[Deschodt]

I recently took a trip to costa rica, and saw the change from 15, 10 and 5y ago...
That is a country where there always were a lot of european cars we don't even get but also asian brands we'd never heard of... The local gov't does not forbid or seem to restrict Chinese imports...

Today every other car is Chinese. The cheaper euro brands are essentially gone.. There are a few Audis, porsches, BMWs but that's it... the rest has been completely replaced by brands you never heard of. I stopped counting after 15 ! Brands that sometimes you cannot even read the name of, looks like pictograms. Chinese makers prefer creating new brands vs new models under each brand. It's like setting foot on an alien planet.. The net result is it's now absolutely undrivable in the capital because the Chinese cars are so much cheaper (actually decent too) that as a result the number of cars on the road feels like double what it was, gridlock everywhere.

Anyway that suggests to me the EU effed up to a colossal degree with their push to EV and even their recent backtracking on ICE is too little too late. They've handed their entire auto industry technical dominance to China, I know this is not a revelation to anyone but I've seen it 'live" last month and it's something else to see it in person. IMO the days of the giant (esp german) european car makers are gone and they will shrink, probably form alliances, and remain as boutique/luxury makers (i'd say sports cars but who knows), but Europe did it to themselves. There's a pretty big rebellious anti-EU trend in European countries at the moment, Brussels eurocrats are making rules for everything like a a sentient AI gone awry, and their decisions supersedes national ones, in essence those people were never elected directly by people whose life they affect but rule over everything.. (coupled with immigration problems there, I predict a sharp right turn in politics shortly). The stupidest example is France IMO, where you get hit by huge tax penalties based on weight and CO2 emission, a 911 or M5-like car gets 70,000 euros added tax, imagine that, doubling the price of a boxster for instance! Completely kills sales. That leaves you with expensive EVs and anemic 1.0L engines.. That's one market GONE for Germany for themost part they're only gonna sell Polos. Then the UK where there's a speed camera every 25 yards and congestion charges.. Europe seems to hate cars now, well European legislators anyway - I hope America stands as the last hope for us car people as long as possible!