Volkswagen’s China Lifeline Is Gone. Can America Save It?
For decades, China helped Volkswagen weather just about everything the automotive industry could throw at it.
Those days are over.
Volkswagen is losing sales and profitability in the market that once powered its global success. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers are expanding into Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and virtually every other market where established manufacturers once expected to make money.
So where does VW go next?
America, apparently.
In Episode #30 of At The Wheel, Joe White and Tu Le examine Volkswagen’s increasingly complicated strategy involving XPeng, Rivian, Cariad, Audi and Scout—and why its U.S. manufacturing ambitions could be arriving years too late.
But Volkswagen isn’t the only company facing an uncomfortable reckoning.
Ford is trying something different: developing an affordable EV platform designed to compete with Chinese manufacturers on cost, efficiency and speed. Joe and Tu discuss whether Ford can make the technology work—and, more importantly, whether it can spread those lessons throughout an organization built around a very different way of developing vehicles.
The conversation also explores how Chinese automakers might eventually enter the U.S., why Michigan continues missing major automotive investments, and whether today’s highly profitable truck and SUV business can remain protected indefinitely.
The uncomfortable question for legacy automakers: What happens when your most profitable markets stop being your safest markets?
Watch, listen and join the discussion.
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Two perspectives. Plenty of opinions. No corporate talking points.
Tags
Automotive Industry, Volkswagen, Ford, Automotive Strategy, Future of Mobility, Electric Vehicles, Chinese Automakers, Manufacturing
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to At The Wheel #30: Spooky Earnings Season
01:10 Volkswagen’s China Sales Collapse
03:09 XPeng, Rivian & VW’s Software Strategy
05:57 China Overcapacity & Volkswagen Restructuring
09:40 Why VW Can’t Escape Chinese Competition
11:04 Can America Save Volkswagen?
15:03 Audi’s U.S. Factory & Scout’s Timing Problem
19:32 Could Chinese Automakers Build in America?
21:29 AITO, Bosch & the Future of Chinese Auto Partnerships
27:54 Why Michigan Is Missing New Auto Investments
31:28 Ford’s Affordable EV & Bidirectional Charging
35:05 Ford vs BYD: Batteries, Cost & Engineering
37:59 Mercedes, Porsche & the Decline of Brand Premiums
40:42 U.S. Auto Overcapacity & the Pricing Battle
47:46 Chinese Automakers Challenge Toyota & Honda Globally
49:16 Can Ford Reinvent Its Entire Development Process?
53:51 NVIDIA, AI & the Future of Automotive Competition
58:22 Final Thoughts & What’s Next
