Tesla Is Slowly Pushing Germany into Recession(ccn.com)
ccn.com
Tesla Is Slowly Pushing Germany into Recession
https://www.ccn.com/tesla-is-slowly-pushing-germany-into-recession/
4 comments
Note that this article is on CCN, not CNN.
why german car makers cant develop EV cars ?
If you have invested a lot in ICE, and it is a current competetive advantage, there are two choices: 1. bet on an ICE future or 2. bet on an electric future.
You make more profit in the former, since you can use your hard earned competitive advantage. You make less profit in the latter. It might even be that you have little competitive advantage in the latter one.
Now, based on this, maybe it makes sense to only bet on the first one. If the other future realizes, then you just go bankrupt. Margins are thin anyway, so it's not possible to cover all bases well. You might have a token effort towards electric cars - show some fancy concepts and meanwhile in reality slap on some bought tech in existing ICE cars.
If you're an upstart, it makes sense to bet on new technology where others don't have an advantage. Again, if the new technology doesn't really happen, you just go bankrupt.
In reality, since Germany has good engineering education and lots of relevant suppliers, there should be electric car startups in Germany. Where are they? IMO that's the more interesting question.
You make more profit in the former, since you can use your hard earned competitive advantage. You make less profit in the latter. It might even be that you have little competitive advantage in the latter one.
Now, based on this, maybe it makes sense to only bet on the first one. If the other future realizes, then you just go bankrupt. Margins are thin anyway, so it's not possible to cover all bases well. You might have a token effort towards electric cars - show some fancy concepts and meanwhile in reality slap on some bought tech in existing ICE cars.
If you're an upstart, it makes sense to bet on new technology where others don't have an advantage. Again, if the new technology doesn't really happen, you just go bankrupt.
In reality, since Germany has good engineering education and lots of relevant suppliers, there should be electric car startups in Germany. Where are they? IMO that's the more interesting question.
People aren't buying cars like they used to, in general. Detroit and Germany are equally affected.