What will we, europoors, do when Volkswagen goes bust?
So I've been pondering for a while, my friends and most of the people I know don't drive. Mind you, while I'm not American I live in one of the more car centric countries in the EU, where both having a car or a driving licence feels like it is required, as in you are not a member of society until you get one or the other. At the same time my fellow country men aren't particularly fond of brand new cars, even when looking to buy a car you'd consider brand new they'd always try to strike a deal on the second hand market, rather than buying new outright (side note, this might be because of higher prices for brand new cars compared to other nations).
I'm also part of GenZ. You see Zoomers can't realistically drive because they don't need to. We don't establish families, we don't really live outside anymore, we're all urbanites... basically we can't possibly justify driving a car outright. This, as you know, makes us one of the strongest proponents of public transport (as a generation) since probably the bygone generations of the... 19th century. And communists. And the stats agree: we have sex less often, we are on average lonelier, we don't get married and we don't learn how to drive, this leads to one of the biggest problems our old continent is going to face in the next decade. Who's going to buy cars 20 years on from now?
Because me and you for sure won't buy them. They are furiously expensive, both buying and driving a new car costs the equivalent of a third of a yearly minimum salary in most of Europe, including taxes. And have you looked at what new cars are? Strange mixes of hatchbacks and SUV's, enormous beasts of metal we're supposed to buy to consequently drive alone in. And those "cars" suck at that too. I could rant about what the modern car is but there will be another time for that.
You see, I'm no expert and I can safely assume you are not either but both of us can reach a shared conclusion ourselves: Man we are fucked if the biggest industry, employer and export of Europe just straight up fucking falls in the next decade. It's not going to affect us that much, actually the advantages are clearly visible. No more cars (rather, way fewer cars), which is a net positive for our lives. Less pollution, less health problems, less death, better cities etc. But at the same time having a car is great.
I've been driving for 4 years at this point, basically I started as soon as I could (legally), and I can't say I hate driving. In fact I love it. But I hate being forced into driving and more importantly other people being forced into driving as well, people who don't like driving (and thus are poor drivers). I drove in congested cities and I've been on more road-trips than I can count, sometimes only for the love of driving, but at the same time, if I was forced to do any of this I would've not picked up my drivers license. Being forced to take an inefficient, unsafe and harmful mode of transportation should be heavily discouraged, but the economy needs us to. See here is where the problem lies.
As I've told you, the automotive industry is THE industry of Europe, it employs millions and probably creates jobs for tens of millions of people, so it going away is going to suck, not only because of mass layoffs sucking but also because most skills that employ people in this industry can't really be absorbed easily by other industry. You can't send an assembly worker of Volkswagen to assembly in Airbus, and you can't send him in less advanced labour jobs. It's a tricky situation isn't it? We've GOT to come up with a solution, and quick. This solution is a lot harder to envision, especially as cars do fit a transportation niche in the transportation pie. BUT, I can come up with two ideas:
Rail. Obviously. I would go in any detail as people more competent and better qualified to speak on the matter have publicised they're works and you should check those out (do your own research people, keep your mind afloat).
The other solution is a proper GenZ car (time for boomer-news-posting): Basically we have to understand the socio-economic stance of the Zoomer. We don't have real life friends, we won't establish families thus a 4-door car is useless. 2-door it is. We're also somewhat concerned with the environment, so most likely a tiny engine with a hibrid, right? NO because batteries come from slave labour. So we're stuck with a tiny ICE and a tiny light car, awesome! We're also poor but somewhat educated, so a simple, easily repairable car is best. So without going into to much detail, it's a tiny, 2-door, light, lethargic, FWD car. A kei car.
The European car industry and thus the economy will be saved by the kei car. And by taxing SUV's so much they go extinct.
Yeah not much of a solution if you think about it, but it does tackle the problem at its core. Sure the notorious Mr. Libertarian would want less taxes, the Mr. Conservative will throw a fit and stop environment control, the Mr. Socialist wouldn't necessarily let the industry down but deep down he'd wish he could; but in the end none of these "Mr's" would find that a proper vehicle, for our needs, is what we actually would go ahead and buy because we can't afford today's car, and sure as shit we won't afford tomorrow's. We're going to have to pay an ever increasing rent, a bloated and top-heavy social security system and rising cost of living overall... how the hell are we to afford a car otherwise and keep this maddening industry alive?