Electric Vehicles

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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.

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'Unless Things Change, We Will Not Survive': Even Toyota Doesn't Feel Safe Right Now (insideevs.com)

submitted 1 day ago by Delta_V@lemmy.world to c/electricvehicles@slrpnk.net

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...things need to change, or Toyota, the world's largest car company by sales, "will not survive."

...If Toyota feels like it's losing ground, then the ground is probably moving.

The problem isn't just one thing, either. It's everything, everywhere, all at once. Chinese automakers are gaining ground quickly and setting a new standard for manufacturing costs. Software is becoming a core part of cutting-edge vehicle. Tariffs are still a thing. The auto industry has seen more upheaval in the last few years than it did over the last several decades...

Toyota has always had extremely strict quality standards...But that could soon change.

The brand is implementing something that it calls "Smart Standard Activity." This is meant to slash...quality standards...Toyota believes it will lower the price of its components...

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[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Do you not understand the concept of a car dealership? You can not buy a car directly from Toyota or Honda or Ford, etc. Prior to roughly 2010 it was illegal in all 50 US states to sell automobiles direct to the consumer. If you wanted to buy a new car you had to buy it through an independent dealership, which is basically a middleman that tacks on various fees, etc. and tries to upsell add-ons.

Part of the way they make money is to not publicize the actual amount you will pay but instead publish the MSRP and their dealership markup. Then they’ll pretty much force you to negotiate that, along with haggling over optional accessories, trying to convince you to finance the car through them etc. So you may not even know the final cost of a new car until you spend hours haggling with them and commit to buying it.

One thing Tesla did right is to get rid of that independent dealership model and sell direct to consumers. You can go to one of their showrooms and test drive a car, and if you decide to buy one you just go onto the website and order it. The price on the website is exactly what you’ll pay. No dealer middleman is adding unnecessary fees just to sell the car to you, and nobody is pressuring you to finance through them etc.