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Re:UK votes to leave EU by sandworm101 on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:36AM (#11966511)
But you assume that people in the UK have an alternative to those German cars. They don't. Germany makes better cars than anyone else. Brits will still buy them, they will just now be more expensive.

Two words: British Leyland

Re:UK votes to leave EU by dang on Friday June 24, 2016 @02:06AM (#11967044)
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11966471 and marked it off-topic.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by WillPostForFood on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:41AM (#11966543)
I think Japan would disagree.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by sandworm101 on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:51AM (#11966614)
Japan, Germany, Italy ... I think we can all agree they make better cars than anything produced by a British manufacturer in recent decades.

US cars are strange. I often find the European versions of US models to be miles better than those produced for the US market. So it's hard to decide what exactly is an American car.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by TAForObvReasons on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:03AM (#11966696)
Just want to point out the same is true of european cars. The entry-level Mercedes-Benz cars in the US market are miles better than those generally available in the European markets.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by ams6110 on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:36AM (#11966880)
Mercedes-Benz in the USA is strictly a luxury marque, and they want to keep it that way so they only bring over the larger, higher tier models with a lot of nice options. You don't see A and B class Mercs here.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by gambiting on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:49AM (#11966958)
I just bought a Mercedes Benz and I absolutely disagree. The GLA in the US is absolutely barebones, you have to pay for literally everything, while in EU even the most basic version of that car is very decently spec'ed. Maybe it's not true if other models,but literally every single review of the GLA that I watched on YouTube had to be corrected for the EU market because of how poorly the US cars are configured by default.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by arethuza on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:00AM (#11966671)
Plenty cars are manufactured in the UK - what we seemed to be useless at was running car companies, not making cars!
Re:UK votes to leave EU by addicted on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:40AM (#11966896)
And a lot of those manufacturers are gonna move those manufacturing out of the UK if they have to pay a 10% tariff to serve the 10 times larger EU market.

Most British car companies are owned by foreigners anyways, and if anything, this was a vote against non-British than a vote against the EU.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by arethuza on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:50AM (#11966966)
"this was a vote against non-British"

Unfortunately that was my impression of the main motive behind this Brexit vote - xenophobia.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by roflchoppa on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:05AM (#11966713)
After rebuilding a mg sprite 1275 motor, then looking at some motors produced by Datsun, good god the design of the MG motor makes me not want to drive the car, if the timing skips a tooth the piston will hit the cam thats in the block, and then explode (guessing, thats why it was rebuilt in the first place, the old block exploded).. In fact in the classic mini that we will be working on its going to get a honda D-series motor, good ol faithful.

American cars are v-8's :p

Re:UK votes to leave EU by ageofwant on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:02AM (#11966683)
I only buy cars from the Axis, and so should you.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by linuxkerneldev on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:53AM (#11966633)
> Germany makes better cars than anyone else

Sure. Like those excellent Volkswagon diesel vehicles that are vastly more efficient than their Japanese competitors.

Edit: I thought my sarcasm would be clear. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

Re:UK votes to leave EU by dingo_bat on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:07AM (#11966719)
You do know that the cars were polluting more because they are more efficient? Right?
Re:UK votes to leave EU by CDRdude on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:38AM (#11966891)
I'm confused; how does that work?
Re:UK votes to leave EU by imtringued on Friday June 24, 2016 @02:01AM (#11967017)
high performance, fuel efficiency, low NO2 emissions

pick two. (this is controlled by software which means they can sell the same engine that differs in performance and fuel consumption)

Re:UK votes to leave EU by benjohnson on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:51AM (#11966967)
With current technology diesel engines have to run less efficiently to ensure more deisrable gases being produced.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by enraged_camel on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:50AM (#11966961)
I took it as sarcasm...
Re:UK votes to leave EU by dingo_bat on Friday June 24, 2016 @04:25AM (#11967817)
It's not. It has something to do with the catalytic converter needing some amount of unburnt fuel to work properly. But the Volkswagen engines are so efficient that they burn the fuel too efficiently. So the catalytic converter is unable to perform it's function.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by michaelkeenan on Friday June 24, 2016 @02:50AM (#11967283)
Some people downvote sarcasm for reasons like https://mindsarentmagic.org/2014/09/13/never-be-sarcastic/
Re:UK votes to leave EU by wildmusings on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:41AM (#11966540)
That's not how pricing works. Higher pricing for German cars will lower sales substantially in favor of cheaper cars. Even if someone still buys a German car, they will probably choose less expensive options. There's no way that the continent starts a trade war with the UK.

