No Polestars For You!

Remember the Soup Nazi from the ’90s sitcom Seinfeld? His trademark was a bellicose no soup for you! if he decided he didn’t like you. Well, that’s what Uncle – the federal government and the real-life Soup Nazi – has decided with regard to Volvo’s Polestar line of EVs. Why? Because Polestars are made in Chyna – and the Soup Nazi does not like things that come from Chyna.

But not because they come from Chyna.

“The U.S. Commerce Department did not grant Polestar authorization to sell cars under the Connected Vehicles Rule, which restricts the import and sale of cars with connected-vehicle technology linked to China beginning with the 2027 model year,” according to Reuters.  

Italics added.

Now, this is intriguing – because it is entirely legal to sell “connected” cars in the United States. They are already being sold in the United States. If you drive aa new or recent model vehicle, it is probably a “connected” vehicle – meaning, it transmits data about you and your driving and receives updates over the air that control how the car drives. The law simply parses out “connected” cars made in Chyna. Probably because  Uncle – our red, white and blue Soup Nazi – does not like it that a foreign Soup Nazi has (or might) cut him out of the loop.

“The automotive industry is entering a new phase, based on regional dynamics,” says Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller. “Our strategy reflects that, with Europe being our ​largest growth engine and our plan to manufacture Polestar 7 in Europe.”

Indeed. While Polestar is a bit player in the United States, where there is not much of a market for EVs now that Uncle has withdrawn the tax credit that was used to “stimulate” – that is, to subsidize – the market for EVs – it is a big player in Europe. Just shy of 80 percent of Polestar sales happen in Europe; over here it is less than 6 percent. The disparity is a function of the fact that in Europe – at least as regards EU member states – the Soup Nazis have all-but-outlawed vehicles that have engines (and only engines), thereby creating a “market” for battery-powered vehicles, either entirely (EVs) or partially (so-called “plug-in” hybrids). Volvo’s Polestar EVs that are made in Chyna sell well because they are comparatively less expensive than various other-brand EVs. They are comparatively less expensive because it costs less to make things in Chyna, which is why America’s Soup Nazi – in the person of Donald Trump – says has imposed punitive taxes (these are styled “tariffs” to try to make them seem like something that isn’t a tax, even though the cost is the same) on things made in Chyna as well as other places.

Trump says the taxes he has imposed are intended to make things made here cost less but that has not happened. All that has happened is that everything has gotten more expensive. That generally happens when the state imposes taxes on things.

Tax-tariffs aside, the crux of the matter takes the form of a question: Why are any vehicles “connected”? More specifically, is this something car buyers asked for or is it something that kind of greasily slipped into the bargain, like fine-print paragraph read at warp speed by a TeeVee pitchman?

Does “connectedness” benefit the car buyer?

If it does, then why is it not offered as a feature people would willingly pay extra for, as they pay extra for an upgraded stereo, for instance? It is a powerful clue that something is rotten in Denmark when something is greasily slipped into any bargain rather than presented as an above-board desirable thing. Certainly, “connectedness” is desirable to the Soup Nazis who want to be able to say, no driving for you! Or only the kind of driving the Soup Nazis like. That is the ultimate purpose of “connected” vehicles, which can be best understood by using another word for them. They are leashed vehicles. Just the same a dog on a leash. He is allowed to walk when you allow him to walk and at the pace you have decided to walk.

A leashed dog can also be tied up whenever its owner likes.

It is – it will be – the same with these “connected” cars, only the leash will be invisible. We are dogs in the eyes of the Soup Nazis, who are the ones who have a grip on the leash. For the moment, these Soup Nazis are bickering among themselves over which of them will be the king of the Soup Nazis. But there is agreement about the leash – and that we are to be tethered.

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