As much as I would love to invest in a BMW, are they still selling subscriptions to access features like dashboard camera recordings and heated seats? I don’t remember if they walked that back, but I don’t trust them enough to not implement it in the future again if they did.
It appears German and Chinese automakers are the biggest offenders, where companies like Subaru are actively trying to remove it from their supply chains: https://m.subaru.ca/forced-and-child-labour-report
On January 11, Lear sent letters to BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo and VW AG informing them of the banned components. Despite that notification, in April 2024, after the committee explicitly asked both companies whether they ever “directly or indirectly sourced parts from JWD,” Jaguar Land Rover claimed to be unaware of its links to the manufacturer listed on the UFLPA Entity List, and BMW informed the committee that JWD was not on their “supplier list.” However, after repeated questions from the committee, BMW disclosed that at least 8,000 Mini Cooper cars containing JWD components had been shipped to the United States.
I’m not at all suprised at BMW being shady in that way but VW… well yes none of your links actually support lumping them into that category.
VW does happen to have a plant in Xinyang unconnected to human right abuses but seems to be mulling getting rid of it. Long story short the Chinese are going to actively avoid dragging VW into any shady stuff, VW’s whole presence in China is already very unpopular with the shop floor council because China is even more hostile to unions than the US. If VW catches the CCP working against VW guaranteeing its own labour standards in China then they’re just plainly going to leave, and with them all that technology transfer.
…and in case anyone is wondering yes the shop floor council absolutely does have the power to pull VW out of China.
As much as I would love to invest in a BMW, are they still selling subscriptions to access features like dashboard camera recordings and heated seats? I don’t remember if they walked that back, but I don’t trust them enough to not implement it in the future again if they did.
Yup! Just last week it was revealed that they would be doing their adaptive suspension that way: https://www.motortrend.com/news/bmw-adaptive-suspension-connected-drive-subscription/
SaaS - suspension as a service
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7_4OBm7IJ8
Better than Seats as a Service I suppose.
Tell louis rossmann I said hi
I was too tired and lazy to look up and link his vid when I commented. I’m updating the comment now.
They didn’t walk back. In fact they doubled down. Fuck BMW.
https://youtu.be/Q7_4OBm7IJ8
And, like many automakers (but not all) they have ties to forced labor:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/business/economy/senate-bmw-volkswagen-jaguar-land-rover-xinjiang.html
It appears German and Chinese automakers are the biggest offenders, where companies like Subaru are actively trying to remove it from their supply chains: https://m.subaru.ca/forced-and-child-labour-report
https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/automakers-shipped-cars-and-parts-made-by-chinese-company-banned-for-forced-labor-to-the-united-states-car-companies-are-failing-to-police-their-supply-chains-for-chinese-components-made-with-forced-labor-finance-committee-majority-staff-investigation-finds
I’m not at all suprised at BMW being shady in that way but VW… well yes none of your links actually support lumping them into that category.
VW does happen to have a plant in Xinyang unconnected to human right abuses but seems to be mulling getting rid of it. Long story short the Chinese are going to actively avoid dragging VW into any shady stuff, VW’s whole presence in China is already very unpopular with the shop floor council because China is even more hostile to unions than the US. If VW catches the CCP working against VW guaranteeing its own labour standards in China then they’re just plainly going to leave, and with them all that technology transfer.
…and in case anyone is wondering yes the shop floor council absolutely does have the power to pull VW out of China.