Auto Industry Death Watch 2020: Are We Heading for Another Bailout?

With the novel coronavirus forcing the economy to grind to a halt, just about every industry on Earth is affected, almost all negatively. The auto industry is no exception.

Production is halting around the world, and it seems likely that car dealers will be closing, either voluntarily or via government order, at some point soon – at least on the sales side (vehicle service is arguably essential).

People are being ordered to stay home, people are losing their jobs, and with a few exceptions – say a first-responder who absolutely needs a car right now – there will be almost no vehicle sales, new or used, for the next two months or longer.

Even as bad as things got in 2007-2009, sales never ground to a halt.

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  • Lorenzo TikTok won't sway young people, but low prices will. There will need to be a parts and service network in place to go along with it, and of course, the vehicles must be able to survive typical American neglect of maintenance. Miss on those, and Chinese brands can follow Renault and Peugeot out the door.
  • Tassos Enough with this nonsense technology. It is my right to rear end the car in front of me while i drive around in my e-class (diesel, rebuilt) looking for the Hot Women In My Area. My phone keeps prompting me that they are ready to meet me.
  • 28-Cars-Later 33% is still unrealistic, though hybridization of the bread and butter models is in my view (though not sure how well that will go over with the professional use pickup crowd, they already spend a kachillion for conventional technology to subsidize the losses of everything else).
  • MaintenanceCosts When these proposed regs came out it was quickly determined that the industry could satisfy them with a mix of fewer than 1/3 BEVs if nearly all ICE vehicles were hybridized. With that in mind, I think this lawsuit is mostly "FJB" political theater by Republican AGs trying to make sure that they don't get primaried by far-right party bases.
  • Lou_BC An I thought the President had absolute immunity;)