The Car Industry Is Under Siege

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

FRANKFURT — It’s a scary time to be in the car business.

The internal combustion engine is under attack from electric challengers. Car ownership is becoming optional in the age of Uber. Regulators around the world are fining companies that don’t do enough to cut carbon dioxide emissions, even as buyers demand gas-guzzling S.U.V.s. Global auto sales are slipping for the first time in a decade, disrupted by President Trump’s escalating trade war.

With so much bearing down on them simultaneously, it’s little wonder that companies like Fiat Chrysler and Renault were considering joining forces to survive. Fiat Chrysler’s decision Wednesday night to withdraw its offer to merge with Renault, citing government demands in France, was another reminder that change is complicated for traditional carmakers.

The aborted proposal to create the world’s third-largest automaker was a response to the disruption threatening an industry that accounts for many of the world’s factory jobs and is crucial to the economic fortunes of the United States, Japan and Europe.

New technology has unraveled industries like entertainment, media, telecommunications and retailing, weakening the job security of millions of workers and helping to fuel populism. Carmakers, clearly, are next.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-car-industry-is-under-siege/ar-AACuieb?li=BBnbfcN

Clearly the industry will have to evolve. People want cleaner more fuel efficient vehicles but in some communities cars are more a luxury than a necessity.

[marble falls]

1. Good news.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. Yes!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[cwydro]

7. You don't drive?

Many people have no choice.

[tymorial]

12. This is the imaginary world view of those people who live in large urban

Where parking is at a premium and public transportation is prevalent. The millions of people that commute to work from one city to another city everyday are certainly not going to hire an Uber driver. It's a laughable notion.

[cwydro]

16. What's even more amusing here is that I've seen numerous DU threads about retail workers

losing their jobs because of self serve cashier stations. All kinds of moaning and weeping about it.

But for some reason, the huge amount of people who would lose their jobs if the auto industry went kaput is cause for celebration.

DU is consistently inconsistent lol.

[sprinkleeninow]

3. Not only this, but auto manufacturers will be

coming back to the US and leaving Mexico. Very soon. You'll see.

[get the red out]

4. One of the rules in the world

Is that nothing stays the same, society changes and its industries must change along with that. Things keep changing, and there's no choice about that.

[underpants]

5. And they didn't see this coming?

I guess they were just too stuck in their ways

[maxsolomon]

10. They did.

How many plug-in hybrids are coming to market? Volvo and Mini have PIH 4wd SUVs - we're in line for the XC40. Fiat has an all-electric 500. Bolt, Prius, Clarity, etc.

What's ending is GROWTH; more cars on the road every year than the previous. Wall St. demands growth.

Tumors grow, too, until they kill their host.

[tymorial]

6. This is such an amusing urban living point of view

Optional... too funny.

[cwydro]

8. No kidding.

[X_Digger]

9. Myopic at best.

Last edited Fri Jun 7, 2019, 05:22 PM - Edit history (1)

It really only works in dense urban centers, too.

Try living without a car in DFW, or Houston.

LOL!

[tymorial]

14. Agreed and this argument also fails to take into consideration the need to live far from work

In many areas the majority of jobs are in areas where real estate is extremely expensive even to rent. I used to live outside of Boston and we rented a house that was fairly reasonable all things considered but we didn't own our home and we weren't building equity. Our landlord was a nice guy but he was the one building the equity. I could tell that he was just itching to raise our rent because he could but he was too nice of a guy to do so. It would only be a matter of time however due to the cost of taxes and the fact the house needed work. So we moved 45 miles away to buy a house that was reasonable with a decent size yard. We ended up saving $600 a month but my wife now has a 2 hour commute one way sometimes. This is the norm for this area. In the past year our house has increased in value by nearly $20k. A lot of people from the Boston area real looking to move further south and across the border two word Island simply because housing is more affordable and Massachusetts is preposterous.

So yeah the people actually living in some areas of Boston may not need a car but surrounding cities, definitely.

[maxsolomon]

11. Cites are where people live.

Lots and lots of people.

Over 50% of the global population.
82% of America lives in cities.

If those urbanites forego car ownership, does it pick your pocket or break your leg?

[Codeine]

13. I live in a city

but my job requires driving around all day. Calling an Uber to move from account to account would bankrupt me in a week.

[maxsolomon]

17. Then don't.

This article isn't telling you to give up your car.

It's saying people are buying fewer cars.

[Blue_Tires]

15. what a bloody mess

[TheBlackAdder]

18. Marchionne was determined not to make electric cars, and made only the minimum Fiat 500s required.

.

If FCA fails, so be it!

If Renault fails, so be it. Renault made Nissan cars unreliable.

.