| ▲ | izacus 2 days ago |
| VAG group has EVs (and pretty good ones) across the board: VW with ID series, Škoda with Enyaq/Elroq/Epiq, Audi with eTron series (SUV, sedan and estate), SEAT with Cupra Born and others. BMW just launched Neue Klasse, with iX3 selling like hot cakesa nd i3 looking amazing, with i7 in pipeline. Mercedes also launched a great new platform with CLA which is coming to other sizes as well. Meanwhile, Renault 5 is selling very well with Renault 4 in the pipeline. Zoes have been selling well too. Peugeot also has good EV models (208 is really fun to drive). There pretty much isn't a single European car manufacturer that wouldn't have a compact car or an SUV in EV market and most of them have good range, decent pricing and are moving to 800V platforms as well. Sooo... where's the retreat? |
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| ▲ | neya 2 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| > Sooo... where's the retreat? https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gqyyly9v8o Volkswagen has said it will cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 as its profits dropped to their lowest level since 2016.
It said it was hit by US import tariffs, intense competition from China and high restructuring costs from the shift to electric vehicles.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/13/honda-flags-first-annual-los... Honda to lose as much as $15.7 billion this fiscal year.
The write-down is latest in industry grappling with EV transition.
From Google, first page. |
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| ▲ | rsynnott 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | > and high restructuring costs from the shift to electric vehicles. I’m baffled how you think “it’s going to cost us a lot to shift to electric vehicles through 2030” could be read as “VW is retreating from electric vehicles”. | | |
| ▲ | neya a day ago | parent [-] | | > I’m baffled how you think “it’s going to cost us a lot to shift to electric vehicles I'm baffled how you refuse to read further into the topic - How does cutting 50,000 jobs due to EVs translate to "it's going to cost us a lot to shift to electric vehicles" according to you? That's just shifting the baseline of the argument. VW even cancelled EV models after posting this loss. Again, Google, first page. The original link literally shows job losses due to lack of demand for EVs. If that's not a data point indicating retreat, then what else is according to you? https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/volkswagen-cuts-... This is not restricted to VW. This is across manufacturers. Google, first page. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g68920984/evs-discontinued... Next time, please read into the data properly. "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." — Aldous Huxley |
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| ▲ | lelanthran 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | That's not a retreat from EVs. Article seems to be gibberish, carmakers don't seem to be retreating from EVs. | | |
| ▲ | neya 2 days ago | parent [-] | | You are free to believe what you want, I'm just presenting the data. | | |
| ▲ | lelanthran a day ago | parent [-] | | > You are free to believe what you want, I'm just presenting the data. It's not a matter of belief: what does the data you presented (profitability and employee count) have to do with the claim about product types? I mean, you could have presented data showing that the sky is blue - your data is correct, but irrelevant to whether the manufacturers are cutting down on a specific product type. | | |
| ▲ | neya a day ago | parent [-] | | > what does the data you presented (profitability and employee count) have to do with the claim about product types? If you actually read the article, it says the profitability and employee count are a direct consequence of the product type. It explicitly says EV was a factor in the source cited. If manufacturers cutting down on product types isn't evidence of cutting on product types, then what is? Here's more data:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g68920984/evs-discontinued... |
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| ▲ | ceejayoz 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > Sooo... where's the retreat? As the article says; "In the US" |
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| ▲ | delta_p_delta_x 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | > In the US American car marques are nearly completely irrelevant outside the US. | | |
| ▲ | galangalalgol 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Ive seen plenty of fords in Europe but they have evs | | |
| ▲ | delta_p_delta_x 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Ford of Europe has succeeded because its direction and leadership are completely different to its American outfit, and has released models targeting European sensibilities. You will probably not find Mondeos or Focuses in the North American market. Nor will you (easily) find an F-150 in Europe. A Ranger, perhaps, but not the F-150. | | |
| ▲ | jolux 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | You could definitely buy the Focus in the US. | | |
| ▲ | consp 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Same name, mostly same internal components, different chassis (mostly bigger) afaik. Same for Fiesta's except for some models (e.g. ST). I know for the Fiesta since the electronics are the same but the dash components are made for a bigger chassis (to make it fit you have to dremel quite a bit). | | |
| ▲ | jolux 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | Huh, interesting. Looks like they were indeed quite different until the Mk3 in 2012 |
