Expert Warns: Cars Soon Unaffordable To 50% Of Germans! “Huge Social Conflict”… Idiotic, Singular Policy”

Ideological green policies are tearing Germany’s economy apart

In an interview, Prof. Kurt Lauk, former economic council head and automobile manager, warns half of Germans “will no longer be able to afford a car.” Socially explosive…”a disgrace”.

Green policies are currently driving German industry into a wall at 300 km/hr. Image cropped here

He also warns of a rapid demolition of Germany’s economic backbone: the automotive industry.

Story at Pleiteticker here.

“It is a disgrace what is sitting in the chair of Ludwig Erhard or Graf Lambsdorff. The hostility to technology coming from the Ministry of Economics is unbearable. Everywhere where we are or were world market leaders, we have gone about abolishing it,” Lauk said in an interview . It is the “worst thing that could happen” for German industry.

“For several years now, we have been working hard to destroy this competitive advantage of German industry or to hand it over to other nations. We now have ‘economic heads’ sitting in the Ministry of Economics who have no other professional qualifications,” Lauk added.

Lauk says Germany’s technological advantages are now in jeopardy because the backbone of Germany’s economy and driver of innovation is the country’s automotive industry. “This is where most of the jobs are.”

150 years of technological experience “thrown away”

“The technological advantage of German carmakers through 150 years of experience with the combustion engine, transmissions etc. is being recklessly abandoned, Lauk said. “We are throwing away our competitive advantage and adopting the ‘Chinese drive’. Because 80 per cent of the battery drives come from China. That means China has driven us up against the wall in a strategic situation. And with our naivety, we didn’t realize what was happening.”

Unaffordable for the bottom 50% 

Lauk warns that because of e-cars being considerably more expensive than conventional combustion engine vehicles: “The bottom fifty percent of the income pyramid will no longer be able to find a vehicle for less than 40,000 euros.” and thus this group will see significantly restricted mobility.

Tinder dry social powder keg of the haves and have nots

“Today you can get a cheap, suitable vehicle for 15,000, 18,000 or 20,000 euros. That will no longer be the case. We are running into a huge social conflict with this idiotic, singular policy to drive with electric batteries.”




22 responses to “Expert Warns: Cars Soon Unaffordable To 5022 Of Germans! “Huge Social Conflict”… Idiotic, Singular Policy””

  1. Pepe

    Wait… not that I don’t understand the gist of the article and for the most part I agree, EVs are still more expensive than comparable “classic” vehicles, but isn’t it Germany’s VW for example that has recently announced cheap models starting at 20k? Isn’t it safe to assume that as the technology evolves there will be more competition and the prices will eventually continue to go down? Isn’t it also safe to assume that used EVs will perhaps be cheaper than used petrol cars because it’s so much harder and expensive to replace the battery? I think it’s still a little too early to panic, let’s not forget that 100+ years ago petrol cars were seen as a crazy idea that’s only affordable for the very rich 🙂

    1. Peter

      Lots of things that make up a car are the same for an electric car and a petrol car: wheels, brakes, body, interior. So, I don’t expect those parts of an electric car to get any cheaper.

      Then there are the things that make it an electric car: electric motors are already produced in large numbers for many applications. Would these get any cheaper if they are being produced in larger number for electric cars.

      But then there are the prices for the minerals that make up the batteries: these prices are going up and so after years of batteries getting cheaper, batteries have become more expensive over the past year.

      I don’t see any reasons why electric cars would become cheaper in the future.

      1. Sean

        China controls the electric vehicle supply chain and energy in China is half the cost in Germany. China has a 10,000 Euro cost of production advantage over European auto makers. The cheaper electric cars affordable to the middle class will likely be imported. The German auto industry will become smaller.

        1. Peter

          If that were the case then Chinese ICE-cars would already have entered the Western markets in large numbers at lower prices. They haven’t.

          Similarly, Chinese EV’s are not cheaper than European cars on the European market.

          Possibly the importers are pocketing the difference, but I see no significant difference in consumer-prices between European cars and Chinese cars.

