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Merkel visits China in August 2012 with a large trade delegation including heads of SAP, Siemens, VW and BASF. Germany's largest export market is in the eurozone, at the same time growth in exports has surged to China and India. Between 2005 and 2011, German exports to the EU countries increased by 24%, to the U.S. by 6.3%, and to China by 206%, according to German government data. German investment in China was 26 billion euros in 2011. By contrast China's investment in Germany is small- only about 1.2 billion euros. The impression is that large firms such as VW and Siemens make up most of the investment. In actual fact the German Chamber of Commerce in China says 5000 German companies operate in China, employing 220,000 people, and three fourths of this is from the German "Mittelstand," midsize family owned companies. The Foundation for Family Businesses, representing 400 German Mittelstand companies says it needs more help regarding intellectual property protection in China and is not as well represented in the German trade delegation....

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VW opens a new plant in Russia to manufacture 150,000 cars in 2009. Russian sales of foreign brands went up by 65% in 2008. The sales there are 2.4 million vehicles. With the number of cars at 180 per 1000 people, compared to 552 in Germany, most cars on the road already 10 years old, and with a population 1.7 times the size of Germany's, the potential for sales in Russia are significant. VW plans to produce the Octavia and Passat models , later adding Polo and Skoda Fabia models. VW hopes to increase sales in Russia from 3.2% to 10% by 2010, to catchup wth Toyota which also opened a new factory near St Petersburg. In 2008 Toyota sold more than twice the number of cars sold by VW. See VW's progress in other areas in the link to Skoda. The Octavia which it will bring to the Russian market is a success story from VW's Skoda operations in Czech Republic.This is a lower cost vehicle compared with VW's other models. VW is one of the fastest growing brands in Europe, ahead of Toyota, and it does very well in Poland and in Eastern Europe. It is the leading brand in China, ahead of GM. ...

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VW sales including Audi were up 34% in 2012. BMW sales were up 14%, and Daimler sales were up 15%. The growth rates for the German automakers surpassed growth in China. By manufacturing in the U.S. German automakers are better able to compete with the Detroit and Japanese carmakers in pricing. A third of BMW vehicles and a fourth of VW and Mercedes vehicles are now made in the U.S., according to LMC Automotive. VW has invested about $4 billion in the U.S. since 2008, including investment at a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The German carmakers are now going for mass appeal with the VW Passat. Lower priced Mercedes models now sell for under $30,000. German exports to the U.S. increased by 24% in October 2012, compared to 18% for the eurozone overall. About 40% of German exports to the U.S are autos. Eurozone exports to the U.S. were up 18% in Oct 2012, and Britain's exports increased by 11%. British exports in Oct 2012 of 4 billion euros were second only to Germany at 8 billion euros....

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EV makers in US offer about $5000 in discounts to replace $7500 lost in government EV tax credits. The hurdle for electric vehicles is the lack of charging infrastructure and the cost of home chargers, in addition to the limited range in miles. The big jump in inflation centered not just on groceries in 2019-2024, there was a 34% increase in the cost of new cars and 50% increase for used cars, and a jump in maintenance costs. Reducing affordability for young people and making car ownership costlier. This turned into a cost of living crisis with groceries up 31%, that affected people's enthusiasm for climate change action when China was building one coal plant a week (adding 95 GW in 2024)- underlying the need to provide immediate relief to American working families and elderly through tax cuts, benefits and shifting tax dollars from climate change action to working families in the next 4 years. This is the approach taken under the DJT One Big Beautiful Act of 2025. Basically what the DJT side of the story is on emissions- US has only 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions, cut this by half to 6% and assuming the EU which has 6% of gas emissions also cuts by half to 3%, the saving just 9%  while the 82% of emitters China, India, Russia and Brazil etc not making the cuts needed the impact on climate change is not significant. If China and India want relief US working families also need relief.  ...

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Toyota's market share in China is about 5-6%, lagging behind GM and VW. After a "willful pause" since 2012 when Toyota ran into quality issues following an aggressive expansion in manufacturing, Toyota is beginning to make investments in new assembly plants. New assembly plants will be built in Mexico and China with a $1.25 billion investment.

