Across Europe, car companies are cutting jobs and shutting factories – to the extent that some question their very existence. So it’s worth asking the question: what’s gone wrong with Europe (and for that matter America’s) car industry?
While some will reach for their own pet conclusions (Brexit! Electric vehicle deadlines! Government regulations!) in practice there’s something bigger, deeper and less parochial going on here. As the world shifts from petrol and diesel cars to their electric counterparts, a seismic shift is taking place in the global motor industry.
It is a shift which threatens to cause even more pain and disruption at carmakers in developed economies. And given most of these countries’ high-skilled and highly-paid manufacturing jobs are to be found in or around the car-making sector, this is no trivial matter.
Image: A Chinese-made BYD Seagull electric car on display in Bangkok. Pic: Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Look at a chart of global car exports and you see a very striking sight indeed.
The lines for the traditional car-making countries – Japan, Germany, South Korea – are more or less flat, save for the period around the pandemic. But now look at the line for China. This country which, only a few years ago, was one of the minnows of the global car trade with barely 250,000 car exports each year, has suddenly launched into the stratosphere. In the space of barely two years, it has leapfrogged all the other major car-exporting nations to become the world’s biggest car exporter – in terms of the sheer number of cars.
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This arresting chart might give you the impression that Chinese dominance is a very recent thing – a sudden and unexpected spurt. Except that that’s somewhat misleading, because this shift has been a long time coming. To see why, it helps (strange as this will sound) to ponder the innards of a typical car.
A conventional petrol or diesel car is an assembly of lots of different components. There’s the radiator, the exhaust pipe, the wheels and the brakes, but most of all, there is the engine. An internal combustion engine is – even in 2024 – an extraordinary piece of machinery. We take these things for granted (and, given their carbon emissions, some sneer at them). But the ability to take fuel and explode it in a controlled way that turns wheels remains a great mechanical achievement.
To be able to make these engines – contraptions of many different parts, each of which undergoes enormous stresses – at a low cost and in a way that ensures their long-term reliability is all the more impressing an achievement.
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Indeed, making reliable engines was such an enormous industrial challenge that it defied China for most of the past century. Part of the reason Chinese car exports were so low for so long was because China struggled to make decent engines.
So it won’t surprise you to learn that the engine is comfortably the most expensive component in a typical car – accounting for more than a fifth of the total value of a car. Much of Britain and Europe’s car industry is focused on this 21% of the car value – because that’s where our expertise has been built up over decades.
Taking bits of steel and combining them into this complex contraption is part of the industrial story of Europe (and America). Millions of people are employed across Europe working either at carmakers or their suppliers making these engines. This is where some of the best-paid, highest-skilled manufacturing jobs are to be found, even today in 2024.
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But here’s the critical thing. In an electric car there is no engine. Instead, the vast majority of the value lies in something else: the battery.
Making a battery is very, very different to making an engine. It’s chemical engineering – not mechanical engineering. The skills built up by European carmakers over decades are simply not directly transferrable. Even if Europe was the only continent in the world making cars, it would still be an almighty challenge to shift from one industrial model to a very different one, without having a rollercoaster ride along the way.
But Europe’s problem (and America’s and South Korea and Japan’s too) is that it’s not alone in making cars. China, which struggled to compete on those car engines decades ago, has been investing in electric carmaking for some time.
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In doing so, it has been helped by subsidies far more generous than those their Western competitors tend to receive (nearly all carmakers get subsidies – one way or another). Beijing has long been determined both to dominate this next phase of car production and reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern oil imports – both of which point towards mass electrification of road transport.
And those subsidies – alongside cheap energy costs helped by China’s relaxed attitude towards coal-fired power – are one part of the explanation for why China has been able to produce cars with far cheaper costs than their Western competitors. Analysts from Swiss bank UBS recently tried to break down the costs of a German-produced VW ID3 compared with the component costs of a Chinese car, the BYD Seal.
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They found that the BYD was cheaper to produce – not just overall, but for every single component part. And since it was far cheaper to produce, that meant it could be sold at far cheaper rates.
