Ineos want to manufacture in US

FT article this morning

Ineos Automotive is searching for sites to move production of its flagship 4x4 vehicle from France to the US, as its billionaire owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues to pump cash into the struggling carmaker.

Chief executive Lynn Calder told the Financial Times the group aimed to start producing its Grenadier off-roader in America “as quickly as possible” to meet local demand.

Client Challenge

 

[Jeremy996]

According to our news outlets, the grid won't be able to cope and because we are relying on wind and solar we won't have the power either

According to National Grid, they will be able to cope, as most charging will be forced onto the base load, mainly through cost.

Most news outlets are driven by outrage and click-bait; the energy professionals are worried as they do not trust the politicians to see anything other than a short way into the future. Infrastructure planning is multi-parliament and multi-generational, so does not mix well with politicians with PPE degrees and no idea of science and technology.

 

[HeavyFoot]

According to our leaders we are supposed to use buses or trains

Yea, that doesn’t work so well with lots of kids.

 

[Zimm]

It takes govt subsidies and willpower.
Having just spent almost 4 weeks in the UK including remote Scotland/ Scottish islands I was surprised to see how much infrastructure exists.
Plenty of EVs and PHEVs around. Virtually no large 4X4s.

Problem is whether the grid can cope.
And copper is becoming a precious resource.

The answer lies in watt's law. .... and more insulation.

 

[Zimm]

It is not as easy as one might think...

AWo

I have no illusions about that. Moving isn't happening.

 

[Zimm]

View attachment 7910172

The issue occurs when intellectual pip squeaks think the long run is anything more than the current state of their savings account.

 

[LC0013]

And that has never occurred in the USA? I think you have a very successful and dominant space program built on the research of a liberated German with a questionable political background?

Ahh, legal immigrants!

 

[evomind]

Back to the original point of this thread though, there are quite a few under-utilized auto factories in the US right now that could work for Ineos. That would probably make a lot more sense than building from s

According to our leaders we are supposed to use buses or trains

or walk or ride a bicycle.
They fly in private jets because they are more important.

 

[evomind]

Ok, so what would you see will be manufactured in the US and what in Europe to be shipped to the US?

A good example would be the Recaro seats. Either you ship them (tariffs) or if you find an US manufacturer. But then you have to get a new homologation. I assume there are more examples: the body panels, axles or the frame. New axles alone would mean so much changes to the car....
There also might be licenses, so Ineos is bound to a manufacturer if they want to stay with that part and design ( headlights for example ) or they find a new manufacturer.
In the case of the headlights, which have a unique size (I said here already, bad strategic decision) , you either need to modify the mounting in the car (changing other parts and the car design) or you find a manufacturer who can build this size (what means new tooling for the light manufacturer, new costs for Ineos regarding the development, add at least 1,5-2 years for that incl. homologation of that single part for three world markets).

Beside the cost for a change itself there are higher costs for US manufactured parts likely. Ineos has started (at least they try) to source more parts in China, to lower the costs. Where is the sense to buy more expensive parts again?

One should remember, beside planes and aircraft carriers, building a car is one of the most complex things to do and that means a highly complex supply chain. You can't change that as easy as a statement "We like to produce in the US" is said. There is a reason why car manufacturers decide before they build a model where they are going to do that.

It is not as easy as one might think...

AWo

Even Elon Musk said that.
He said it was way more difficult than he thought.