As much as I hate Elon, this is a terrible idea. Cheap Chinese trash mobiles built by Uyghur slave labor are not the answer.
How about we build cars in Canada instead?
As much as I hate Elon, this is a terrible idea. Cheap Chinese trash mobiles built by Uyghur slave labor are not the answer.
How about we build cars in Canada instead?
I have a better alternative: invest in viable alternatives to driving! expand protected bike lanes, build the damn high speed rail, more trains, trams and bus lines. One more asphalt lane for cars wont solve traffic problems :)
That would work for much of the population that lives within 100 miles of the US border, but there is a lot of rural and green space in Canada, and bikes aren't great in Canadian winters. Canada needs good car options too.
i would find amusing if countries retaliate US tariffs by singling out Musk and Trump companies
I think this is the sanest thing that has been said in the last couple of hours. I'm still recovering from the trump speech from yesterday, so not totally sure.
Replacing nazi cars with slave labor cars is a pretty fucked up idea.
Pretty much anything that you've ever owned has been made from the exploitation of some working class somewhere. The clothes you wear. The house you live in. The electronics that you use. The furniture that you own. The very food you eat and drink is often cheap because of an exploited worker somewhere that's paid pennies on the dollar. Your going to draw the line at a drastically cheaper car that's leaps and bounds better for the environment than a petrol vehicle? Okay.
China can buy our housing to rent it back to us, but we can't buy their EV because other companies won't make as much profit. Great trickle down.
Yeah China feeling more emboldened to invade Taiwan and talking about wanting to send in troops to gain experience in Ukraine shows they are looking to fill in the power vacuum left by the US and become US 2.0.
Top that with copyrights removal on Tesla tech.
Or just fix public transit for fucks sake. Evs are a distraction from the problemm
I obviously don't understand the economics of it and I realize that China will always have the upper hand on price but is there a reason every western EV has to be $40,000+? Like surely it's possible to build a barebones model for less than 30k right - especially if I don't need or even want touch screens or fancy interior materials or heated seats or anything.
If I specifically donβt want touch screens, what then?
Western culture is built on delivering value to shareholders first and foremost.
Higher profit margins.
Europeans get the bulk of cheaper and smaller EVs. Meanwhile in North America, Ford stopped selling sedans. Itβs a niche that car makers could fill if they wanted to.
I dont think there is a single privacy friendly EV on the market.
If a Canadian company could build and export an EV that wasn't loaded with invasive sensors and where the data recording and uploading was opt-in (or non existent), loads of US Americans and Europeans would import them from Canada.
Canada has the same incentive to not open the door to Chinese EVs that the US does.
Why would they shoot themselves in the face just to splash some blood on someone else?
Canada doesn't have the incentives that the Americans have at all. Correct me if I'm wrong. America's incentive is to protect its own EV industry, Canada doesn't have an EV industry of its own.
Someone's doing the happy hunny dance....

The argument against Chinese Ev's is not an economic one.
If some authoritarian state wants to steal from its poorest in society and transfer the wealth to foreign electric car buyers, why is our government trying to win in the race to the bottom?
Billions have been spent on the Canadian EV industry through subsidies, tax cuts and grants. The relative amount of jobs and Canada made goods are pitiful. The real beneficiaries are the foreign auto companies.
We will NEVER have a competitive advantage against China, Japan, US, UK, SK and Germany. Stop trying and put all that money and effort into something we do have a chance at being competitive in.
It's not about being competitive against Chinese EVs, it's about preventing China from attacking us economically, politically, and potentially even digitally.
These aren't just dumb vehicles, they're running Chinese made software, for a Chinese company, and reporting data back to China.
They're not just manufactured in China like you may have with other digital devices, with the software control and data residing in more friendly nations.
That matters.
Ban the fucking things.
Offer loan forgiveness to any Tesla owner. Tell musk to fuck off.
That feels like "robbing Peter to pay Paul". We don't want to be dependent on either nationalist autocracy.
I hope EVs don't get a bad name out of all this. EVs are one of the few good things to come out of the last decade or so.
Why just a tariff? Just ban all Tesla vehicle imports and all sales of new Tesla vehicles. For owners of existing vehicles they should be offered a generous buyback and equally generous loan terms for a new or used car. That would encourage most Tesla owners to trade-in their vehicles.
Yes, more Chinese infrastructure, that phones home and can be turned off remotely, with a switch, is definitely what the West need.
The world needs to tariff ALL elon companies and move away from American products/offerings in general. We need something to replace AWS in the worst way. The world needs to remember the corporations foreign and domestic that helped faciliate this and freeze them out because if they do it here in the US they WILL do it in your countries too. Toyota helped fund 1/6 for example. I will never buy a toyota because of it and elons companies will never get any patronage from me either.
Seize all Musk and Trump-owned assets.
now canada needs to invest in proper public transportation, so in the future people wouldn't need to buy a car just for day to day life.
Please please please...BYD is making super cheap Tesla killers. I'd love to get my hands on one.
$15k EV... Yes Please!!!
Nah you wouldn't want one, they're bare bones.
Okay, add $5k worth of options = $20k EV... Yes Please!!!
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