The new Las Vegas stadium for the Athletics is scheduled to open in spring 2028.....that's ONE massive building in a city cashed up to build it. But it's a stadium, it's not a foundry or an auto plant or a rare earth processing facility. Walk me through how we're going to just build everything we need in short order to replace the manufacturing our voracious consumer appetites have demanded. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.
It's not just that. It's great to
say we need manufacturing to come back to the US, but that's also inflationary. Nobody is building a low cost anything here. So if a Chevy is suddenly built 100% in country, that Chevy is going to cost more than it did when it was built in <virtually anywhere else>. And it's still going to be a ####tier car than the corresponding Honda/Toyota.
Actually, not sure I agree with everything you’re saying. I’d think a brand new factory would be far more automated now than one that moved to Mexico 10-20 years ago to keep labor costs down. We are in a much different environment in terms of automation/AI. I don’t know if it will work but maybe now is the perfect time for it to move back if you can automate the **** out of it and thus remove the that huge labor cost component, which would keep the skilled labor jobs here and keep the corporate taxes here. There’s a lot of cars still manufactured in the US that aren’t Chrysler LeBarrons.
And where are these new cars getting their computer chips? Rare earth element motors and magnets? Where are the EVs getting their cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium?
Do you recall the chip shortage from just a few years ago?
I’m not sure you even read my post but that’s OK. I was just talking about the assumption that we can’t possibly make good cars and that a new factory in the US would be like the one Michael Keaton ran. How long did it take Tesla to get up and running with volume? Has nothing to do with if I disagree or agree with the tariffs.
I did read yours, with great interest. I'm a history major with a great understanding of our automotive abilities and track record. Zero disagreement that we can and do make good cars here. Never did I dispute that which makes me wonder if you even read my post.
Tesla has enjoyed an environment of cheap raw goods to make their cars. Full stop. The ingredients used to build their cars have been cheap, easy to source and stockpile for years. Especially without much in the way of competition for critical metals for cars built in the US.
Right? With me so far?
Now, many of the other car manufacturers here - your Fords, GMs and even the Hondas that built plants here - they import many components like hydraulics or crap I'm not car savvy enough to describe but look it up, a car made in the US is built on our soil with many necessary components coming from Mexico, for instance.
And that can change too, we certainly are capable of building those components here but at what incremental cost?
I like robots, that's a good thought on future production. Gut manpower completely (job loss not creation) and have robots build all cars here. I like that.
But you completely missed my larger point - where do we get the raw goods to build? You know, the elements? The ones that DO NOT come out of our dirt? Where do we source those to build our good cars? Not trying to be a Richard but we're here......so tell me.....
Where are we getting the metals to complete 100% of the car building process here in the US?