Neither Hillary nor Trump agree with Obama's "back of the queue" comment. So no matter who wins in November in the US, they will almost certainly be very eager to make a good trade deal with the UK. Australia and New Zealand will too. Hopefully, this will result in a reinvigorated Anglosphere.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by beninvalencia on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:44AM (#11966558)
I think Sandworm's comment is not really sensible. Most people surely buy on some price to quality benchmark, i.e. value. If German cars are suddenly x% more expensive, well that will have a big impact. Not to mention US/Japanese/French cars being perfectly decent!
Re:UK votes to leave EU by sandworm101 on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:43AM (#11966554)
Perhaps in a perfectly fair and free economy ... such as in a collective group of countries that all trade freely with each other. That may now be over. Britain still needs cars and, unable to produce them locally, may well tolerate the higher prices.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by WillPostForFood on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:00AM (#11966673)
Also consider BMW/Mercedes/VW-Audi as political influences in Germany - they are going to do anything they can to keep their products flowing, and prices down.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by rodgerd on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:52AM (#11966629)
> Australia and New Zealand will too

Good for Australia and New Zealand. But the ANZAC future stopped being British when they surrendered Singapore.

> Hopefully, this will result in a reinvigorated Anglosphere.

Why hopefully?

Re:UK votes to leave EU by wildmusings on Friday June 24, 2016 @04:27AM (#11967828)
Because these are countries that share some really great values like a belief in human freedom, democracy, and free markets. We share a taste for competitive capitalism and individual initiative. Our foreign policy goals are very aligned. It would be the most powerful and rich bloc in the history of the world. Why wouldn't it be a good thing?
Re:UK votes to leave EU by rodgerd on Friday June 24, 2016 @05:02AM (#11968026)
> Because these are countries that share some really great values like a belief in human freedom

The head of state of the UK is an unelected monarch. The upper house is life peers and Anglican clergy. What kind of "belief in freedom and democracy" is that?

> We share a taste for competitive capitalism and individual initiative.

You... don't actually know anything about the political history of most of the world's English speaking countries, do you?

Re:UK votes to leave EU by wildmusings on Friday June 24, 2016 @05:12AM (#11968080)
Yes, they keep the Queen around for the tourists. The monarch wields zero actual power in British politics. Sure, the House of Lords is unelected, but it's only still around because it works so well that no one has convinced the House of Commons of a better alternative. Also, they can only delay legislation, not stop it all together. Is that really the best you've got against the Brits?

And what about their history? I know full well that the UK, for example, has dabbled quite heavily in socialism. They're also one of the most resilient people on the planet, up there with the Jews, and they came back from that with a vengeance.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by labrador on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:01AM (#11966680)
This is the stupidest comment I've ever seen on HN. Really? Britain will beg to reverse this decision because they need German cars?
Re:UK votes to leave EU by dang on Friday June 24, 2016 @02:07AM (#11967048)
You can't comment like this on HN, even if another comment is that bad. Please don't do it again.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by labrador on Friday June 24, 2016 @09:44AM (#11969701)
Sorry
Re:UK votes to leave EU by reillyse on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:05AM (#11966710)
I don't think thats the point being made. Just that this will probably make German cars more expensive, but Britain doesn't make any good cars of their own and so they don't have a ton of other options.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by Reason077 on Friday June 24, 2016 @02:07AM (#11967053)
Britain doesn't make any good cars of their own

Actually, Britain has a significant automotive industry - the third largest in Europe!

British brands are heavily weighted towards premium, high quality models. Jaguar, McLaran, Land Rover, Mini, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lotus, Rolls-Royce, and others.

There's also significant design and manufacturing presence in the UK for Ford, GM, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by BurningFrog on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:20AM (#11966781)
They have MEGATONS of other options.

Both Japan and the US has enormous car manufacturing industries, as do many other non German countries.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by reillyse on Friday June 24, 2016 @01:36AM (#11966875)
sure and they'll all have to negotiate a separate trade deal with the UK, we all know how simple those are to get done.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by BurningFrog on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:04PM (#11970868)
Britain is a free trading nation. That's one of the reasons they want out.

No "trade deals" are needed for free trade.

Re:UK votes to leave EU by reillyse on Friday June 24, 2016 @12:43PM (#11971271)
Trade deals are needed for all trade, free or otherwise. Having free trade between two countries requires a trade deal.
Re:UK votes to leave EU by BurningFrog on Friday June 24, 2016 @06:44PM (#11974077)
Free trade only requires that the government doesn't stop goods in customs.