Somebody quoted a statistic that seemed too far out to be believed, so I checked it with other sources. The extreme stat: EU produces 15 million cars a year, US produces only 2 million. Really? I knew we were fucked, but we CAN’T be that fucked.
No, it’s worse.
From EU auto mfrs association: Car production over all EU countries was 15 million last year. Germany first as I’d expect, Spain second as I didn’t expect, then France then Czechia.
From the Federal Reserve’s stats: US production has gone steadily down since the 70s, now down to about 1 million a year.
We first hit one million in 1919. Most of it, of course, was Ford, followed by Chevy, Buick, Dodge and Willys. The top five are the same again, with Ford much less dominant.
Visual Capitalist gives a PRECISELY RELEVANT fact. Among the companies that sell cars here, only one does 100% of its production here. The others are about half here and half Mexico and Canada.
Which company would be UNAFFECTED by Trump’s tariffs? No guesses needed. It’s Elon’s company.
In other fucking words, the whole purpose of auto tariffs is to destroy Elon’s competition. Pure gangster tactics as fucking usual.
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Got curious about Spain. In earlier decades it had a Fiat branch plant but not much of its own. It wasn’t a major car country. The pattern is still the same, but now it’s more productive than US and Italy. Fiat, VW and Mercedes have branches. There are several native companies producing specialized trucks and buses, and amazingly Hispano-Suiza is still in business, still making supercars for the superrich as it did 100 years ago.
Polistra's Mill 