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Originally Posted by Fuzz
OK, and to your last point, we'd be turning that all over to China and other companies. We need to stop the industry drain at some point, and "protectionism" is more of an evening of the playing field. I'm a strong believer in if we are going to restrain our industries with environmental protections and worker regulations, that those industries also need to maintain a way to compete. And by putting those tariffs in, perhaps it eventually motives countries that do want to trade with us to match our standards.
Just a brief comment on the gigapress, while it does allow rapid production, it also has drawbacks. Repairability is non-existent. A small accident in the right spot writes off the vehicle. Tesla insurance rates are climbing rapidly as insurance companies come to grips with this. I'm not so sure this is a great strategy until we all have self driving cars that don't crash. I'd like to see them do smaller castings that can be swapped. They are currently structurally glued to the rest of the vehicle making it impossible to replace the front or back casting, and cast aluminum fractures very easily in an impact.
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I don't think the entire country of Canada at a population of 30 miilion can compete with China which has a city with 30 million people. In any scenario, we are giving large incentives to foreign companies to come in and set up shop.
I just don't see any realistic way for Canada to develop and produce any home grown vehicle industry that could succeed internationally. We've always just been a proxy for Detroit by giving out handouts. We do have some Canadian supply chain giants like Magna but I think companies like Magna, Mopar, etc. are going to feel the crunch when the complexities of internal combustion cars goes out the window and fewer parts are needed.
I'm big into cycling as well and all the new exciting and affordable for consumer stuff is coming out of China as well. They just have the population, manufacturing, and supply chain to create these innovations and support the investment into products that we don't have. I want a Chinese EV because I want choice.
If anything, its clear that Chinese standard of living has risen dramatically and is continuing to rise to the point where the cheap labor is being driven out to Southeast Asia. Workers in China are also amongst a small group globally who will receive the highest rates of real salary growth this by about 6% a year. The living standard is increasing and improving as they move into a fully developed country.
I'm not a China apologist by any means. My distant roots are Hong Kong. I hate the CPC deeply but I also want choice as a consumer.