Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on "Volkswagen's China Problem" video.

  1. I'm not entirely sure about this VW strategy in Brazil too, even though it seems lots of other car manufacturers are going that way too. Renault is another one announcing plans for major investments in the country. Brazil does a whole ton of trade with China, and several Chinese automakers are already building assembly plants in the country, or already here - Chery, BYD and GWM. Some in locations where older car manufacturers had plants and shut down. The only saving grace for VW in Brazil is the market itself, but this is mostly because of market inertia.... so it's really not that much of an advantage. The country is unlikely to adopt EVs anytime soon, so VW wins because the market will be mostly ICEs and Hybrids for a very long time. Partial win at least, because Chery has been around in the market for a while now, and their market share is only growing. Price is king. The problem with EVs is infrastructure. There are no significant projects, neither government level nor private initiative, to build national fast charging infrastructure, seems real estate is also very timid with at home charging, roads are pretty sh*t and highways already have a f*ckton of accidents everyday that don't need the added danger of EV batteries going thermal runaway, and so on. It's not only a matter of peppering the country with EV chargers - highways and roads all need upgrading to carry the extra load and do it safely. Kinda ironic because it'd be a great thing to do. Brazil does not have to deal with snow in winter, so that's one major thing not to worry about. At the same time, the heat and horrible road conditions can be a huge challenge in itself. Plus most vehicles going around these days are old and used. Cars are such an expensive thing that you have very very few people who can afford new cars regularly, or ever. The new car market is very limited. Of note, a new BYD factory that was scheduled to start operations this year got frozen because of reports of slave labor. Certain things will not be tolerated in the country, because despite the current president having a factory background in his early work career, he also went into politics exactly because of a fight for workers' rights and union backgrounds. He's all for business with other nations, but he was elected by workers to defend workers' rights. Whether you like him or not, that doesn't matter, that's the image he projects be it true or not. But of course, they are building stuff in Brazil for export, not for the internal market. Thing is, Brazil probably doesn't feel it owes any allegiance to big brands too. In 2021 Ford ended production in Brazil after 100 years of history. It left a ton of workers in the cold right in the middle of the pandemic. The country had significant shut downs, production freezes, union protests against car manufacturers and all sorts of attrition over the years. It's a big part of the industry history. At the same time, the country is also very reliant on it for economic output. So the area as a whole will likely thrive. But I think overtime, we'll have a change in who leads market share and sales. The big traditional brands will have an uphill battle with Chinese auto, that's for sure. Years ago I could see them filling only a niche market of people who were willing to risk a newcomer brand because of it's cheap price, but nowadays they are becoming much more established. Between advertisement, huge trade deals, major factories and assembly plants, cars you see running on the streets, general thoughts on price to performance, and stuff like that - it's not all about the old brands anymore. With scandals and bad reviews in droves for American, European, South Korean and Japanese brands going around, at some point even for the most traditionalist folks, the thought of going with a Chinese brand, particularly for something this expensive, starts winning out. Their brands dominates the charts of cheapest EVs, ICEs and Hybrid models. Anyways, but for me personally? Whoever sells the car with least computer crap, Internet connected sh*t, tech I did not ask for, simple mechanics, and no anti-consumer crap forced in it, wins. Until this doesn't happen, I'm keeping my 20+ year old beater indefinitely. Last year I decided to overhaul it to the point of the bill being well over twice it's market value. Reliable car that does everything I need without all this computer sh*t in the mix. And if no brand or manufacturer gets out of the software age to offer something simpler, I'll just continue buying used if my own car fails.
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