Some of that is explained by state aid but, even more so, it’s a consequence of something else. China’s interest in batteries is not a recent trend. It has been investing in their production for many, many years. It has been attempting to dominate not just the production of cells but also of the cathodes and anodes that go inside them – not to mention the chemicals used to make those electrodes. It has been firming up the entire supply chain – all the way down to the mines. And while you can find only so much lithium and cobalt in China, Chinese firms have been buying up mines in Africa and elsewhere for years.
The upshot is that China is the dominant country not just in the production of EVs and the cells inside them but in nearly every component that goes inside those cells. If you want to make a battery today you will be hard pressed not to use at least some Chinese technology or products. It’s that dominant.
The late business writer Clay Christensen coined the term “disruptive innovation” to describe moments like this. When a new technology comes along that completely changes the industrial structure in a sector, it’s incredibly difficult for the incumbent businesses to respond and adapt. They simply aren’t set up for it. Think about how digital photography displaced traditional film, or how smartphones have displaced traditional computers.
What makes this moment so tricky for European carmakers is that they are trying to compete with a disruptive innovation which has been supercharged by Chinese industrial strategy. The upshot is that China is so far ahead on battery production – particularly of low-cost batteries – that it’s hard to see how Europe and America – and, to some extent, South Korea and Japan, can catch up.
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All of which is why so many countries are reaching for the most drastic of all economic remedies: large, expensive tariffs on imports of Chinese EVs. The US and Canada have imposed 100% tariffs, India is following suit with similar rates. Europe has introduced a sliding range of extra tariffs. Japan has yet to do so, but is protected to some extent by the fact that their consumers habitually typically buy Japanese.
The main outlier here is the UK. This country has not yet imposed any extra tariffs on Chinese imports. The upshot is that this is one of the most attractive places in the world for Chinese producers to market their cars right now – and one of the cheapest places to buy a Chinese car. But that has profound consequences for domestic car producers.
With energy costs having risen so much, it is getting harder, rather than easier, to compete with Chinese production domestically. It raises profound questions about the ability of this country’s car industry to survive or compete.
The logic of these transitions is that they often move in slow motion but become quite self-fulfilling. Britain and Europe had opportunities to invest in batteries in years gone by; they have been spectacularly slow-moving in setting up new supply chains. But the cards were always stacked against them. The coming years will probably get tougher, as the 2035 EV deadline approaches, pushing consumers towards a market which is becoming ever more dominated by one country.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to review the creation of a “National Digital Asset Stockpile,” according to Fox News.
As reported by FOX Business White House correspondent Edward Lawrence and shared by partner Eleanor Terret, the executive order established a “Presidential Working Group” on digital assets.
This group is tasked with “evaluating the creation of a strategic national digital assets stockpile,” as well as creating a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and stablecoins.
It will be chaired by White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, and include heads of the SEC, Treasury, and other relevant agencies. Among other things, it also bars federal agencies from taking action to establish, issue, or promote a CBDC.
Finally, this executive order revokes the Biden administration’s crypto executive order, issued in 2022.
Trump initially promised to create a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile” in July, but has now seemingly expanded the scope of its inclusion to other digital assets.
Senator Cynthia Lummis is pushing legislation to formally establish a Bitcoin reserve, and to have the U.S. government sell some of its gold stash to buy 1 million BTC.
Trump has already shown openness to other coins personally, launching his own official memecoin last week on the Solana blockchain.
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Recent developments suggest that crypto investors looking to catch the next quick 5x should be keeping an eye on the Dogecoin price. This is based on both technical and fundamental analysis, which proves that DOGE could record a 500% price surge from its current level.
Analyst Predicts 500% Surge For The Dogecoin Price
In an X post, crypto analyst Javon Marks predicted a 500% surge for the Dogecoin price, representing a 5x increase from its current level. The analyst explained that Dogecoin is back showing strength, and by its historical performance, DOGE can be set for an over 432% gain at the least from its current level.
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Javon Marks further remarked that the Dogecoin price could rally above the 1.618 Fib extension, which is currently at $2.2. In line with this, the analyst added that market participants could still be early, considering that DOGE could witness a 5x price increase from its current level.
