this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
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Car giant Volkswagen to wind down production at two factories

China could buy factories for foothold in Germany, says source

Volkswagen open to selling to China buyer, says source

This would help Chinese companies sidestep tariffs, but also to keep some of those jobs, I guess.

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[–] HowRu68 1 points 7 hours ago

Ofcourse they are buying.

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres 9 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I wonder if this is a sign of Chinese sophistication or the fact that cars — especially electric cars — are essentially commodities now. Kind of like when IBM sold its consumer hardware business to Lenovo because laptops just became commodities with lots of competition and tight profit margins.

I mean, it’s a rare thing that doesn’t eventually become a commodity. England used to dominate the textile industry because of superior technology — until American spy Francis Cabot Lowell stole their power loom tech by having a photographic memory.

[–] cyd 5 points 20 hours ago

Foxconn is betting on exactly that story. They are moving into the OEM market for EVs. The idea is that Foxconn will put together the chassis and batteries, and then the "actual" car companies will slap on everything else and sell the car.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 21 hours ago

Interesting to read that, essentially, international industrial spying has existed for the entirety of "industrialized" times. Also, since Lowell did this prior to photography, what would folks have called his memory?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Volkswagen shareholders weighing up the benefits of short term gain versus long term damage....

[–] QProphecy 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yea, but I guess Europe is in for a rough century squeezed between China and magaism, who are more likely to agree to dismember it than to let it be the halfway point.

[–] AdamEatsAss 2 points 23 hours ago
[–] cyd 0 points 20 hours ago

It's hard to figure out what other course of action they have at this point. VW's factories in the rest of the world (including in China) have been propping up their loss-making German operations for years; it's not sustainable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

A reminder for what happens when someone loses (a limb or the whole body) in the game of free market competition - they get taken over by the survivors. Every cycle decreases the number of players.