Electric cars.

This gentleman owns a Porsche Taycan which is quite the car - there is one comes into the BP headquarters near my house and suffice to say it can go like stink. Anyways, this chap has one, but suffice to say it appears he is less than happy.

 

BritishVolt managed to find a buyer/funder then?

 

Whilst this is not car batteries, and the damage is deliberate - watch this:

 

I think a few nails were hit squarely on the head, for sure. The one that doesn't, initially, make much sense to me is VW culling the Up! But, I have a video in my watch later list that is about VW as apparently there have been some warnings made by their CEO. If it is relevant, I will post it here.

 

The VW wasn't really relevant beyond saying that they had basically been caught napping, with Chinese manufacturers getting the march on them and then they had invested £183bn into EV development, but at the same time sales had tanked and costs had spiralled, so they are in trouble.

This one on Toyota is interesting -

 

I called it months ago @Sheal - Ford (and others such as VW) have literally lost their way. They failed to anticipate what was going on in terms of EV, but at the same time knew they were being forced into scaling back ICE development, so designs seemed to stagnate. Ford have attempted to revive sales by putting name badges from the past on anything in the current range, but that won't translate to the car the name harks back to.

VW have essentially openly admitted they are in trouble, Ford are only holding on slightly more thanks to their home market in the US. Of all the well known brands, JLR are in the absolute worst position - - if they don't turn their fortunes around in the next 18 months (max), then they are doomed. If the insurers involved in the Luton airport fire decide to start digging and making life difficult, then JLR's goose is definitely cooked. I read an article earlier that mentioned a worldwide shortage of spare parts for cars, specifically in the Land/Range Rover models, with a shortage of courtesy cars also, because so many customer cars are out of action and awaiting parts. A chap I work along side has a Discovery that he is about to move on - his experience has been so bad that I can't see him ever considering the brand again.

Stellantis (Vauxhall, Fiat, Jeep, Peugeot, Citroen, Chrysler etc) are using strength in numbers to get them through, as are the Nissan, Renault, Mercedes tie-up, but even they aren't exactly flourishing.

 

Like most of these things we have lurched toward in the name of the environment, we simply can't afford it... and by that, I don't just mean you and I, I mean companies, governments etc... it is costing arms and legs and worse still, much of it is not any more environmentally friendly.