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World leaders meet at the UN for action on climate change, especially Obama and Hu Jintao of China who represent countries that generate 40% of carbon emissions worldwide. Hu set the target for nuclear power at 15% of energy for 2020 from 8% now, and India set atarget of 20% for renewable sources of energy for 2020. President Obama said he saw the need for the developing industrial nations, by which he meant China, India and Brazil, to adopt targets for curbing emissions in any agreement, but Hu Jintao was vague about any specific targets. So the gap remains as the US goes to the Copenhagen talks on climate change in late 2009.

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US census data shows Mexico exported $382 billion worth of goods to the US in 2022, an increase of 20% over 2021, according to US census data. American companies put more money into Mexico for investment than China in 2021. The high shipping costs and 2 weeks vs 2 months of shipping time are part of the reason companies are looking at Mexico as an alternative to China. The trade friction with the US and tariffs are added incentives for companies to shift manufacturing out of China. The shift is gradual as the infrastructure improvements in Mexico lag behind the infrastructure development in other countries in Asia.

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GM, VW and Toyota are shrinking in China's rapidly expanding EV and hybrids market. Local China brands expanded by 9% to 61% of the market. 23 smaller Chinese brands were merged into larger China brands or exited the market. China's car market expanded by 5.5% to 22.9 million vehicles.  Production capacity is about twice that with 112 brands in the market. US is at about 16 million vehicles.

Production of EV's or plug in hybrids has hit 10 million in China in 2024, so that about half of all vehicles made in 2024 are EV's or hybrids.

Tesla China sales at 662,000,, up 8%, with Model Y selling at $33,000 and 5 year car loans at no interest from Tesla. China's leader BYD sells 4 million cars in 2024. GM's 6 plants in China suffered- GM lost 50% of it's sales in 2024 and took a $5 billion charge.

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Mexico has emerged as the world's fourth largest exporter of cars in 2012 after Japan, Germany, and S. Korea. Mexico is expected to surpass S. Korea in a few years. In 2011 2.68 millon cars and trucks were manufactured in Mexico. Honda, Nissan, VW and other companies are building new plants in Mexico. Exports in 2012 are expected to reach 2.14 million cars. With the increase in wages in China's auto plants Mexican wages are highly competitive with China, considering the proximity to markets in N. America and Latin America. Wages in Mexico are about $40 a day for assembly line workers. By comparison wages in China are about $3 an hour. Honda plans to manufacture its Fit small car in Mexico. VW executives say a VW car made in Europe is imported into Brazil with 35% duty, into the U.S. with a 25% duty on trucks, and this can be avoided by making automobiles in Mexico. The quality and reliability of vehicles made in Mexico compares well with vehicles made in Japan, according to Nissan, and productivity at plants is high. There is also good avialability of engineers and plant workers. The growing automobile production also means new plants of auto suppliers from Japan, Germany and other countries in a snowball effect as new auto plants open creating new demand for components....

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The expansion plans of VW will add more competition into the US market which is declining. Martin Winterkorn ran VW's Audi business. He became VW's new CEO this year and brings a new leadership perspective to his job. He has several new strategies. In the area of pricing he wants to reduce unneeded features such as external mirrors that fold inward for narrow European streets, and bring down the price of VW Jetta and Passat models to be competitive with Toyota's Corolla and Camry models. Currently a Jetta is $17,000, a Corolla is $ 15,200 and a Passat is $23900 compared to a Camry at $20,000. VW's plans are to set a sales target of 1 million cars by 2018, tripling sales in ten years from the current 330,000 vehicles. In the next 3 years to 2010 sales world wide are expected to increase by 12 to 15%, VW wants to capture a bigger share by seeing its sales increase by 30% from the six million units today to 8 million units by 2010. Winterkorn sees this as possible given that VW has a more centralized management structure now which makes for quicker decisions. VW is also working on a new family of small fuel efficient cars on a common platform to be sold in China, India and other markets where a small car will be popular. Winterkorn referred to its new concept car as an example of the direction this would take. As importing cars from Europe is becoming costlier with the strong euro and the Japanese in contrast have the advantage of a weaker yen, the expansion plans will require lower pricing. VW looks to build a plant in the USA. Another strategy is to add 12 new models to its global product line and to launch more new vehicles in new product segments. This is what Winterkorn thinks has given Toyota its increased sales. A new compact SUV caled the Tiguan will be introduced. What all this means is that VW is seeking to move buyers of Japanese and American cars to try German cars, make German cars cost less and make a strong showing in the American and global markets. ...

