Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
So apparently Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is smelling blood and is making moves to usurp Tesla’s reign taking advantage of Elon’s political mistakes that are hurting his company. So in his public relations campaign doing interviews to promote Rivian, he seems to claim Chinese EV companies stole ideas from his EVs. He’s lucky he doesn’t face Chinese competition in the US because he wouldn’t have company left if there were. I’ve been in a Rivian. I wasn’t impressed.
With whom? Unless China can project force that further afield, allying with China will set an even bigger target on the country. Washington will have all the more reason to mess with them to set an example.
They will give the port to the Amdami group; after all, it's India that's going to be the supapowah.
"Invisible military alliances" rather than overt pacts—China cannot openly establish an international security coalition. What China can do is first engage in military cooperation and arms sales in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and friendly nations. Once it gains economic and military influence, these countries will naturally follow China's lead. Have you seen what Japan is doing in the Philippines? That is precisely an invisible military alliance.
Rivian looks utterly hopeless. If the US EV market continues to decline, they will definitely go bankrupt way before Tesla. If the US EV market prospers, their products will have no competitiveness against Tesla, especially in terms of price-performance ratio.
This is a watershed moment and amounts to straight-up piracy. Motor Sich was one thing - Ukraine had the war as an excuse. Panama here just tore up the contract overnight, in peacetime, and hopes no one will bat an eye.
I hope that China will take this opportunity to severely punish such flagrant violations of commercial trust. I don't like the CK cabal any more than the next guy, but as long as their wealth and assets serve China's interests, Beijing has an obligation to keep those assets safe and within arm's reach.
While China's options for retaliation are limited, I imagine that there are still some good cards to play. For one, China could block Panamanian-flagged vessels from docking at Chinese ports, discouraging shipping companies from registering ships in Panama and depriving the country of a huge source of revenue. Especially since Panama is currently the most popular flag of convenience in the world, this kind of move could nuke their economy.
Although, I'm sure whatever punishment Beijing might dish out will be more creative and effective than my 2am keyboard warrior speculation.
Says who? And based on what evidence? Strategic planning and management—especially against the incumbent hegemon, the U.S., which is considered by many to be the strongest and most powerful country in mankind's history—ain't a picnic. There will be battles that are going to be lost, but the strategic aim remains the same. All of the chicken littles on this forum tend to come out proclaiming the end is nigh, as if their primitive take and concern convey strategic foresight—but merely the unfortunate projection of how they perceive power and geopolitics.
If China reacts in a way that many among us advocate—one based more on passionate indignation rather than a hard, cold realist assessment—China will set foot into the trap laid by the Americans.
I had thought that Chinese folks have long memories and are well-read/well-versed in our long-storied history. This shows, more often than not, that the path of well-crafted strategic planning and patience leads to the best possible outcome rather than opting for an all-out martial war. Sun Tzu's *The Art of War* did not become a household name in strategic insight because of its super-duper "tactical lessons"—it's always been about "STRATEGY, STRATEGY, STRATEGY."
The American obsession with tactics, tactics, has truly seeped into our mindset due to our exposure to and living in the West, diminishing our minds and just outing our unique approach to warfare.
I agree with your point, which is why I added relevant details in my previous response. Blindly provoking a bloc war would only play into America's trap. Therefore, I advocate quietly establishing roots and exerting influence alongside friendly nations. Panama's problem lies in its complete subjugation by the United States, whereas in Australia, China possesses certain means to exert counterbalancing influence.
I've never been in a Rivian since I'm not even sure where their Toronto dealership is (must exist somewhere, I've seen their cars around town), but I do like their car as a concept.
That being said, the guy seems like a pretty hopeless businessman.
The company has been in business for 5 years and has never made any profit on a car. This in itself is not an indictment, NIO is of similar age and has still yet to achieve profitability.
However, let's look at Rivian at a business...
Their current model is a mid-large size Pickup/SUV (not going to sell well outside North America). Their upcoming volume model will be a slightly smaller SUV. While the format of the latter is the most popular kind of car globally, it will be facing a crowded marketplace with established players. It will probably take even more money in marketing and expanding the sales/service network to achieve growth.
Distractions - Rivian recently opened a e-bike division. Why?
EV tax credits are not coming back any time soon. Trump may change his mind, but looks unlikely. All the automakers are upping their ICE production volume, this only incentives Trump to double down against EVs. How can you increase sales against this backdrop?
The second effect of the above is that it will be very difficult for Rivian to lower costs of things like battery packs as the volume won't be there. Plus he is promising new features, like custom designed SoC, LIDAR, hands-free driving software. All are expensive features that will be challenging for a loss-making company.
Tesla lost money for years, but it was a pioneer, it was expected. It was able to turn things around because there was no solid competition. This is not the environment Rivian is in now. Maybe even worse. In the last couple weeks, my newsfeed is bombarded with US media talking about Canada's China EV deal. They all think that if the more advanced models come to Canada, and Americans are exposed to them (road trips, family visits, etc.), then they will feel increasingly incensed about their own market (Even the WSJ is on board )
I'd like to see an counterpoint to this, I really do not see Rivian as long for this world... (most likely tech will be swallowed up by VW as a major investor)