So what now? As neither the leader of a union nor the CEO of an automaker, I cannot know. But that’s not my job. My job is to report, and it’s the automakers’ job to make sure I have a good product to talk about. A good product won’t come from cost-cutting, disgruntled workers, or economic uncertainty. But it won’t come from overpriced EVs that take years to reach production, either, and the longer this strike drags on, the more likely it is that prices of all cars, electric or otherwise, will skyrocket. Tesla is a far more flexible company, but even Elon Musk can’t produce his promised cheap EV, either.
America has always bailed big companies out of financial blunders, and yes, China is doing the same to flood Europe with cheap EVs, but while America bails out its automakers to save face, China is doing it to strategically kill the competition. A key difference, indeed.
America needs an answer to this, and it needs it soon. But whatever that answer is, I’m willing to bet that no legacy US automaker will keep its recent EV price promises, and that could someday give China a way in. Food for thought.
