The problem of incumbency in an industry which is undergoing radical change.I see Ford lost $132,000 per EV sold in Q1 2024. Ouch. Growing pains.
The dominant paradigm for cars was determined over 100 years ago: ICE, 4 seats etc. A new one is emerging based around the electric motor & batteries.
At the same time, various Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have entered the incredibly competitive Chinese domestic market for EVs. I cannot remember off hand whether, compared to about 50 models of EV available in the USA next year, the article said Chinese market would have 150 or 500 models?
This does remind me of Japan and the USA in the 1960s & early 70s. Japan had a fiercely competitive domestic market with many car manufacturers, and that created the reliability and engineering excellence of those that "broke out" into the North American market. Primarily Nissan/ Honda/ Toyota (although Honda was stronger in USA than in the domestic market, eventually) but also Mitsubishi/ Suzuki et.
The EV shifts the important component away from the assembler (the car OEM) towards the power supply, ie the battery pack. And there are a handful of dominant players there.
Statistics: Posted by Valuethinker — Thu Apr 25, 2024 3:40 am — Replies 136 — Views 9276