Volkswagen Will Redirect $95 billion in Investments Back into Gas Engines
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Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
$95 billion?! That's enough money to purchase General Motors outright. V-Dub knows what they're doing, though. GM would be a bad investment; gasoline engines aren't. Just ask GM how their "invest in electric cars" dealer ultimatums worked out for 'em. 
Between 2020 and 2022, GM told Cadillac dealers they needed to invest $150,000 in tools and equipment so they could sell and service the Lyriq EV. And if they weren't interested? GM would buy the dealership out. Those were the only two options. 575 dealers--fully one third of the total Cadillac network--took the buyout and ceased selling Cadillacs entirely. Think about that. Cadillacs are high-margin vehicles for both the dealer and GM. $150,000 wouldn't eat one year's dealer profits on Escalades alone.
In the beginning of 2023, Buick announced a similar "program" (ultimatum) with the investment totalling about $850,000, since Buick has announced they'll be all-electric by 2030 (and out of business by 2035
). This demand was made despite Buick not even having an EV on the market yet. In less than a year, GM lost almost 50% of their Buick dealers, down from around 1,900 to just 1,000.*
That's about 1,500 GM dealers that essentially locked the doors on those brands rather than invest in the "EV future". These were long-established dealers selling brands dating back a century or more, not upstart new niche brands and dealers like Tesla. Volkswagen isn't stupid, nor are the Caddy and Buick dealers that took the buyout. They know what their customers want, and it isn't electric vehicles. They knew the investment wouldn't pay for itself, even long-term, and Volkswagen realizes gassers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
*It wasn't just the EV mandate, per se. Since the, er, "restructuring" in which China was handed around 90% ownership of GM, Buick has slowly become GM's budget brand rather than their entry-level luxury brand. In 2023, the average Chevrolet--GM's traditional budget marque--sold for $12,000 more than the equivalent Buick buyer paid. As of May 2024, Buick is in the top three brands. Well, only when ranked by unsold 2023 inventory but still... a Top 3 is a Top 3, right?!
I digress: When you're averaging $12K less per vehicle than the hawkers of such trash as the Equi-Knocks and Bolt, how the hell are you supposed to make up damned-near a million bucks spent on service equipment and training for cars that won't do any better? Perhaps Buick could tap into that "six figure pickup truck" market that's somehow become a thing.
Between 2020 and 2022, GM told Cadillac dealers they needed to invest $150,000 in tools and equipment so they could sell and service the Lyriq EV. And if they weren't interested? GM would buy the dealership out. Those were the only two options. 575 dealers--fully one third of the total Cadillac network--took the buyout and ceased selling Cadillacs entirely. Think about that. Cadillacs are high-margin vehicles for both the dealer and GM. $150,000 wouldn't eat one year's dealer profits on Escalades alone.
In the beginning of 2023, Buick announced a similar "program" (ultimatum) with the investment totalling about $850,000, since Buick has announced they'll be all-electric by 2030 (and out of business by 2035
). This demand was made despite Buick not even having an EV on the market yet. In less than a year, GM lost almost 50% of their Buick dealers, down from around 1,900 to just 1,000.* That's about 1,500 GM dealers that essentially locked the doors on those brands rather than invest in the "EV future". These were long-established dealers selling brands dating back a century or more, not upstart new niche brands and dealers like Tesla. Volkswagen isn't stupid, nor are the Caddy and Buick dealers that took the buyout. They know what their customers want, and it isn't electric vehicles. They knew the investment wouldn't pay for itself, even long-term, and Volkswagen realizes gassers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
*It wasn't just the EV mandate, per se. Since the, er, "restructuring" in which China was handed around 90% ownership of GM, Buick has slowly become GM's budget brand rather than their entry-level luxury brand. In 2023, the average Chevrolet--GM's traditional budget marque--sold for $12,000 more than the equivalent Buick buyer paid. As of May 2024, Buick is in the top three brands. Well, only when ranked by unsold 2023 inventory but still... a Top 3 is a Top 3, right?!