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Past trends hints at 500% growth for DOGE | Source: Javon Marks on X
Crypto analyst Trader Tardigrade also recently predicted that the Dogecoin price could rally above $2. In an X post, the analyst stated that the meme coin had formed a bull flag on the 2-day chart. According to the analyst, this DOGE bull flag pattern puts a target of over $2 for the foremost meme coin.
The crypto analyst had previously predicted that the DOGE price could even rally as high as $8 if it mirrors the 2017 bull run. He added that DOGE could also reach $30 if it mirrors the 2021 bull run. These projections further prove that the foremost meme coin could at least record a 500% price surge from its current level. Crypto analyst Master Kenobi has also previously predicted that Dogecoin could rally to $2 in this cycle and top around $3.
Bullish Fundamentals Also Support A 5x Increase For DOGE
The Dogecoin price also boasts bullish fundamentals, which support a 5x increase from its current level. One of the fundamentals includes the potential launch of a Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US. Asset manager Bitwise recently filed for a Dogecoin ETF in Delaware, indicating that an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be next.
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Asset manager REX Shares, in collaboration with Osprey, already filed with the SEC to offer a Dogecoin ETF. This is bullish for the Dogecoin price, considering the amount of institutional funds that could flow into the DOGE ecosystem if the SEC approves these funds. There is also a huge likelihood that the SEC will approve these funds, considering the pro-crypto climate under Donald Trump’s administration.
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It is also worth mentioning that there has been a huge accumulation trend among DOGE whales, which is also bullish for the Dogecoin price. IntoTheBlock data shows there has been a 41% spike in the meme coin’s large transactions, with $23.35 billion traded in the last 24 hours. Another bullish fundamental is Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which puts the foremost meme coin in the limelight.
At the time of writing, the DOGE price is trading at around $0.35, down almost 4% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.DOGE trading at $0.34 on the 1D chart | Source: DOGEUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
Sextortion scams evolve with personalized tactics and heightened intimidation.
Threat actors exploit invoicing platforms to bypass email security filters.
Robust email filters and training help counter sextortion threats effectively.
Sextortion scams are becoming more complex and personal as the scams now frequently target individuals across different sectors with greater precision creating a sense of immediate threat.
Cofense Phish Defense Center (PDC) recently observed a notable evolution in sextortion scams, which unlike earlier versions, which relied primarily on generic scare tactics, now use more sophisticated strategies, often bypassing traditional security measures.
The campaigns now personalize emails, including personal details such as the target’s home address or phone number directly in the email body, in order to capture the recipient’s attention and adds a layer of credibility to the scam.
Exploitation of fear through technical jargon
These emails generally originate from random Gmail accounts, which are harder to trace, rather than the typical impersonated addresses seen in earlier scams.
In addition to personal information, scammers have escalated their approach by including images of the target’s supposed home, workplace, neighbourhood or street in attached PDF files.
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The email addresses the recipient by name and provides a specific location, followed by threats of a physical visit if the target fails to comply. This blend of personal details and digital intimidation is a shift from the simpler sextortion scams that used to rely solely on the fear of compromised online privacy.
The scam emails claim that the target’s device has been infected with spyware, often citing “Pegasus” as the malware responsible for the supposed breach. Threat actors use technical jargon to manipulate recipients with the hope that they have a limited understanding of cybersecurity. The emails claim that the attacker has been monitoring the victim for an extended period, gathering sensitive information, and even recording videos of them.
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In some cases, the scammer adopts a casual tone lacing the message with slang or compliments to make it seem as if they have been closely observing the target’s life. The message typically concludes with two choices: ignore the email and face public humiliation or pay a ransom in cryptocurrency to ensure the alleged compromising material is never released.
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A recurring part of these scams is the demand for payment in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Scammers often provide a Bitcoin wallet address, sometimes alongside a QR code to facilitate the payment process.
Another notable shift in sextortion campaigns is the use of invoicing services to deliver phishing emails. These services allow threat actors to send emails that bypass certain security protocols by disguising the sender’s information. Since these invoicing platforms handle the email’s delivery, their legitimate headers and content often allow the message to avoid detection.
To combat these evolving scams, individuals and organizations must stay informed and vigilant. Educating users about the nature of sextortion scams and the tactics employed by attackers can reduce the likelihood of falling victim.