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A nuclear plant in a war zone with repeated shelling? This is taken up in this debate video of 44 minutes in FR24 which you can click on. The world has not seen this since the start of nuclear energy from plants in the 1950's. Calder Hall the first UK nuclear power station and the first in western Europe started in 1956. Eisenhower opened the first US nuclear power station Shippingport on the Ohio river in Pennsylvania, 50 kilometres from Pittsburgh in 1958 as part of the Atoms for Peace Program. The US built 54 nuclear plants that are operating today in 2022 generating 50% of the renewable energy in use today in the US. The question is what does the unthinkable conducted by the Russians and Ukrainians, by weaponizing a nuclear plant do to public perception of the safety of the Atoms for Peace Program initiated by president Eisenhower in 1954? What does this damaging of public safety perceptions after Fukushima do to the Atoms for Peace type of programs in China India, and European Union that are part of the emissions cutting programs in the world? These are serious questions at a time when climate change is not simply a word but means floods, fires, drought, and declining food production all over the world from Spain to Pakistan, from Germany to China. China and India are affected. China has 53 nuclear plants in 2021 with 50 GW and plans to double this by 2030. India has 22 nuclear plants  with 8 GW in 2021 and plans to triple this to 22 GW by 2030. How will climate change be tackled with public safety perceptions affected with another nuclear accident like that in Fukushima arising from shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. As the president of the UN Security Council Zhang Jun of China clearly stated at the UN SC meeting last week that China opposed use of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant by Russia (or Ukraine) in any way that could lead to damaging nuclear safety leading to an unintended accident. China only gets about 5% of its energy from nuclear, India about 3%, and this will need to increase multiple times to tackle climate change. France gets 70% of its energy from nuclear, the US 20%, by comparison. Nuclear energy safety and clear rules to prevent weaponizing of nuclear plant zones is essential and a solution like that developed for the food grain shipments from Odessa through Black Sea to the Mediterranean has to be arranged quickly. ...

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The Fed's interest rate policies to fight inflation have increased the return on US assets vs overseas emerging market countries such as Brazil and India. US Treasurys now offer 2% return after inflation. This means investors shy away from emerging markets as the extra yield offered by emerging market country bonds is diminishing. This reduces inflow of investment into countries from Turkey to Brazil. Higher rates also increase the value of the dollar vs other currencies including that of China and India, Brazil, Mexico. This means it is costlier for other countries to buy goods priced in dollars (India, Mexico)  or service dollar denominated debts (Argentina or Turkey). Where countries had raised rates to fight inflation this means central banks have less room to cut rates to stimulate their economies. This also happens as China's growth of 5% in 2023 as it has high debt and little room for stimulus measures, reduces any growth in countries in Latin America or Africa that export commodities from copper and iron to other materials. ...

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Japan's foreign minister Taro Kono says Japan will propose an alternative to China's One Belt, One Road Initiative. He is particularly looking at the role of Japan, Australia, India and the U.S. in coming up with an alternative. Kono sees France and the UK as additional partners. 

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1.1 million EVs were sold in US in 2024, compared to 1.4 million hybrids. Hybrids have made a comeback as sales of electric cars are slowing in US in 2024. Constraints being lack of enough charging stations, price of electric cars still high, driving range limited before recharge. Hybrid car sales are surging helping Toyota after a too cautious entry into EV's. Now the Biden administration is looking at the targets and how to make the transition smoother. Toyota is pushing back on strict environmental rules that expect 67% of cars to be electric by 2032.  The 2021 executive order by president Biden was for 50% target by 2030 and this included hybrids.  The gradual shift would make it less costly for the public to replace the cars and help first time buyers wanting to try it out do this with hybrids as an option. As a quick guide 12000 pounds of carbon dioxide for global warming are given out by gasoline only cars, half or 6000 pounds by hybrids like Toyota's, and half again 3000 pounds of carbon dioxide by all electric like BYD China's or Tesla/GM/VW. The actual numbers are confirmed by Dept of Energy 2022, and MIT 2019 studies- 2727 pounds all electric, 6898 pounds hybrid, and 12594 pounds all gasoline. ...

