Tariffs don’t work…

May 31, 2025 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: Automobiles, BMW, Cars, Donald Trump, Germany, Mercedes, Tariffs, Trade, USA, VW Leave a comment

Until they do.

Then an agreement is reached and the tariffs are lowered. We could ask Elon but this doesn’t seem like rocket science to me.

Trump’s Tariffs Cost BMW $11 Million A Day, So Germans Want A Deal – European carmakers are losing millions daily to US tariffs despite American production bases.

Trade wars rarely end well for anyone involved, and when the crossfire hits the automotive industry, the damage adds up fast. Nowhere is that more evident than in Germany, where the ongoing tariff standoff is racking up some eye-watering costs. According to a new report, BMW is losing a staggering $11.3 (£8.4 / €10) million per day thanks to U.S. tariffs.

Huge funeral attendance

October 28, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, China, E-cars, Electric Cars, Germany, Industry, Strikes, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

At Germany’s automobile industry burial.

Volkswagen AG workers in Germany will pause production on Monday to join rallies about the automaker’s plans for unprecedented factory closures in the country.

Labor leaders plan to inform employees at 11 German sites about the latest on negotiations with the company. The events kick off a contentious week for Europe’s biggest carmaker, which is expected to post declining sales and profit when it reports third-quarter results on Wednesday…

The automaker has had a rough few weeks since it issued its second profit warning in three months in late September. While its premium brands including Audi and Porsche have been the carmaker’s biggest source of profit in recent years, they’re now struggling. Porsche AG on Friday said it’s weighing cost cuts and reviewing its model lineup after a demand slump in China hit its profits.

Last one out turn off the lights

September 4, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Economy, Energy, Germany, Government, Greens, Intel, Investments, Regulations, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

Oh, sorry. Green energy already turned the lights off for you.

Germany in crisis: Intel and Volkswagen mull a multibillion-dollar withdrawal from the country.

For the first time in its 87-year history, Volkswagen is considering shutting down plants in Germany, where it employs around 300,000 people, as the company ramps up efforts to save €10 billion in costs…

Reuters reports that Intel will consider pausing or halting plans for its €30 billion ($33 billion) factory in the east German city of Magdeburg as the semiconductor manufacturer looks for cost savings. Germany had committed €9.9 billion ($10.9 billion) to the project when it was announced in June last year.

Germany To Subsidize Tesla

June 4, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Automobile Industry, BMW, Daimer, Electric Cars, German, Germans, Germany, Government Subsidies, Government Waste, Subsidies, Tesla, VW, Waste Leave a comment

In a bold move to help the ailing German automobile industry, the German government will be spending billions of euros on subsidies for electric cars most likely manufactured by the American electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. (Germans don’t do electric cars).

Germany raised the incentives to buy electric cars and cut the sales tax on more fuel-efficient internal combustion engines (ICE), but increased taxes on gas guzzling SUVs and sports cars which will hit the profits of the big auto makers.

„Wumms“ für Tesla und Nel. Geldregen für Wasserstoff und E-Auto – Daimler und Co stehen im Regen.

$33 Billion And Counting

January 2, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Cheating, Court Case, Courts, Crime, Customers, Dieselgate, Emissions, Fines, Fraud, German, Germans, Germany, Lawsuits, Trust, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

In fines. Up until now.

But would it matter if Volkswagen paid another 30+ billion to German customers too? Who would trust this company anymore, whatever they paid? What did Warren Buffet say? “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

VW to Sound Out Settlement in German Car-Owners’ Mass Lawsuit – Volkswagen AG and German consumer group VZBV agreed to settlement talks in a court case involving hundreds of thousands of drivers who claim that their diesel cars lost value in the wake of the emission-cheating scandal.

Trump Still Really Evil But…

December 3, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy Tags: Automobile Industry, BMW, China, Daimler, Donald Trump, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Import, Tariffs, USA, VW Leave a comment

German Carmakers Jump on Potential U.S.-China Tariff Truce. This is how Germany works, folks.

