And, a recent tour of one of the Asian powerhouse’s vehicle plants has proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt, at least to Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe.
“We have no chance against this,” Mibe said upon a visit to a Shanghai parts factory, commenting on its seamless automation across all levels of production. Logistics, procurement and all aspects of the process were so automated, in fact, that he did not spot a single human worker on the supplier’s floor.
Ford executives saying even three years ago that China was way ahead of the game
Toyota’s CEO has likewise said regarding not just his company, but the industry in general, “unless things change, we will not survive”
Oh no my portfolio… Seriously, there’s something called competition, it’s been around for a long time. If Chinese companies continue pushing ahead while US companies remain complacent then that’s just what will happen. These older car manufacturers have had DECADES to prepare for the newer battery tech to design and build good affordable BEVs, but they just didn’t.
This is what happens when billionaires try to steal the future. Read about the General Motors EV1. Oil companies have fought against the development of EV charging infrastructure in the US.
It’s not about EV vs ICE, it’s about automation in production, which really is important, if you like to talk about billionaires stealing the future, then from Marx to, eh, Norbert Wiener many people wrote that eventually heavy industries won’t need low qualification labor anymore, and where the society turns at that point is a political problem.
It’s those conceptually capital “means of production” right here. Or you can look at TSMC, though. Or Windows, or Linux, or Firefox. All capital things.
But yes, those who can’t make the transition are at a disadvantage. Unless the gap is reduced in some way, it’s political again.
Anyway, those unfit dying have been a thing for a long time.