I digress: When you're averaging $12K less per vehicle than the hawkers of such trash as the Equi-Knocks and Bolt, how the hell are you supposed to make up damned-near a million bucks spent on service equipment and training for cars that won't do any better? Perhaps Buick could tap into that "six figure pickup truck" market that's somehow become a thing.
69.5CUDA
Blah Blah Blah
alot of countrys are pushing electric..but on that same note many of them are also realising that the power grid cant take the abuse...IE the citys need upgrades before all electric is ever a thing
quite honestly what we need is more "fun" usefull small cars and pickups...ya know..all the shit that we dont import here.....while it wouldnt be the warmest of welcome persay..the old ones that are exempt are being imported by the boat loads!!!!!!!...and they are fun to boot...shockingly fun in fact...100ish hp in 1800lbs can be a riot....bring back the small pickups! they were usefull
quite honestly what we need is more "fun" usefull small cars and pickups...ya know..all the shit that we dont import here.....while it wouldnt be the warmest of welcome persay..the old ones that are exempt are being imported by the boat loads!!!!!!!...and they are fun to boot...shockingly fun in fact...100ish hp in 1800lbs can be a riot....bring back the small pickups! they were usefull
restoman
The paint fumes have cleared so I'm
I read somewhere what happened to all those small pickups that we loved... seems the EPA rules are based on the physical footprint of the truck. The bigger the footprint, the less it has to achieve that great mileage that a smaller truck would, and the more profit-making junk the manufacturers can load into the truck.
The newer Ford Ranger is a great example.
A new version of, say, an '88 Toyota pickup with that peppy 4cyl and 5 sp would sell well here, I'm sure. But the basicness of the truck wouldn't return much profit.
VW is on the right track. They look at real-world markets, not fickle-change-with-the wind markets like North America.
Our '21 Jetta has a 1.4L turbo engine that absolutely screams when the right foot gets into it, and easily gets better than 40mpg combined mileage when the foot relaxes.
It's almost as much fun as her '02 S40 with a 1.9L turbo.
69.5CUDA
Blah Blah Blah
right! some of those small engines are a bloody RIOT....friend picked up a smart(451) only to remind my wife she enjoyed the test drives in bc..now ive got 3 of em..and i tell ya what..fun as hell is what they are
but see weve also got the lil 07 yaris..and the 1.2? in it with only 100hp is fun as hell with just a few mods and a wicked set of tires
i see all the JDM imports roll thru here since they tend to come off the boat in tacoma and migrate south from there.......and not just the KEI's but all those really cool vans and pickup vans, i see alot of ex firetruck? toyotas both in fj and van format
Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
I forgot to mention another GM blunder:
If you bought a Buick or Cadillac from one of the dealers that bailed, they can no longer service it even if they still sell other GM cars. The local Chevrolet dealerships cannot perform Buick warranty work or "authorized service" like they once could. Despite the one never being a Buick dealer, they could perform GM warranty and authorized repair up until last year. Now they can't even look up parts for anything but Chevrolet, which is the sole brand on which they're allowed to perform warranty repairs. Any other GM brand? Might as well take it to the local independent since it's no longer an "authorized GM repair" on a non-Chev.
"What do you mean, you can't service my GMC truck? It's the same damned thing!"
"Sorry, you'll have to drive 50 miles to the nearest GMC dealer."
If you bought a Buick or Cadillac from one of the dealers that bailed, they can no longer service it even if they still sell other GM cars. The local Chevrolet dealerships cannot perform Buick warranty work or "authorized service" like they once could. Despite the one never being a Buick dealer, they could perform GM warranty and authorized repair up until last year. Now they can't even look up parts for anything but Chevrolet, which is the sole brand on which they're allowed to perform warranty repairs. Any other GM brand? Might as well take it to the local independent since it's no longer an "authorized GM repair" on a non-Chev.
"What do you mean, you can't service my GMC truck? It's the same damned thing!"
"Sorry, you'll have to drive 50 miles to the nearest GMC dealer."