The 'Forget about the environment we have to make money'-edition

Have you heard of the saying 'to be barking up the wrong tree'? That kinda went through my mind when I read that Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius claimed that the 'European car market could collapse' if the EU goes along with it's plans of forbidding the sale of ICE-cars from 2035 onwards.

We've heard that claim before. Especially from the CEO that is also the head of the European auto lobby ACEA. Being a man is his position, also makes it the most hollow statement it could be. The lobby has been criticizing the EU-plans for years now and to top it off, Mercedes might be thé European car brand that has the most problems selling EV's. Sales have been steadily declining over the last four years, while makers like BMW have seen growth or at least have been stable.

What makes Kaellenius statement even stranger is the fact that Mercedes (the brand he's leading) just told the world wide media that they're preparing the launch of about 30 models in the next 2 years, of which a lot of them are EV's.

But what really irked me about his claims is that we could actually forget about the environment for a couple of more years because we should not forget about the economy. And by 'economy' he means his very small part of the economy.

I'm not denying that the car industry is in a bad spot now. But panicing about slamming into a wall, while that wall is at least ten years away and will probably be moved a couple of times into the future is not productive to say the least.

I mean, I'm not seeing the Chinese sulking in a corner. They're getting after it. They're picking up the slack Mercedes is leaving. Ola should know crying doesn't help at this point, and calling for delays won't make things better either. It only gives other EV-makers the opportunity to gobble up more market share before he's finally ready to fully go to market. 

It doesn't matter where you look, EV sales are predicted to shatter records this year. BloombergNEF thinks we should expect a 25 percent worldwide increase. That is mostly because the Chinese are accepting EV's at an insane pace and taking two thirds of that increase for themselves. The EU is predicted to account for 17 percent of that total increase and even the US is supposed to have a 7 percent share. To be clear: that is with the slowdown that probably will happen thanks to our favorite orange mans 'Big Beautiful Bill', taken into account.

It's not like it's not clear that EV's are the future we're heading towards. Batteries are getting cheaper, that means EV's will be getting cheaper and hopefully better too. And that means more people get to adopt a cute little electric four-wheeler into their families.

It doesn't matter if it'll happen in 10 or 15 years from now. We're going there. And that means people will be switching to EV's eventually. Just give them time. Maybe 10 or 15 years?

Or maybe I'm missing the point of these outcries from CEO's that seem to get worse and worse. Do people really believe those? Is nobody taking them with a (couple) of grain(s) of salt? I'd like to know why the exaggeration is needed here. Please tell me.

Oh, and to those panicking about not being able to drive their fossils burning V8's or not being able to buy them anymore: as long as you won't sell yours, nobody is going to take it away. And if you want another one, just buy a second hand car (like you should be doing anyway). It's these remaining ICE's that the synthetic fuels are for. Or maybe hydrogen conversions. Those are also an option if shit gets really dire.

Just take what is seen as the most valuable advice ever given to the human race to heart and "Don't panic".

In other news

Lucid is preparing something that has lights, wheels and a dash for Pebble Beach that's happening this week. The brand has dropped a teaser on Instagram in which it oh so very boldly claims: "The wild is calling—a bold new concept of electric exploration arrives in Monterey on 8.14." I'm expecting a Gravity with a light bar. Not because I'm a cynic, but because I've learned not to get too hyped up over these things. Keeping expectations manageable so they - hopefully - can only get better.

Did you know BMW was on the brink of using the Range Rover-brand to function as their SUV branche. The idea was that getting into the SUV market this way would not dilute the “Ultimate Driving Machine” image BMW was known for, but still grabbing some of that sweet, sweet SUV-money flowing around in the market. But then somebody came up with the great idea to build the X5, and the rest is history. Want to go more in depth into this history? BMWBlog has written a great trip down memory lane.

Another week another supercar. This time new British car brand Garagisti & Co takes a stab at a V12 powered machine with a stickshift with the GP1. Getting over the fact that Garagisti sounds like somebody that just tinkers in his garage 'fixing' his families cars with duct tape or WD-40, the thing looks cool. A bit like a mix between a Lamborghini Murcielago, a GMA t.50 and a De Tomaso P72. Oh yes: the 6.6-liter naturally aspirated V-12 produces 800 horsepower at 9,000 rpm.