U.S. President Donald Trump has come through with an eagerly awaited executive order on crypto that directs his administration to establish friendly policies to put the industry on solid U.S. footing and work toward establishing a “digital asset stockpile.”
After years of courtroom combat with federal authorities, Trump’s order could allow the digital assets sector to move forward in the U.S. with a more welcoming framework set by the White House. Such orders are more of a beginning than an end in federal policy, but the pro-crypto president has taken that first step, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
When Trump had failed to issue it among his opening flurry of executive orders, crypto insiders grew increasingly tense about the new relationship he’s promised. But behind the scenes, leaders at the U.S. markets regulators — the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission — were already prepping this week to move digital assets businesses out of the multi-year penalty box the previous agency officials kept them in.
Bitcoin and large-cap crypto assets are caught in a state of uncertainty, as investors closely monitor both Donald Trump’s actions and the broader macroeconomic landscape.
While Bitcoin’s sustained trading above $100,000 is seen as a sign of strength, altcoins — particularly Ethereum — remain lackadaisical.
However, low-cap meme coins are showing little correlation with the broader market outlook and continue to create generational wealth. The Trump family coins — $TRUMP and $MELANIA — have driven the hype and FOMO to reach a fever pitch.
A new meme coin, Meme Index (MEMEX), has quickly established itself as a top cryptocurrency to buy right now. The project is building the first decentralized meme coin index fund, allowing investors to gain broader market exposure with just one coin.
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Meme Index — The Smart Way To Invest In Meme Coins
The market has been eagerly anticipating the launch of an index fund-like investment model for meme coins.
There are simply too many high-upside meme tokens to invest in, particularly for retail investors. Due to the broader market bearishness, interested buyers can find promising assets like Moo Deng, Peanut The Squirrel and NEIRO in highly undervalued territory.
Meanwhile, new meme coins continue to launch. Inspired by Offical Trump’s success, the CEO of Vine Rus Yusopov launched his own meme coin, which has a $224 million market capitalization in just a day. Vine is one of TikTok’s biggest competitors and is rumoured to integrate with X.
However, it is highly improbable that small-scale investors can even find an asset like $VINE in time. Moreover, they either go all-in on one asset or are spread too thin across many, owing to the budget constraint.
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Now, Meme Index’s meme coin baskets allow MEMEX holders to gain broader market exposure while spreading the risk. The project will soon launch 4 baskets, each with varying risk-reward ratios.
For instance, the Meme Titan Index is designed for safe players and features large-cap coins like Pepe and Dogecoin. On the contrary, the Meme Frenzy Index is designed for the degens and will include low-cap meme coins that could offer anywhere between 10x to 100x returns.
Meme Moonshot and Meme Midcap are the two other attractive options. Check out the project whitepaper for more of its salient features.
Noticeably, only MEMEX holders will be able to invest in the baskets. More importantly, they will get to vote on which tokens to be included in each basket. This would ensure every entry has strong community support and isn’t a scam.
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Moreover, small-scale investors will finally benefit from projects like VINE, MOBY and UFD before they explode.
Considering its high upside potential, it is no surprise the Meme Index presale has raised nearly $3 million in short order, with many viewing it as one of the top cryptos to buy now
The Top Crypto To Buy Right Now?
Donald and Melania Trump’s meme coin launches have paved the way for major players to join the space. Just today, Barstool President Dave Portnoy released a video mulling about launching his own meme coin.
Against such a backdrop, Meme Index’s investment model could prove to be a game-changer for whales and small-scale retailers alike.
Smart money investors are already impressed with the project’s uniqueness, innovation and community governance model, with many calling it the next 100x crypto.
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Despite its ambitious goals, MEMEX is highly undervalued and is still in the early stages of its presale. Interested buyers can invest in the meme coin today with just a few clicks and take a major step towards diversifying their portfolio.
Check out Meme Index’s X and Telegram accounts for the latest updates.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article and is for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.
TerraPower, a nuclear energy startup founded by Bill Gates, struck a deal this week with one of the largest data center developers in the US to deploy advanced nuclear reactors. TerraPower and Sabey Data Centers (SDC) are working together on a plan to run existing and future facilities on nuclear energy from small reactors.
