of want or appreciation. Government has ruined the auto industry. That is the nail in the coffin for the whole sector. Government killed one of the most enjoyable purchases that most people wanted to make (less the trip to the dealership itself and the salespeople).

    If the Dodge Viper returned with its standard V10 or Lexus brought back the V8 in its models, would any of us be content? No, because they are a Nanny on Wheels. Getting behind the wheel of a car is no longer fun. The car chirps, nags, and bellows at you for wanting to enjoy yourself. Who the hell wants that and why would you spend $50,000 for it?

    • ‘I believe we are past the point of eyeing any automobile with a look of want or appreciation.’ — Raider Girl

      Or as Cheech & Chong put it, ‘Hey, man — I think we’re parked!’

      Auto makers have achieved what was formerly thought possible only for telcos, cable companies, and the insurance mafia: making their own customers despise them.

      Peak arrogance was reached in the aftermath of the pandemic, when their biz-gov partnership decided to shove EeeVees [and ‘vaccines,’ from another biz-gov partnership] down our throats.

      Now it’s payback time. Recession lurks, as confirmed by yesterday’s dismal job openings report. That’s when brain dead auto makers get reminded that they are in the consumer discretionary sector. When people are unemployed, or hearing layoff rumors, they keep their old car going instead of splashing out for a new one.

      All well and good. But we can add to the downhill momentum by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) as to whether auto makers can even survive to service their vehicles and sell parts. Kick them when they’re down.

      • Meanwhile the UAW folks are rooting for more it. Of course that is management who are lay-off proof and still get full pay and benefits during mass layoffs or strikes.
        I live in the south. I know not a union stronghold but there are enough around where I consult. I would estimate that >90% of them will support the Orange guy in defiance of the union upper hierarchy.
        They know the Democrats really don’t care about them. I know one mid level union official at a paper mill. The union requires him to hand out Harris pamphlets to all the members, but he has a Trump sticker on his truck, like most of the members

    • Not to mention the vampiric “public safety” apparat designed solely to torment the driver. Calling the right to drive a privilege, radar surveillance, road blocks by gestapo, the crusade against “drunk” (and lately “impaired” because there just aren’t enough drunks), and the mandatory insurance bullspit. All occurring and/or metastasizing within my short life span.

      It is dangerous to drive, because of the criminal gangs. Especially if you happen to act free by driving something interesting or look wealthy enough to plunder.

    • RG I always enjoy your commentary.

      “Government has ruined the auto industry.”

      I beg to differ. Having worked for two OEMs over 27 years, I ruined my career by not taking the mandated jab. It was a hard choice to make.

      Likewise, the industry had hard choices to make. They chose the easy path which was to cooperate with and comply with Govt mandates they know were counter to their customers wants and needs. They could have fought back by putting information on the vehicle (not the Monroney sticker – that would be illegal – LoL!) detailing regulatory compliance costs the customer was being forced to absorb. They could have refused to sell cars in CA and CARB compliant states. They could have lobbied fiercely as others have suggested. There are all sorts of strategies that could work but they chose submission and compliance.

      So I argue the auto industry ruined it for themselves.

      The government always tries to control us. The only way we survive is to resist. The failure to resist will have dire consequences for all of us. . .

      • Burn it down, you may have ruined your career by not taking a Slab Jab, but you saved your life.

        Easy choice in retrospect, but hard in the moment. Many have done it, but a whole lot more chose the easy wrong thing by getting jabbed, and not the hard right one of not getting slowly killed by Jabbing.

      • I appreciate the compliment, Bid.

        I don’t disagree with anything you have written. The auto manufacturers could have fought back.

        I really wish a car manufacturer would “re-introduce” some of these great older cars. No bells and whistles (or new safety crap). Just make them exactly how they made them at that time. I would love to see a remake of the Nissan 300ZX, or the 1980s Audi Quattro, the Buick Grand National, or the Ford Mustang GT with the 5.0 engine, the Toyota Celica, or hell I would take the old Volvo 740 station wagon. They could offer them for a limited time and make about 10K of them and see how well they sell. I would be first in line as long as they did not have any nanny equipment on them. Cup holders and cassette/CD player are optional.

