• TempleSquare@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    They still put their eggs in one basket. Hybrids.

    They do not have a serious BEV product. I do think they could probably put one together in a pinch, but they aren’t positioned if they’re suddenly was a huge shift in market demand (like, heaven forbid, a world war in the Middle East or something).

    • bxttousa1@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      I think they knew the demand is gonna start weakening or that they have to play the long game to catch up to Tesla. With this news, its clear they did a good job anticipating it. Now its a matter of time if they can catch up eventually to BEV.

    • nlpnt@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      I have to wonder where the Japanese OEMs would be if they hadn’t wasted billions and a decade or more chasing hydrogen which at this point from the user refueling end combines the drawbacks of gas and electric with the advantages of neither.

      • aprtur@alien.topB
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        10 months ago

        For their home market, it’s still very much a worthwhile investment in terms of diversifying carbon-offset options. They’ll be fine.

    • Lauzz91@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      The USA is a net exporter of oil these days due to fracking and oil shale, market conditions are very different to when OPEC controlled the entire market

        • Troggie42@alien.topB
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          10 months ago

          yeah, oil market is really complicated, we sell and buy back and resell and rebuy and stockpile and pull from the stockpile and cycle in and out and all kinds of other bullshit, it’s really fuckin stupid tbh

    • FledglingNonCon@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      They are relying on the Chinese to build their BEVs in China where they have already lost about 10% of their market share and dropping rapidly.

    • Troggie42@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      They didn’t put all their eggs in one basket, they’ve still got a couple different types of hybrids AND regular gas cars AND are starting to come out with battery EVs like the BZ4X or whatever cat-across-the-keyboard thing they named it. That’s at least three baskets!

      • TempleSquare@alien.topB
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        10 months ago

        When when Toyota wanted to enter the luxury market, they spent a billion dollars and came up with the LS400. And it was perfect right out the gate.

        The bz4x does not show the same level of serious intention that the LS400 had. It’s borderline a compliance car.