WHY Do The Germans Keep Flushing BILLIONS Of Dollars Into Developing EV's When They KNOW They'll Never Beat Tesla?

I have to say it's getting quite boring seeing the German's flailing away in the EV market as they are.

Announcement after announcement, promise after promise, on and on.

Then they launch a product, say like a BMW 330e and others. And burn money in a furnace on something that not only has ZERO chance at being a real challenger to Tesla, but even if it was has little chance of ever selling in volumes big enough to make money.

They've had these war chests of billions upon billions of dollars and one by one they are depleting them into the ground with a false hope.

That they will ever BEAT Tesla or that the EV market will EVER be more than 2-5% (I'm being generous here) of car sales.

To me, this seems like some of the most brain dead decision making I've ever seen.

Spies, tell me WHAT am I missing here. Why DESTROY your company for a market at BEST will never be a win?

Who are they kidding?

malba2367 - 7/12/2020 11:24:21 PM

+2 Boost

What makes you think they (and others) won’t get it right after a couple generations of product. From the looks of it Ford did a pretty good job with the Mach E.

SanJoseDriver - 7/12/2020 11:47:03 PM

+3 Boost

They have no choice as ICE is being banned throughout Europe in the not-so-distant future. They'll get there eventually, especially when they start truly building cars from the ground up to be EVs.

Agent001 - 7/13/2020 12:03:25 AM

-1 Boost

They don't have endless supplies of cash. Each one of these losers drains the coffers BIGTIME.

001

supermoto - 7/13/2020 1:32:56 AM

+1 Boost

Every profitable automaker has already beaten tesla.

Model Y just got a $3k price cut today. Hot selling products get price increases, not price cuts.

PUGPROUD - 7/13/2020 6:06:19 AM

+1 Boost

Better question is "Why do I care?"

jtz7 - 7/13/2020 8:14:23 AM

+2 Boost

Probably because it is a valuable market to them so they want much of the share as possible even if they cant beat Telsa

carloslassiter - 7/13/2020 8:15:02 AM

+3 Boost

Sorry, it's Bronco reveal day and all other automobile news is irrelevant.

MDarringer - 7/13/2020 9:42:11 AM

0 Boost

Well, duhh.

MDarringer - 7/13/2020 10:00:24 AM

+1 Boost

The #1 problem with the Germans is that they are approaching EVs as halo models.

The Taycan should have been placed as a mainstream product with a $75K base to show that Porsche was fully behind EVs.

The Etrons all sit above the comparable ICE products rather than being at the same price point to convey movement forward with EVs replacing ICE.

A really smart move for Porsche would be do to a new 914 as an EV with a a $35K base as their entry model to the brand. THAT would signal their seriousness about EVs.

An SWB Taycan with 911 styling could be marketed as a 911E.

Yonder7 - 7/13/2020 11:12:06 AM

+2 Boost

My father use to say me; There are people that wakeup early, but there are other that never sleep. SO is just matter of time till someone beat Tesla. Ther was a time when no one was willing to buy cars from other countries but from United States, today most of the cars build there, does not have quality. That hapens when you think that you are unbeatable.

skytop - 7/13/2020 12:42:36 PM

0 Boost

Never underestimate the German auto industry.

MrEE - 7/13/2020 4:48:56 PM

+2 Boost

Toyota is one that can afford to challenge Tesla.
I give the industry no more than 10 years to transition. A lot of bankruptcies to come.

ctsang - 7/14/2020 2:24:05 PM

+1 Boost

RIP ICE

Truthy - 7/14/2020 6:04:54 PM

0 Boost

Oh, and Tesla has been profitable in back to back quarters only once. They have lost billions. The only profit tesla has made is due to the carbon credits they are selling, mostly to FCA and MB. MB no longer needs them and the carbon credits may be cancelled. The legacy automakers are proceeding cautiously for several reasons. They cannot afford to have their rear bumpers fall off in the rain as some model 3s have. They are engineering better battery cooling systems and are not going to chase 200,000 annual sales over profitability.