An “arms race” for who has the biggest vehicle
This is already the case everywhere. The average car is still quite a bit heavier in the US, but the average weight of a car in the EU has also increased by several hundred kg these past years. The people want big, heavy, inefficient SUVs. https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/global-car-economy
I did not use ChatGPT. I wrote and formatted all of that myself. I used Bjørn Nyland’s banana box test (google docs link) and ADAC’s measurements where they were available. The only number I could find on Tesla’s website was “2138 L”, which seemed unrealistic to me, and I assumed ADAC would have more objective data.
I stand corrected about the indicator stalk. I still don’t believe it has a shift stalk. The website only mentions the touch screen and overhead buttons, and Top Gear says that it doesn’t have one.
VW was founded by nazis, sure. But they are not actively supporting nazis currently. Tesla is supporting authoritarianism, immigration detention centres, and one-sided and unpredictable trade barriers that impose an unfair disadvantage on European manufacturers. And the company’s CEO actually performs nazi salutes at rallies. Surely you can see the difference? I wouldn’t suggest that you buy a German car in the thirties.
I think this should be a big part of your purchasing decision. By collectively not supporting Tesla, we can make them change their policies. You don’t make a lot of concessions when buying a Hyundai or Skoda instead. And if you like competition so much, maybe you shouldn’t buy from the company that supports massive tariffs on European, Japanese, and Korean cars?
Tesla Model Y AWD LR
KIA EV6 AWD LR
VW ID.4 GTX Businessline
Skoda Elroq RS
BMW i4 xDrive40
Software is subjective, I guess. But in my opinion always-on heavy regenerative braking, no indicator stalk, shift buttons in the ceiling, and a complete lack of other buttons, are pretty glaring issues. The Tesla is in no way leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
By buying a Tesla, you are choosing to support a company that actively works against the rules-based international order, and against the interests of the country you live in. You are supporting them with hundreds of thousands of kroner. Our position as consumers is the only way we can effect change in today’s world, and by supporting Tesla you are wasting it.
EU has a lot of goods the US needs.
Do you really? Except for certain pharmaceuticals, it seems like there are alternate suppliers for most European exports. Right now 15% is the rate for most of your competitors, as well. Doing anything other than rolling over would mean higher tariffs and losing out to China/APEC/MERCOSUR in the American market. To me it seems like the best course of action is to agree with this in the short term, and try to gradually decrease your reliance on the American consumer. Right now the US is by far your biggest export market, and losing access would be unfortunate.
No other Scandinavian country has a wealth tax. In the EU, Spain is the only country that officially has a wealth tax. In Spain it only kicks in if your assets are worth more than 3 million Euro (around 35 million NOK). In Norway, you start paying a yearly 1% wealth tax on all your assets, once your net worth reaches 140k Euro.
I am working class. I make basically an average wage here in Norway and I am strongly opposed to the wealth tax in its current form. The retirement age is raised constantly. (It’s been raised to 72 years starting next year for full benefits.) The publicly financed pension scheme is unsustainable, and already inadequate to live a decent life. If you’re lucky, your employer has a good pension scheme. If you don’t, you have to invest money yourself.
It is said that a sustainable withdrawal rate for retirement savings is around 3%. But if you live in Norway, capital gains are taxed at 40%. (The second highest rate in Europe.) Additionally you have to pay a wealth tax equivalent to 1% of all your assets every year. So you basically need to save twice as much as you would in most countries to achieve a sustainable withdrawal rate in retirement. This is not beneficial for the working class. It makes it more difficult to retire, and keeps the working class working.
They could increase the minimum deduction to 40 million NOK or something similar to what Spain does, and people could save for a decent retirement without incurring a wealth tax. Revenue wouldn’t even be affected that much, because most of the revenue from the wealth tax comes from the top anyway. Not to mention that our neighboring Scandinavian countries can deliver very similar public services without any wealth tax at all.