        • Interestingly,
          I found a VW restoration business here in tiny town TN today. They had a fully restored 1978 VW bus for a mere $38K. I personally rue the day that I sold my 1967 Beetle. That said, if one could take the technological advances of say the Toyota/Lexus 3.5 liter V6 and those in tire and battery technology up to a point and put them into interesting cars, the market would take care of these problems. (By battery technology, I do not mean lithium ion driven tanks like the Tesla et al, but rather reliable batteries for starting ICE real cars.) I don’t understand the appeal of any car made today….they just have all the appeal of a cell phone.

  26. ZeroHedge adds a couple of pertinent details, in a post this morning:

    ‘Ferdinand Dudenhöffer sees an “age-old VW problem” because the carmaker is “more like a state enterprise than a market-driven company.” The problem will persist, he told Deutsche Welle [also state-owned — JH], as long as VW’s company structure remains “flawed.” Along with its 20% stake and a seat on the VW board, the state of Lower Saxony also was granted a blocking minority on key decisions.

    ‘Lower Saxon State Premier Stephan Weil already has criticized VW’s management, saying “the question of plant closures will not arise due to the successful use of alternatives.” [He said ‘successful’ — har har har!]

    ‘If you look at the largest European firms, it really is the old continent. Most either date back more than 50 years themselves, or were derived from other firms that do. The trifecta of corporations, unions, and governments we have built does not easily allow for new entrants.’

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/volkswagens-choice-fire-union-workers-and-cut-costs-or-go-bankrupt

    ‘The trifecta of corporations, unions and governments’ says it all. These are the LAST three actors in any economy that, in concert, ever will innovate, excel, or serve customers.

    Screw state enterprise. Burn it down.

    • The Germans should never have signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. There are two distinctly different people in the east and west. Recall that Angela Merkel was from the east (although technically West German by birth), and many of her collision’s policies are why Germany is floundering today. The East Germans were used to an extremely strong government machine and they infiltrated the country at all levels. The Westerners were used to a more Laissez-faire central authority (in part because they were occupied by 3 different countries who probably couldn’t agree on anything) and the freedom to prosper -but only after a few years spent in an apprenticeship under the union control, working for a massive conglomerate. Meet the new oppressor, same as the old oppressor… yet still you could quit and get a different job, not to mention you probably had a pretty full belly and could afford to buy the products you were building.

      It was said when Germany began Energiewende their power grid was so reliable no one bothered to have backup systems, even in critical infrastructure like hospitals and telecom switching centers. As they got rid of on-demand reliable energy the grid began to operate much like the US grid, requiring investment in UPS and other backup systems. I wonder how many East German trained electrical engineers and technicians came over to the west?

      • >The Germans should never have signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.

        Yeah, well…
        Germany hasn’t been an independent country since 1945.
        That’s what happens when you lose two world wars. You get to do as you are told. Too bad, so sad.

        For that matter, it was not in Germany’s national interest to sign the Treaty of Versailles. But, they had guns held to their heads. Specifically, every naval gun in the British Royal Navy. “Sign here or starve” was the ultimatum. The “Western Allies” played Vito Corleone, and the Royal Navy was Luca Brasi.

        • And we shake our heads and wondered why the appeal of Hitler. He encouraged the German “Volk” to UNITE, the men folk to find their balls, and tell the “Allies” and the Judenapparrat to stick it where the Sun shineth not. The immediate response from “Judea” (organized worldwide Jewry prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948, which Hitler actually supported) was to declare “war” not merely on the Nazis, but Germany as a whole, for daring to defy them. Their lap dogs, France and Great Britain, followed suit in 1939 over the invasion of Poland, and the rest is history. Today, we recently saw the Israeli psychopath, “Bibi” Netanyahu, address our pliant Clowngress and have it’s members line up to fellate him.

