"Despite declining electric vehicle (EV) sales".... is that true, or is the growth slowing? I keep hearing the phrase different ways in different areas but I believe the overall EV sales numbers per year are increasing, and that the growth rate is slowing.
Vehicle sales are slowing across the board and have been for a while; people who point to EVs and say they’re slowing and starting to decline are half right, half wrong. The implicit suggestion that gas car sales are growing is totally false.
Overall, cars and housing have inflated in price by over 50% since 2019. Housing can sustain this because of very low supply and a lack of production; cars, on the other hand, have no supply shortage (as evidenced by a lot packed with unsold $70K RAMs and Jeeps at your local CDJR dealer). Stellantis, Ford and GM will need to pile up five figure rebates on the hoods to move that metal, and dealerships will need to return to sensible pricing.
Ultimately, when the Chinese automakers enter the market with $18K BYD cars, the legacy automakers will have a major challenge on their hands. People will happily snap up EVs at that price point.
The industry has priced itself out of accessibility to everyday working people; the discontinuation of every affordable small car (Dart and 200 for Stellantis) has put the legacy automakers in major danger again.
This will be the fifth time Detroit has made the mistake of abandoning the affordable car market to sell massive gas guzzlers at sky high prices in a foolish short-term grab for money.
Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, VW and Toyota all have quality and competitive $20K new cars in their portfolios. The Detroit automakers don’t even play there. It’s going to be a bloodbath.