UAW strikes

My suspicion has long been the Big 3 went "all in" on EV because they believed (as I do) that automated manufacturing would be enabled by eliminating the complex and integrated gasoline powertrain assembly + install. And that would allow them to close plants, shake off the UAW wage burden, and move forward.

But now they are in trouble, because they've realized that batteries are really expensive, the cars are too heavy and inefficient, people don't want to pay too much more for them and now - to top it off - the UAW is demanding they be compensated for the work they're no longer doing on each car. (40 hours pay / 35 worked).

It's not just Big 3. Also Mercedes, Volkswagen and some others; and Nissan's a carmaking basket case even without EV. Meanwhile Tesla has been busy vertically integrating and their price cuts are going to define EV pricing for a decade.

Honda is "behind" but it's OK because they're basically buying GMs platform one car at a time, instead of sinking billions into it, while positioning themselves as one of the remaining ICE engine makers of the future. Toyota seemingly is about to dive into EV, but they may save themselves as buyers realize plug hybrids are about 10x as cost effective from a battery-buying perspective. Subaru? Ain't nobody know what their EV game is, I don't worry about it; but somehow they give you a ton of really safe car for very little money so that's what I drive.