Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "Brexit uncertainty prompts Tesla to choose Germany over UK for first Europe plant" video.

Making electric cars in Germany is not going to bring down their price. German cars are not known for low cost.
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@habi0187 the planet will not be saved by selling luxury cars with a high price tag. I think it is a myth that German engineering is high quality. It is a fact that it is very expensive. German design is over engineered and therefore over complicated.
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@habi0187 this does not make you immune from the effects of globalisation. Germans must perpetuate the myth of superior engineering to justify their high wage and living standards, but globalisation will always drive remuneration down to the lowest common denominator. If factories can be automated to the point where anyone can operate them, they will move to the cheapest location. Elon Musk's choice of Berlin for his factory has more to do with politics and the need for access to the EU market. This is all about flattery of the German government and gaining support for his plans.
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@habi0187 I think there was a golden age of German engineering with high quality medium size manufactures, but as you say they are disappearing, I suspect not as a result of generation changes, but simply because they are being priced out of the market, with high wages eating into the profit margin. If Elon Musk was cultivating German government support, we may see another high production factory being built in a much poorer sector of the EU or even outside it. Maybe Mr Musk needs some approval for his Space Program ? It is true that the UK appears to have lost out on this investment, but then I do not see foreign investment in the same way as you might. By definition, foreign investors expect to take out a lot more than they put in. It is a form of colonial exploitation. It will be interesting to see where the profits from this enterprise end up. The problem with modern day entrepreneurs is that they lack inherent national loyalty. In the past the UK entrepreneurs invested in foreign lands, but brought their profits home to fund industries in the UK. Now the super rich investor see themselves as citizens of the world and their nation of origin may not benefit from their activities. This is the true effect of globalisation. The EU is a huge market in which to sell, but not necessarily to buy or manufacture. The advantage of Its common standards outweigh the disadvantage of its tariff barriers. If the UK plays a clever hand post brexit, it will use higher and different UK standards to protect its home market while still selling into the EU market. This is what many EU politicians fear, and why there is so much talk about a level playing field in trade.
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@habi0187 it is necessary to be free of the EU first. The current UK politicians may not be the ones in charge when the game is played.
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fred PLAT you really do not understand, the UK can protect its home market with its own standards while manufacturing to meet other standards. German engineering lacks any originality, compensating with expensive complexity, it cultivates the myth of engineering quality to justify its high manufacturing costs. In practice the Japanese cars are far better engineered and far more reliable that those made in Germany. UK manufacturing problems are not related to science and engineering, but to really poor quality management. Post brexit, the UK won't be buying German cars, they will be far too expensive once tariffs are applied.
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Nspnspker I am of an age which mean I lived through the period. It was a combination of self serving management and communist union leaders that almost destroyed British industry. There was also an unwillingness to replace machine tools that dated back to WWII. I have seen how German engineers work and I am not impressed. They make up for bad designs using complexity and expensive precision. I personally rate the Japanese and south Korean as the best. British designers are often underfunded and forced to fight non technical management. I could describe the national traits of most of the industrialised nations, but that is not the subject of this thread. The EU has had forty plus years to strip the UK of its engineering base and it has done a very good job of it. But before you rub your hands with glee, I should point out that the EU is dependent on the US for computer software and the far east for almost all of its electronics. The surviving EU electronics companies are really not doing well.
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Nspnspker I find it fascinating that those in the EU comment on brexit. It really has nothing to do with them. It is a UK decision. The only reason for all this EU comment is because they fear the result and how it will affect them. Each time you post a comment about brexit, you are confirming your fear.
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Nspnspker are you denying that the UK has the right to leave the EU? If You are you really are proving the reason why we should leave. As I have said many times before, the agreement to join the EU should contain the warning line " Abandon all hope ye who enter here". But then we did not join the EU we joined the common market and were tricked into EU membership. Should the potential victim be concerned about the hardship that will be imposed on the thief, If the victim takes steps to prevent the crime?
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