> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment

A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after.

What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry in Europe) to entirely change.

For the EU said: "In 14 years you're forbidden to sell a single brand new ICE car in the EU" (of course they recently changed that tune, but too little, too late, the damage is done).

But that's not all: not happy to drown the german car industry, they decided that the corpse wasn't drowning quickly enough and Germany decided to shut down all their nuclear reactors (I think they recently reversed their stance on that too) and become depending on Russia as a major energy source (which the US warned Europe / Germany to not do).

Of course the shit hit the fan: Russia attacked Ukraine and everything turned to shit.

And now it's estimated German car makers pay their energy price 7x more than was chinese car makers pay their energy.

So, no, it's not all "the lethargy of German economy and business". Germany was (and to some extent still is) producing incredibly fine driving machines: not just VW but Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.

And those cars did what was asked of cars: drive very finely.

It's eurocrats/bureaucrats and german politicians who killed the german car industry.

P.S: I've got nothing against EVs... But don't be an ideological idiot about it: don't kill your main industry while handing the keys of the kingdown to China. The shift was way too quick. The EU should have been way more cautious and shouldn't have stupidly closed so many nuclear plants (to moreover start burning more coal again).

> What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry in Europe) to entirely change.

Thats of course complete BS, the change to EVs (and more economical ICEs and Hybrids in between) could be seen decades away! And VW knew it, they just chose to ignore it and continue down the easy (lazy) path.

There is nobody to blame other than VW management, the Piechs and Porsches in particular.

For Europe to meet its climate goals that was necessary. And BYD seems to have no issues shifting. Why should VW?

Though I do see another option emerging: people just not buying cars at all. More and more friends are relying on public transit alone. That's an even better option for the environment and climate of course.

For the economy it's not so good but it'll have to cope. If people don't buy cars it means they'll have lots more money to spend on other things anyway.

your misrepresentation of the timeline makes your comment meaningless. Germany has been winding down nuclear reactors for 20 years.

the only actual story here is that the market trend (both tesla in the US and all chinese EVs) pointed towards EVs being the future and German/Japanese brands have not been willing to give up their cash cows to EVs. The brand value will remain (e.g. germany MIGHT be ok), but the value and reliability differentiators will disappear.

The EU didn't close any nuclear plants, that was just Germany.

EU didn't close nuclear plants, not sure what you're talking about.

This is a choice some countries did in the past due to Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The "fatality" was performed successfully by the Greens.

> Audi, Porsche

Both are part of VW Group and have seen marketshare fall as well due to tariffs as well as China cutting down on foreign luxury brands in favor of domestic ones.

Barely 5 years ago a black Audi A8 was the go-to VIP car in China.

> BMW and Mercedes (Daimler Grouo)

They will survive, but they also made sure to diversify beyond China and the US, which VW never did which is why they are so screwed.

> I've got nothing against EVs... But don't be an ideological idiot about it: don't kill your main industry while handing the keys of the kingdown to China. The shift was way too quick...

Also

1. Don't have half of your production depend on the mercy of two SOEs (FAW and SAIC) who are trying to build indigenous competitors.

2. Diversify markets - America and China don't want to buy "Made in Europe" cars anymore. Mercedes and BMW made sure they were status symbols in multiple markets the same way VW's Audi and Porsche never could.

3. Don't let other countries have veto power within your largest conglomerates - Qatar has veto power and 17% of all voting shares in Volkswagen Group

You drive your Audi, BMW, Porsche. Mercedes. I'm gonna drive a Toyota or a Honda since I don't like costly repairs, subscription chair heaters or getting screwed over.

> Of course the shit hit the fan: Russia attacked Ukraine and everything turned to shit.

When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014 absolutely nothing happened. Covid showed that Europe is eating boogers with their pants down, so both Trump and Putin decided to go on the rampage.