  27. Putting it a different way; some people buy the big brand name product and some buy the store brand product. The store brand is almost the same and costs less. Unfortunately .gov is forcing everyone to buy the big brand name EV which is not as good as the store brand ICE car and costs a lot more.

    In my opinion that’s why there not selling, you pay a lot more money to get an inferior product that’s not as good as the alternative. Yet .gov insists and seems surprised when no one wants them. Makes you wonder if .gov is now part of that “enemies, foreign and domestic” thing?

  28. “Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, said the other day that there is no longer a market for cars; rather there is a “state-imposed supply chain.” The industry manufacturers what the government demands – and the market be damned.”

    I’m amazed he said that. The truth rears its ugly head. What he is talking about is communism. Private money (aka “the market”), is worthless now. What matters is government money. Businesses either take government money and go out of business slower, or reject government money and go out of business faster since they cannot manufacture products for private money/the market anymore.

    Soon this will be happening with food products. Welcome to communism folks.

  29. A member of VW’s General Works Council delivers its eulogy:

    ‘Daniela Cavallo, a leading representative of Volkswagen’s General Works Council, said in a speech on Wednesday that the response proposed by the carmaker’s management “is not just a disgrace. It’s a declaration of bankruptcy.”

    “In short: everything is at stake,” Cavallo said as she addressed workers at the firm’s plant in Wolfsburg.

    “And what can you come up with? Closing factories? Terminations for operational reasons? Cutting wages? Such ideas would only be admissible in one scenario! And that is if the entire business model is dead,” Cavallo said, according to a CNBC translation.

    ‘Cavallo urged Volkswagen’s management to come up with a plan that does not involve shutting German factories.’ — CNBC

    https://tinyurl.com/4ay2ms2p

    Seeking to make a rhetorical flourish, Daniela Cavallo inadvertently blurted out the awful truth: VW’s business model IS dead. Given this fact, keeping underutilized factories open merely deepens VW’s negative cash flow.

    Germany’s current SPD-FDP-Green governing coalition, led by the blank-faced eunuch Olaf Scholz, has left its economy in ruins — in about the same shape, come to think of it, as it was a hundred years ago, crushed under its victors’ boot heels. To the beer halls, comrades! 🙂

    • Unfortunately, Germany’s government committed economic suicide for its population when they accepted the U.S. destruction of Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines, and also when they accepted the “Green” agenda….it certainly looks as if the Germans will not recover from this debacle. Of course, neither will the U.S. outlaw empire.

  30. ‘VW has never recovered from [Dieselgate] – and it is not likely it will ever recover.’ — eric

    This is true. But every global auto manufacturer needs a secure home market base. Toyota, Honda, Mazda et al have their protected Japanese market, where the oppressive shaken inspection effectively forces vehicles to be replaced at the 4-year mark, or else undergo useless, costly replacements of major components.

    Contrast VW’s home market, Germany. At its own deranged initiative, Germany closed down its low-cost nuclear plants and replaced them with wind and solar-driven intermittent, non-dispatchable power. Then Germany’s leftist regime stood by silently as its vicious yankee occupiers imperiously blew up Germany’s last cheap source of energy, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

    Occupied Germany is approaching failed-state status. The Allies’ objective after WW II — ‘keep Germany down’ — has been achieved. The German economy is wilting, and Volkswagen along with it. You’d think VW, of all auto makers, would know something about making a Peoples Car.

    As with its near-demise 80 years ago, Germany once again is swirling down the toilet because of fulminating socialism. PLAY AGAIN? (Y/N)

    • We are not in much better shape. While our energy grid is ostensibly in better shape, we did nothing to protect the US car industry. In terms of employment numbers, people have been replaced by robots and plants shuttered across the US in the last 45 years. We have a few final assembly plants. the other work is being done overseas.

      We are a failed state as well. We just don’t know it due to the influx of liquidity into our bankrupt economy.

      For those that say that our safety and emissions standards are defacto protectionism, the only thing they are protecting is corporate profits. They aren’t even doing a good job at that.

