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jandreseyesterday at 4:22 PM3 repliesview on HN

There is another dimension to this. All of the legacy auto manufacturers, without exception, have been dragging their heels on EVs. Lots of people talk about corporate inertia and shareholders and whatnot forcing the companies to be irrational, but I don't think that's entirely correct.

I think the executives at these companies have long since identified that EVs are a far more fundamental existential challenge than people normally understand. The reason I think so is that Internal Combustion Engines are the primary barrier to entry into the car market. In an all electric world they are once again open to competition from startups who can source the same commodity motors, batteries, controllers, and the like. The barriers to entry drop and it becomes a brand new world of competition from all sides. The only major stumbling block being regulatory (crash testing, etc...). Nobody in the industry wants that, so the best solution is to fight the EV adoption as long as they can. Had Tesla not been a company they would still be dragging their heels with compliance cars to this day.

Of course countries without existing ICE manufacturers to protect, like China, are free to take control of the EV market and dominate the auto industry in the coming decades. An existential crisis for legacy automakers.


Replies

Spooky23yesterday at 9:46 PM

No, it’s just disruptive and political.

Ford built a world class product in the F-150 lightning, but their dealers and customers rejected it. A big part of it is that it’s a threat - you don’t need mechanics to fix electric cars.

fmajidyesterday at 9:03 PM

Not all. Renault is doing pretty well.Stellantis is now scapegoating EVs for its massive losses, when the real reason is that their products are garbage and in a fit of hubris they actually raised the prices in the US.

throwaway_20357yesterday at 5:43 PM

How can manufacturers fight EV adoption? If an EV is a superior offering it will find its market. Germans are free to buy Teslas, BYDs or domestiv EVs. There are reasons why the EV market share in Germany was still only 4.1% in 2025 (most likely: high electricity prices, relatively low gasoline price) but manufacturers "fighting adoption" is not one of them.

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