Communism meets Capitolism the Xiaomi SU7 - Look what $42K gets you.....C'mon USA!!!

[Electric Goat]

I'd rather walk

Sponsored

 

[Jimrpa]

PSA: like all of this guys videos - this one is LONG! Over an hour. Hence, I watched the first 5 seconds and clicked away.
Someone really needs to teach this guy how to be concise and to the point.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Eh, I really don't understand this thought. If the American car companies want to sell only EV, there is no legislation stopping them and there will be no legislation in the future stopping them.

True it’s not illegal to sell EVs now or later but there’s things that can hurt the EV transition and put our auto industry behind our international competitors.

Removing legislation like….not having legislation for the NEVI chargers funding, not having the legislation for the federal tax credits. Lowering of EV demand by stopping the federal government fleets from buying EVs.

Limiting future sales here in the US by adding Executive Branch (no congressional legislation) artificial price increases for American consumers (tariffs) on things like batteries, imports of international production like the Mach-E made in Mexico, and other source materials.

 

[Sikkun]

If country A invest heavily into X and country B doesn’t, country A will probably become the leader of making X.

Replace A, B, and X with whatever you want.

 

[dalola]

Don't forget all that cheap Chinese electricity being produced by powerplants burning US coal.... ?

 

[Snakebitten]

I love the EV experience. I'm hooked!
(although not EV exclusively)

Nobody else in my rather large family has ventured any closer than mild curiosity.

Nothing about China plays into that.
And nothing the US government has done for or against appears to have made much difference either.

Funny how freedom, current available choices, and the American culture seems to reveal what the consumer actually prefers.

I think EVs will continue to widdle away and increase market share. But I just don't see convincing everyone to like what I like. Nor do I condone strong arming them to.

 

[Billyk24]

To the point of the thread (cheap prices), I would argue that the dealership system actually keeps prices LOWER for the consumer.

A few points-
1.Actual profit per vehicle at the dealership is extremely low. They aren’t adding much to the price.
2. Dealerships create price competition. You can have 4 or more competing Ford dealers in a 5 mile radius.
3. Dealerships hold inventory. That means you can drive away today, and get deals on excess inventory

There are plenty of things wrong with car dealerships, but I don’t think price is one of them.

If you want to compare a similar industry that has manufacturer direct sales as well as dealership models- look at BOATS.

And the manufacturer direct boats? Usually way more expensive and a long wait to get one plus service is an issue.

Direct is only better if the manufacturer has excellent customer service.

If my local Ford dealer sucks, I have 4 others to choose from.

#2 isn't totally correct. A ex-Ford CEO "two back" managed to reduce the number of Ford dealerships in an attempt to minimize local Ford Dealers competing against each other. He compared the number of Ford dealerships to Toyota and stated a reduction is needed. I have seen several local Ford dealerships in this region go away because of this.

 

[Billyk24]

Don't forget all that cheap Chinese electricity being produced by powerplants burning US coal.... ?

They off load boatloads of North Korean coal at sea to avoid sanctions.

 

[Mach1E]

#2 isn't totally correct. A ex-Ford CEO "two back" managed to reduce the number of Ford dealerships in an attempt to minimize local Ford Dealers competing against each other. He compared the number of Ford dealerships to Toyota and stated a reduction is needed. I have seen several local Ford dealerships in this region go away because of this.

Was a typo, meant 50 mile radius.

But your point does help mine. Even Ford recognizes that dealers drive prices down when they are near each other.

I’m not convinced that buying a car from a Ford corporate salesperson at a Ford corporate dealer would be any better than what we have now.

 

[Exordium01]

This isn’t directly related, but when I compare my experiences with Ford with my friends’ experiences with Hyundai and Kia, I’d argue that Ford is acting like a company that thinks it needs to fight to survive and Hyundai is acting like a company that believes that their continued existence is a given.

 

[ack154]

PSA: like all of this guys videos - this one is LONG! Over an hour. Hence, I watched the first 5 seconds and clicked away.
Someone really needs to teach this guy how to be concise and to the point.

