New electric vehicle (EV) sales in China plunged in November for the fifth consecutive month, extending a decline that we've been highlighting for the past 1.5 years.
Last month, we noted how China's EV bubble continues to deflate, mostly due to a reduction in government subsidies over the summer.
The need for cars is going away. Yeah, I know, that sounds ridiculous, but for one thing, nobody goes on the freeways anymore; they're too crowded. What most analysts are not weighing is the impact of autonomous vehicles, and in particular a type of autonomous vehicle you can't fit in anyway. Look to the skies.
How many trips are made to a store to get one thing, or a few, weighing a pound, or less? Plenty. Whether it's 2% of the total or 98% of the total (and it's probably somewhere between 16 and 50% of the time -- just looking at the bell curve), it will become less and less necessary, not to mention desirable, to hop in your 1,000 pound plus ride and go fetch a pound of butter or a loaf of bread when a little Hummingbird (and I do hope they are quiet) can drop one on your porch in 10 minutes or less. The 'convenience' part of the convenience store is going to take to the air and this may even -- wait for it -- poke a hole in Amazon's hull because that bunch has never been able to make any money without subsidized transport (via the US Post -- damn Socialists) and without paying taxes. (Representation Without Taxation --- hmmmm.)
Someone will win the air wars and that someone will be the talk of Wall Street, eventually. Will he, she, or they speak English? Place your bets and start thinking about what to name your personal Drone. "Hal, pop down to the store and get me a Dr. Pepper, would you?" "Of course, Excellency. I'll be right back." "Thank you, Hal."