Volkswagen labor chief sounds alarm on mass layoffs, three German plant closures

I hang out on a lot of car forums and the constant complaint I see is people essentially want a 2004 Honda Civic - cheap & reliable. New car prices today are simply out of reach for most people, and most of the people who are "buying" these cars are actually leasing them. Few people can afford to buy a new car.

Today's cars come loaded with all kinds of features that can go awry: smart driving, smart parking, object detection, driving modes - all sorts of nonsense that nobody asked for. Even motorcycles are now picking up all this nonsense and now cost what a new Civic cost just 10-15 years ago. It's insane. The one feature I hear people saying is a nice development is backup cameras. People like backup cameras.

I'm not an industry insider or anything like that, I just listen to what car enthusiasts are saying. They want simple, reliable, cheap transportation without a bunch of technology to go bonkers on them.

Essentially they are not competitive due to regulations and being "a pension fund" nobody working there is willing to innovate or change anything "not incrementally"

Shame that they cannot be lean and mean due to unions either. Car industry in europe in general will die sooner or later.