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| ▲ | rsynnott 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The Focus is about the only European-designed Ford which really made it to the US in significant numbers (albeit somewhat late) at all, AIUI. | | | |
| ▲ | seabrookmx 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Even the Fiesta was sold in the US and Canada off and on. |
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| ▲ | mapgrep 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | You've shown your words to be meaningless. You said the U.S. car brands were "completely irrelevant" outside the U.S., here you admit that's wrong. You move the goalpost and change your assertion to something entirely different. But there is no reason to think this statement has any factual basis either. You're just talking out of your &ss. | | |
| ▲ | tw-20260303-001 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | They said “nearly”. Ford is the only American brand selling numbers in Europe, maybe nect to Tesla. | | |
| ▲ | cucumber3732842 a day ago | parent [-] | | GM sells a whole bunch of stuff they just don't put a bowtie on the grill in Europe or Asia because they have other brands they use there. |
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| ▲ | rsynnott 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Ford of Europe is arguably a European car brand which happens to be owned by a US company (in much the same way as Chrysler/Jeep etc are clearly American car brands, despite being owned by a European company). |
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| ▲ | spockz 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Here in the Netherlands ford sales seem to have completely consumed by Kia sales. Around me houses that typically had Fords now have Kia’s, Toyota, Tesla or small Volvo like EX30/40. After the huge hits of the focus and to some extend Mondeo, the Kuga has sold subpar. There were only a few new ones around here. Now you see some new EV Ford Explorer SUV and just a tiny account of the big old Explorer. (Yes, the traditional Explorer suv counts as big here.) In the mean time there is an explosion of BYD, Volvo, Skoda Enyaq, etc happening. Mostly driven by which model has the most beneficial tax package for lease. | | |
| ▲ | consp 2 days ago | parent [-] | | > the Kuga has sold subpar. I own a Plugin one, I completely understand why. It's "meh", plus all the recalls because Ford cheaped out on the battery production and Samsung (the battery cells) can't do inventory management. For the US audience: it's the Escape (they are identical in all but numbering). |
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| ▲ | 4ndrewl 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Right, but Ford Europe is, and always had been, a different beast to Ford America. | |
| ▲ | ErroneousBosh a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Fords in Europe are made a little to the north-east of London, or near Cologne. They have (almost) nothing to do with North American Ford vehicles. | |
| ▲ | 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [deleted] | |
| ▲ | pixxel 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | [dead] |
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| ▲ | lycopodiopsida 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Why talk about “western” then, not about “US”? Because clickbait? | | | |
| ▲ | dabber21 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I noticed that it happens a lot "western media" etc, it's usually used at touchy topics | |
| ▲ | whateverboat 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Also europe. |
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| ▲ | decimalenough a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I went to a car show in Australia last year. VAG was out in full force displaying all the models you mention... but so were the Chinese manufacturers, who were 25-50% cheaper across the board, for all models and all price points. VW ID.3 vs BYD Dolphin: https://www.bike-ev.com/reviews/byd-dolphin-vs-volkswagen-id... Audi Q4 e-tron vs Zeekr 7X: https://www.carsguide.com.au/audi/q4-e-tron/vs/zeekr-7x People will pay a premium for a brand they recognize, but for how long? |
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| ▲ | twoodfin a day ago | parent [-] | | Per that link, the BYD Dolphin is €30,000 and the VW ID.3 is €36,000. That’s a 20% premium. For that, you get more range, faster charging, and better highway driving, even aside from the brand premium. That doesn’t seem like a slam dunk to me, especially since the Chinese EV market is at the peak of deliberate over-production: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/11/china-elec... | | |
| ▲ | maxglute a day ago | parent [-] | | EU tariffs, without tariffs PRC car would be 50%-60% cost of VW/EU manufacturers. PRC exports like 20% of car production, other major auto manufacturers export over 50%, it's far from peak. |
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| ▲ | gmac 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Renault Mégane and Scenic EVs are also great. |
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| ▲ | seb1204 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Porsche... Eye roll |
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| ▲ | thyristan 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Porsche isn't so much into the car business as it is into the genital enlargement business... | | | |
| ▲ | delta_p_delta_x 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | If money wasn't an object, I'd buy one EV: the Taycan Turbo S. | | |
| ▲ | speedgoose 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Though, shitty software and no one pedal driving because Porsche drivers pilot with two pedals. |
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