      What we are expreiencing is a controlled collapse and a suicide of the car industry.

      Of course we all know that.

      • Hi swamp,

        I don’t know if it is a suicide of the car industry or outright murder by the people in charge. The mutation of the automobile industry takes care of a variety of issues that government/TPTB wanted to be rid of for a long time.

        1. There will be no new cars which would decrease “pollution”.
        2. Used cars would become immobile because parts would cease being produced.
        3. It pushes people toward the cities since transportation would be impossible, which makes them easier to survey and control.
        4. It puts the oil companies on life support. True, petroleum is used for a multitude of supplies, but the gasoline and diesel producing car is one of its biggest.

    • Japan is for the JAPANESE. Give ’em credit, at least with the Japanese government and its de facto monoparty politics (the misnamed “Liberal Democratic” Party), protection of Japanese culture and economic well-being was paramount. All six years of rule under the “Gaijin Shogun” (MacArthur) did was to de-emphasize Japanese military expansion in favor of economic, bringing the Home Islands, in sheer irony, of protection from Soviet or Chicom aggression by the US nuclear umbrella. Japan was able to build its post war economic “miracle” by having very favored trading status with we gullible Gaijin, and by applying manufacturing and management principles that WE taught them, then stopped applying ourselves thanks to political meddling.

      However, not only have we stymied Japan with our dubious cultural influence, as noted some 30 years ago in “Beavis and Butthead” (Hiro went to America and came back a ‘Gaijin’ Hiro! You stupid boy! What the hell are you doing in your bedroom?), now we’re getting them to accept “ref-foo-gees” from Africa and “Dirka, Dirka land). So, their “honorable leaders” having apparently sold them out, the Japanese people no longer exclusively control their home soil.

      Where are Hideki Tojo and Isoroku Yamamoto when you need them?

  31. There’s only one way out for corporatist automakers such as VW and French Leyland (aka Stellantis), and that is to double-down on EVs. That’s why I have long argued that the automakers themselves will soon become the most unhinged and vocal activists for an outright ban of the internal combustion engine. As this story tells us, it’s now existential for them – they have invested a lot of money in EVs, and desperately need government to create an artificial market for their battery-powered abominations ASAP, or they will go bust. Making EVs the only game in town is the lifeline they think they need.

    • Yeah. It won’t save them. I hope that Trump gets in and gets rid of the EV mandate that is being accomplished through manipulating gas mileage standards.

    • WW is heavily tied german government and most of CO2 and safety regulations in EU are built to suit WW at the expense of Korean Japanese and now with EV Chinese manufacturers (proposed 50% tarrifs). I hope they go bankrupt. Last time they made reliable products was in the 90s and they are still milking the old fame and using EU laws to force people to buy their overly complex and expensive cars.

  32. Good riddance. FAFO.

    The sooner all the malinvestment is cleared from the market, the sooner we can move forward.

    The sad thing is the “leadership” of these failed companies will get golden parachutes for having put these companies on a path to destruction. Meanwhile the rank and file employees are jobless.

    And then there is the elephant in the room, useless Government regulations that make it illegal to build what people want and can afford.

    I think we are a long way from a solution. Lots of pain and suffering ahead.

    • Even though Western automakers deserve to go bust, car buyers don’t deserve low quality Chinese cars, which will be the only remaining alternative at that point.

      • Chinese cars don’t currently meet ECE, and FMVSS regulatory requirements for safety and emissions.

        By the time the Chinese vehicles are brought into compliance, they will become as unaffordable as any other.

        You would be surprised – the quality of Chinese vehicles is much higher than you think. They learned / stole a lot of capability from all the Western OEMs that rushed into China to set up shop.

        • That’s what makes chinese cars appealing. We need to tear down the FMVSS and emissions standards. But I would put a 20 percent tariff on Chinese cars to make sure that they build plants here under American managers.

    • They may get their golden parachutes BiD, but only one place on earth I can think where they will be safe and able to survive.

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