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.

  • @ShittyBeatlesFCPresEnglish
    6•9 hours ago

    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.

    • @cydEnglish
      5•5 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.

    • rhythmisaprancer
      4•7 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?