Sure, but that was before European manufacturers started making already-installed seat heating a subscription service, started selling your data - including location - to anyone willing to pay, released EVs which were 5+ years behind Chinese options, and sold them at well over 2x the cost of the alternatives. Oh, and a huge chunk of those "European" brands aren't even European anymore.

Most Europeans happily pay a premium for a well-engineered semi-local product, as we saw with the German manufacturers during the ICE era. But paying significantly more for a significantly worse product, just for that "Made in Europe" label? Not happening.

VW & friends don't even seem to be aware yet that they are in a fight for survival, and that's what is dooming them. They are more interested in lobbying for tariffs and EV rollout slowdowns than in actually building EVs.