Cars, cars, cars...

Unfortunately it doesn't help because as I've said before more than once, it's the principle that counts. If she is being dishonest or fraudulent in any way then the number of zeroes don't change that.

Anyway cars are more interesting...

Western automakers desperately need either a different source of lithium, or batteries that use something else.

The growing realisation that electric cars and hybrids with weeny petrol engines are a bit sh1t when it comes to making a car desirable will help. AMG have just learned the hard way and are going back to using their V8 more to get sales back on track:

Happy days 🙂

My point is that a lot of car buyers don't want EVs regardless of how good they are. The article I posted helps to explain why.

Quite, you have missed my point. Read the link and reconsider.

Suspect that's nonsense, unless it is a pound for pound comparison.

Which in itself is instructive. You do see a trend of less snobbery towards what turn out to be really good cars, like Kia, Hyundai/Genesis, to the extent that you really, really have to want the lower spec BMW or Merc in order to look past them.

But on a more interesting note, the new Aston Martin Vantage looks like a real belter, albeit with a the usual Aston type price tag. Might drop in on the local Aston dealer sometime and take a look.

Read an interesting article a few weeks ago that many people have found it hard to insure the new cheap Chinese EVs. This seemed to be based on a few factors: the manufacturers have not yet got a proper dealer and parts infrastructure set up; many (accident) repair guides are based on Chinese labour costs - so in China for side impact its cheaper to replace the whole side of the car - too expensive in Europe apparently and they'd repair a lot more than cut out and replace; there was something else as well but I can't remember!

However I think the key word is "Yet" - already they are already working with the British Insurance organisation to address repair processes and costs and are gearing up for a "proper" support infrastructure, so it won't be long before those blockers are eroded away

As I think people recognise China have jumped legacy ICE cars and gone all in for EV with a healthy dollop of state aid and are a long way ahead in terms of technology and costs. There's a huge number of Chinese EV companies and there's likely to be some consolidation (a la General Motors back in the day) on the way

Forget about whether you want an EV or not - the cheapest EV cars will be Chinese and "Western" countries are going to have to decide what strategies to deploy to protect their own manufacturers and the jobs and value that the car companies bring.

But the man on the Clapham Omnibus will think with their wallet - hence why Dacia, Skoda a few years ago etc are so popular and people will need to think seriously whether paying more for say a VW ID 3 (just to pick a random Western EV) is worth paying £'000 more that some Chinese things

Cars are for most people now a consumer durable unlike say even only 20 years ago people aspired to more expensive models. I think buying them on PCP makes even expensive cars "seem" cheaper

Just my 2p worth

Well yes as it seems people from 1940-2010 seemed to have burned through half the earth

Functional and environmental doesn't have to be fugly but don't let that spoil your fun view of the world.

Also, FWIW people from 2010 on won't do any better. Lithium?

Pardon me for asking, but have you driven any of these newer Chinese cars? I don't know how you are assessing quality unless you have. And does the cheapness not come at a price in other ways?

The European and US brands are currently trying to service two markets, EV, non EV. So there's a generation of compromised EVs working their way through, with transition tunnels and engine bays and things like that. The only mainstream western manufacturer that started with EV only is Tesla, and they seem to have done okay.

It will be interesting to see how JLR and Volvo manage over the next few years. They've both committed to electric only.

And Toyota are saying they intend to launch solid state battery cars in the next couple of years, with double the range or something like that.

The landscape is changing fast.

...and mass consumerism has reduced since 2010, and global population hasn't increased from 6.9 to 7.8 billion?!

Quality isn't the same as specification, you know that much though, right?

"It will be interesting to see how JLR and Volvo manage over the next few years. They've both committed to electric only."

To be slightly pedantic regarding JLR - Jaguar is fully committed to be electric only (and all current Jaguar ICE powered vehicles are weeks away from stopping production, so sales will be stopping in ~6 months as stock is depleted) but Land Rover will remain a mix of ICE, PHEV and BEV for a number of years, gradually increasing to full electric. There are some global markets that are going to stay non-EV for quite some time providing a market for ICE (for all manufacturers). The Middle East is an example

Who is going to be buying an ICE car in 2032? What's the resale value, and, consequently, what will the PCP deals look like? Although there will be a big used price perturbation, I genuinely don't know which direction.