Seriously. I've started to watch a handful of his videos only to give up when I realized how stupidly long they are. If you have THAT much to say, start a podcast or a subscription for the extra/extended content and make some sort of "highlights" video for each that's < 20 minutes. This shit of regular videos being an hour plus is absurd.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I would argue that the dealership system actually keeps prices LOWER for the consumer.
<snip>

I live in Hawaii so my view is based almost entirely on that as my last mainland purchase was a 1999 Chevy Silverado.

Dealers here have an $8000 adm as the starting point. They have a tendency to refuse service that isn’t profitable to them such as NHTSA recalls. They have an excess of inventory and still won’t budge on starting the negotiations lower. This is why Tesla sells well here despite no longer delivering anywhere other than Honolulu, not assisting in shipments to other islands in any manner at all, and no longer offering maintenance on this island at all. Same with Rivian and they don’t even have service in the state.

In my case the local dealer refused to consider doing any of the 3 recalls on my 2021. They sold me the car (at MSRP because Ford made them do it but that’s another story). It took the threat of fines from the NHTSA, intervention by multiple Ford personnel including very senior executives (yes you read that right), and the sale of the dealership to a Canadian to get the work done. Dealers aren’t even the manufacturers friends let alone the public’s.

My next Ford, Toyota, or whatever will be bought on the mainland and shipped regardless of any cost savings or lack thereof. If it cost me more to avoid a dealer altogether I’d gladly do it.

Yes there might be good dealers but I think the bad ones are so bad that overall it’s a negative. BTW, the Ford dealer here isn’t the worst either. Not. Even. Close.

And each new OEM entrant puts the legacy makers further behind in sales and service imo. No good comes from the continued protectionism of an antiquated distribution and sales system. If I live long enough to see its demise I’ll dance in its grave.

/rant off.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

PSA: like all of this guys videos - this one is LONG! Over an hour. Hence, I watched the first 5 seconds and clicked away.
Someone really needs to teach this guy how to be concise and to the point.

It’s YouTube’s compensation system. Longer means more ads which means more revenue for the content provider. The end consumer isn’t even a consideration.

 

[Mach1E]

I live in Hawaii so my view is based almost entirely on that as my last mainland purchase was a 1999 Chevy Silverado.

Dealers here have an $8000 adm as the starting point. They have a tendency to refuse service that isn’t profitable to them such as NHTSA recalls. They have an excess of inventory and still won’t budge on starting the negotiations lower. This is why Tesla sells well here despite no longer delivering anywhere other than Honolulu, not assisting in shipments to other islands in any manner at all, and no longer offering maintenance on this island at all. Same with Rivian and they don’t even have service in the state.

In my case the local dealer refused to consider doing any of the 3 recalls on my 2021. They sold me the car (at MSRP because Ford made them do it but that’s another story). It took the threat of fines from the NHTSA, intervention by multiple Ford personnel including very senior executives (yes you read that right), and the sale of the dealership to a Canadian to get the work done. Dealers aren’t even the manufacturers friends let alone the public’s.

My next Ford, Toyota, or whatever will be bought on the mainland and shipped regardless of any cost savings or lack thereof. If it cost me more to avoid a dealer altogether I’d gladly do it.

Yes there might be good dealers but I think the bad ones are so bad that overall it’s a negative. BTW, the Ford dealer here isn’t the worst either. Not. Even. Close.

And each new OEM entrant puts the legacy makers further behind in sales and service imo. No good comes from the continued protectionism of an antiquated distribution and sales system. If I live long enough to see its demise I’ll dance in its grave.

/rant off.

For sure it’s a unique situation in Hawaii, but kinda shows what can happen when there is no competition.

Tesla being different is because Tesla is different as a company.

I don’t think Ford would do things the same if they deleted the dealerships.

 

[Jimrpa]

It’s YouTube’s compensation system. Longer means more ads which means more revenue for the content provider. The end consumer isn’t even a consideration.

All I can say is the guys who do airline reviews somehow manage to keep those around 40 minutes. And they claim they’re paying for their international first class tickets out of their own pockets!

Sponsored