Tech companies are scrambling to determine where to get all the electricity they’ll need for energy-hungry AI data centers that are putting growing pressure on power grids. They’re increasingly turning to nuclear energy, including next-generation reactors that startups like TerraPower are developing.
“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace.”
“The energy sector is transforming at an unprecedented pace after decades of business as usual, and meaningful progress will require strategic collaboration across industries,” TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said in a press release.
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A memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies establishes a “strategic collaboration” that’ll initially look into the potential for new nuclear power plants in Texas and the Rocky Mountain region that would power SDC’s data centers.
There’s still a long road ahead before that can become a reality. The technology TerraPower and similar nuclear energy startups are developing still have to make it through regulatory hurdles and prove that they can be commercially viable.
Compared to older, larger nuclear power plants, the next generation of reactors are supposed to be smaller and easier to site. Nuclear energy is seen as an alternative to fossil fuels that are causing climate change. But it still faces opposition from some advocates concerned about the impact of uranium mining and storing radioactive waste near communities.
“I’m a big believer that nuclear energy can help us solve the climate problem, which is very, very important. There are designs that, in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste, I think, minimize those problems,” Gates told The Verge last year.
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TerraPower’s reactor design for this collaboration, Natrium, is the only advanced technology of its kind with a construction permit application for a commercial reactor pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the company. The company just broke ground on a demonstration project in Wyoming last year, and expects it to come online in 2030.
Microsoft made a deal in September to help restart a retired reactor at Three Mile Island. Both Google and Amazon, meanwhile, announced plans last year to support the development of advanced reactors to power their data centers.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he’s “a huge believer in crypto” and urged the SEC to “rapidly approve” asset tokenization. Is this a net positive for the crypto sector?
Travelers walk through O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, on December 20, 2024 ahead of the upcoming Christmas holiday.
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images
Higher airfare is in store this year as strong demand, even during the dead of winter, and limited capacity growth prompt airlines to flex their pricing power.
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Fare-tracking platform Hopper this month said domestic “good deal” U.S. airfare in January is at $304, up 12% over last year, with more domestic flights going for more than they did last year through at least June.
Late deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, air traffic constraints and financial pressures have limited airlines’ ability to expand flights, which has pushed fares higher. Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, was the most dramatic case and has slashed its flights to cut costs.
American Airlines on Thursday forecast a jump in revenue of as much as 5% in the first quarter over the same three months of 2024, while capacity will be flat or even down as much as 2%.
“We do expect airfare to come up,” American CFO Devon May said in an interview. The airline forecast a wider-than-expected-loss for the first quarter, however, disappointing investors as it expects an increase in costs, like higher wages from new labor contracts signed last year.
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Startup carrier Breeze Airways on Thursday reported its first quarterly operating profit, for the fourth quarter, and founder David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue Airways, said conservative industry growth is boding well for future results.
“The tide is lifting a lot of boats,” he said in an interview. “We’re exceeding our targets in revenue. Momentum we saw in the fourth quarter is continuing into the first.”
Read more CNBC airline news
Alaska Airlines late Wednesday said it expects revenue growth for the first quarter to rise by “high single digit” percentage points with capacity up no more than 3.5%.
“The domestic pricing environment is improving as underperforming airlines remove unprofitable capacity at an increasing rate and business traffic growth accelerates,” United’s chief commercial officer, Andrew Nocella, said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. “Industry fare sales are less prevalent with lower discount rates as airlines are prioritizing profitability.”
Delta Air Lines, which kicked off airline earnings season earlier this month, forecast revenue growth of 7% to 9% for the first quarter, with unit sales growing across its globe-spanning network.
Off-season travel, particularly to Europe, has been a big bright spot for large U.S. carriers. Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, for example, said on the Jan. 10 earnings call that trans-Atlantic unit revenue should be up mid-single digits with demand “benefiting from strong U.S. point of sale and an extension of the season with unprecedented off-peak results.”
JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines are scheduled to report fourth-quarter results and provide their 2025 outlooks next week. Both carriers are trying to ramp up revenue with more new premium seating and by debuting other amenities.
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