BMW AG rallied the most in more than three years after U.S. President Donald Trump said China had agreed to remove painful tariffs on imported American-made cars shipped to the world’s biggest automotive market. Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG also rose sharply.

BMW and Daimler, which export sport utility vehicles from U.S. plants to China, stand to be the biggest gainers from a potential reduction of tariffs. Six of the ten best-selling U.S. auto imports to China are made by the two German luxury auto manufacturers.

Autobosse treffen Trump Kurse von BMW, VW und Daimler schnellen in die Höhe.

Germans Are Green-Minded?

September 19, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Audi, BMW, Crime, Dieselgate, Environment, Mercedes, VW 1 Comment

Yeah, I guess. Unless it has to do with their cars.

Because when it comes to the numerous environmental and other crimes committed by VW, BMW, Mercedes & Co. (Dieselgate is just the tip of the iceberg), German car owners just don’t care. These companies could march into to Poland and nobody would say anything.

Germans are fastidious about separating trash into different recycling bins and have spent untold billions on the so-called Energiewende, the transition from nuclear and fossil-burning fuels for electricity generation to renewable sources.

Just don’t mess with their cars. It may be a cliché that Germans are obsessed with their four-wheeled companions, but that doesn’t make any less true. While all other major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, from households to industry, have seen declines since 1990, transport emissions, which account for 20 percent of the total, have increased.

Die Europäische Kommission lässt bei ihren Kartell-Ermittlungen gegen BMW, Daimler und Volkswagen nicht locker. Die Behörde werde in einer förmlichen Prüfung untersuchen‚ ob die Konzerne unerlaubte Absprachen bei Abgas-Systemen für Diesel- und Benzinmotoren getroffen haben.

Car No Longer Manufactured Since 2003 Will No Longer Be Manufactured Again Next Year

September 14, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, Beetle, Cars, German, Germans, Germany, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

The compact Beetle was introduced in Germany in 1938 during the Nazi era before becoming a symbol of Germany’s rebirth as a democratic, industrial powerhouse after the second World War.

It came to the US 11 years later, where it became a symbol of utilitarian transport for the postwar baby boom generation – often used by hippies.

The famous car sold for about 30 years before US sales stopped in 1979, through production continued continued production for Mexico and Latin America. The last of the original bugs was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in 2003.

VW Käfer wird bereits seit 2003 nicht mehr hergestellt.

I Know Nothing

July 27, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Crime, Dieselgate, German, Germans, Germany, Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

Nothing!

Uh, yes you do. Former VW boss Martin Winterkorn has maintained from the start of the Dieselgate scandal that he knew nothing about the manipulative tricks going on in his company. But it’s now coming out that a high-ranking VW engineer who knows better is cooperating with the German prosecuting attorney’s office and spilling the beans on Winterkorn big time. This is going to cost VW a whole lot more than they figured on, I bet. Even the Germans are holding them responsible. Think of that. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of guys. Talk about systematic criminal activity.

I mean, do these people really think they can get away with this stuff and nobody is ever going to squeal on them? I guess it’s too lonely up there at the top when you’re, well, on the top, in your little I know nothing dream world.

„Ich bin bestürzt über das, was in den vergangenen Tagen geschehen ist. Vor allem bin ich fassungslos, dass Verfehlungen dieser Tragweite im Volkswagen-Konzern möglich waren.”

War Is Over! (f You Want It)

June 20, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, BMW, Daimler, EU, Exports, Germany, Imports, Tariffs, Trade, USA, VW Leave a comment

What? That was it? No more trade war hysteria? Just when it was starting to get interesting? What Luschen (duds).

The Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, has been in talks recently with the chief executives of German car makers BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler, where they pitched the idea of ending car tariffs between the U.S. and the EU.

During these talks, the executives said they would be in favor of scrapping these levies as part of a broader deal encompassing industrial goods, the Journal said.

“Germany has the right approach to resolving this trade disagreement among friends.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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