          1. Peter Ascroft

            They are just about to launch in the UK -they have been busy supplying their domestic market and now have reached the stage where international expansion is feasible.
            Why do you think tesla are chopping their prices every few months?

      2. Senex

        It’s a simple , classic economic case of supply and demand. The known reserves of the raw materials critical to current EV technology (lithium, rare earth elements, cobalt to name a few) are nowhere near the levels needed to support the existing demand for automobiles. If you are an automobile manufacturer that currently produces 10,000,000 vehicles a year, and can only produce 1,000,000 EVs, you will concentrate on high-end, luxury models with the highest profit margins.

        It’s a return to the early decades of the 20th Century, where automobiles are for the privileged, and public transport, cycling or walking are for the rest of the masses, especially the working classes.

  2. drumphish

    The CEO of Stellantis said the same thing in the US a few days ago. You won’t be able to afford an EV. Must be an early warning sign, a common thread or something.

    I wouldn’t want to be an elite being chauffeured around in an EV when it’s the only car being driven. The lap of luxury might be a tad risky at times. Could even be a trap.

    Lots of room for vandalism, slashed tires, broken windshields, headlights, rendering the EV inoperable. Those special EVs will stick out like sore thumbs, easy pickings.

    Oh well. Always a lesson to be learned the hard way in the School of Hard Knocks.

    Hack the digital controls, all sorts of ways to make life miserable for the stupid elite. The Crazy Russian Hacker will figure it out.

    Karma and consequences are real.

    1. Douglas Proctor

      The reduction in gross ownership and driving/travel is an intended outcome of the Green movements. Lower consumption of material and energy.

      This is only one of many targets of three anti consumption philosophy. We need to view them as a whole. They win when we are distracted fighting over parts and details.

    2. spike55

      “Hack the digital controls,”

      If the EVs are from China, they will already have access to the car’s controls..

      No hacking needed.

  3. Peter

    This line should have ended with a questionmark:

    Would these get any cheaper if they are being produced in larger numbers for electric cars?

  4. Tom Anderson

    One point not addressed here and omitted in most discussions is the possibility of less constraint in battery costs, volatility and safety. Re-consider the problem if there were a cheap, fast-charging battery made of common materials such as, for example, carbon and aluminum. A few companies are pursuing this option with no clear prospects yet, however, of opening on a commercial scale. I wouldn’t venture an opinion on future possibilities just yet.

    The second point is energy distribution. Who controls the fuel-supply? Standard Oil’s dominance in oil production and distribution in the United States occurred when the federal government was vigorously imposing anti-trust laws and policies. And we had the freedom of the gypsy gasoline station. Today, however, nations face electric supplies from local or nationwide monopolies that can pull the plug or raise the bill on consumers pretty much at will.

    As an ICE fan congenitally opposed to electrics because they failed to compete on the open market (generally been the test), I would prefer to see them compete on the free market now, but fairly. That means they earn their profits and get no tax breaks. If the above two points and government interference were not at issue the ICE-AC/DC game board would probably be more level and a lot more interesting.

    1. Senex

      Once the charging infrastructure for current EV battery technology is sufficiently built-out, the enormous sunk costs will be an effective resistance to to the rapid adoption of any newer battery technology. Same applies to the adaption of existing standards by the global auto industry. And I don’t expect China will sit idly by if a new technology threatens its present dominance of the supply chain for the critical raw materials, batteries and motors of the EV industry.

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  7. spike55

    Let’s not forget that the low-cost EV are basically UESLESS as anything but a golf cart or motorised shopping trolley.

    Low cost ICE cars are still very functional.

    The cost of a “usable” EV is much, much more than the cost of a usable ICE.

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  9. posa

    US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has stated on the record that in the future people will “subscribe” to a car service instead of owning a vehicle. That’s the plan. While mandating the extinction of the ICE vehicles, there are not enough raw materials — cobalt, lithium and nickel– available at any price. China is advancing a much cheaper sodium battery, so that may help.

    But otherwise: WELCOME TO THE NEW DARK AGES… the windmill economy where neo-feudal peasants walk or horseback around their confined manor houses…

    This is the New Green Deal in action.

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  11. Rehoboth

    Very nice post. Thanks for sharing

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