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Europe responds with platitudes and vague references to "benefits for everyone" and "detrimental" without facing up to the facts. How many American cars do you see on the streets of Germany? in Berlin or Frankfurt?- or Japan? in Tokyo or Osaka?-or South Korea? in Seoul? And how long has this been going on - since the 1980's. Europe's answer to the Marshall Plan and Japan's and China's to post war American help for recovery, was to exclude American cars and other products. GM and Ford have pulled out of China and so has VW. China's plan is to flood the world with electric cars, and Japan's to flood the world with hybrids. For far too long America has relied on capitalism that has no state involvement. In this kind of competition with hidden subsidies and national planning at the core of industrial growth in Asia. The US government has to have state involvement in it's auto, steel, aluminium, and chip industries, not to create trade disturbances but to create an even playing field for all, and rebuild a middle class destroyed by unfair trading practices of Asian nations and the EU, including Canada and Mexico which are simply used as bases to ship to the US. Ford makes 80% of its cars in the USA and GM can make the investments in new plants to raise its production from 60% in the USA to 80%. South Korea's Hyundai and Kia are investing $21 billion to make in the USA. Toyota and Nissan, VW, BMW and Mercedes can do the same.   ...

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The Chinese car market is changing fast, with domestic brands making up a larger share of the local market. In 2000 these domestic brands made up 18% of total sales, whereas in 2010 forecasts show this to be about 32%, with the share increasing in future years. In a rapidly growing market this did not make much difference, but with the market growth moderating to 7-8% in the next ten years from the heady 33% of recent years, the foreign brands such as GM and VW will not see the growth of recent years. J.D. Powers projects passenger vehicle sales in China at 19.2 million by 2017, with Chinese brands taking 45% of the share, in one scenario. Under this scenario foreign brands like GM and VW would see sales growth of only 5% in the next 7 years. The foreign brands are not allowed to own more than 50% of local operations. And their partners are making their own domestic brands. If Japan is a useful example, China's automobile companies will like Nisssan, Toyota, and Honda, proceed to penetrate global markets and become a dominant player in their local market. This has implications for GM, VW and Daimler....

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The British Energy Institute shows how countries are doing in fighting climate change by reducing fossil fuel use. 

Poland is poor at 88% fossil fuels in energy mix. Algeria, Singapore, Bangladesh, Oman at 98%.

In Europe Norway leads at 72% for renewqble energy in the mix. Brazil at 50% keads SOuth America, Nw Zealand 43% and Vietnam at 23% in Asia Pacific. 

Of 6525 coal fired power plants China has 3168, India 845 plants and US 408. Older plants are being retired.

Planned construction of new coal power plants 707 in China, 165 in India, 2 in the US, 23 in eastern Europe, 0 in Northern Europe and 4 in Southern Europe, 0 in Western Europe, Latin America is 6.

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Matthew Tsien, a vice president in GM China, will be the new president in Jan. 1, succeeded Bob Socia. Tsien will report directly to Dan Akerson, CEO of GM. Tsien is currently vice president of planning and program management and has experience working wih GM's joint ventures. The direct report helps to provide direct contact at the highest level with CEO Akerson. GM China chairman is Tim Lee, who is also executive vice president of global manufacturing. China provides about 30% of GM's global vehicle sales. GM is taking a new look at its China operations as increasing competition is eroding its market share. VW sales in China increased by 18% to 2.35 million cars and SUV's, in comparison GM sales were up 11% to 2.31 million, for the first 9 months of 2013. GM's plans going forward are to invest $11 billion in China through 2016 for 4 new assembly plants. This will boost annual production to 5 million vehicles in China by 2016.

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This report in WSJ by Mike Colias about personal politics exaggerates the impact of political party Republican vs Democrat in the switch to electric cars as most of the resistance comes from the lack of charging facilities and not enough technological breakthrough in cost and efficiency to make the switch. And much of the political resistance by a third of the population comes more from the idea that it supports China sourced materials. This comes from misinformation and old data as Biden has imposed 100 percent duty tariff on imports of China made electric cars and 50% on solar panels just last week. Americans including Republicans are realizing that the only way to compete with China's subsidized push for key industries is for America to do the same. This gives the American manufacturers the time and the support from the US government to compete with EV's made in China supported by Chinese government large not so visible subsidies over long periods. WSJ reports recently showed how China's prime minister supported building Tesla plants in China to observe American manufacturing methods and technology, in the process advancing its own technologies in EV's at a faster pace. Making Tesla's role contradict the idea that politics not misinformation and technological lag is causing resistance to EV's both of which will fade over time. ...