Reply To: Electric company car – Tesla – advice

[JDB]

@LadyLondon – I don’t think there’s really a case for any meaningful tariffs in order to protect or allow the European manufacturers to catch up because some never will, it’s only deferring the evil day and keeping the Chinese out is like King Canute keeping the waves at bay. While @TGLoyalty suggests it’s like European car firms going to China, but it’s more like when Japanese cars were introduced to Europe – it took a while and there was similar xenophobia as highlighted above, but the price and quality soon persuaded people.

The current market is distorted by the very generous subsidies offered to company EV car buyers but and ordinary private customer is being put off buying an EV by the cost and poor choice. An old European chassis with a battery and the odd gimmick at a huge price? No thanks! I and many others will wait until the right product is there. Some early private EV adopters are switching back to petrol.

It will be terrible for workers in lumbering car giants like VW unless their bosses wake up very fast and produce the product customers want at an affordable price. Remember when Nokia was the market leader in mobiles, Schweppes had the tonic and Gordon’s was a premier gin. The market spoke.

Re Polestar – I mentioned a while ago about them (and their electric Volvo cousins) being rubbish and a number of readers leapt to the firm’s defence.

I wouldn’t read a thing into today’s low Chinese car sales numbers; they have to start somewhere and to suggest they won’t make it in Europe is real head in the sand stuff.