2 Comments to “AAH #641 – Is the Auto Industry Pricing the Middle-Class Out of the New Car Market?”

1. Dave Foley Says:
   March 30th, 2023 at 11:49 pm

   Another good show.

   The one thing I see is that for now, LOEM’s are probably restricting production so that they CAN get the higher profit margins on their ICE vehicles. The excuse is ‘supply chain, but I bet they like the high margins they’re getting more.

   Of course, the aim of all of this being, they need all the cash they can get so they can finance their own EV transition. Beyond the potential bump in share prices from the temporary higher profit, shifting to EV’s is something they KNOW they have to do. I believe John talked about this before too.

   To me though, the real issue for the US LOEM’s their near complete abandonment of ACTUALLY affordable cars. Sure, thatn has ramifications for the buying population right now. But even more importantly, it leaves the door wide open for a Chinese OEM to come in and literally kick everybody’s butt!. LOEM’s are chasing their own interests with higher profits, while leaving themselves wide open to be wiped out by Chinese made cars.

   Remember, folks said “Oh, no one will ever buy a Japanese made car” back in the early 70′s. And look where we are. I thank Sandy Munro for bringing that bit of context to light.

2. Scott Stephenson Says:
   March 31st, 2023 at 1:31 pm

   What a great show. Please have these two back next year this time for round two.

   The comment that caught my ear was Jeff’s “there is whitespace at the bottom (of the BEV market)”. I think the big question right now is who can claim that low-end BEV whitespace and still make a decent profit. Right now it sure looks like it’s gonna be Tesla or the Chinese, but it’ll be fun to watch and see if somebody else beats them to it.