As always, an excellent post: I religiously read everything you write! I will comment here just on the rise of the Chinese auto industry. There is no doubt that of course China is the leading manufacturer of light-duty (aka "passenger") vehicles. Depending on how one counts these things (e.g. which pickup trucks are commercial and which are personal?) China is over 25 mm annually, whereas Europe and North America are in the mid-teens, with Japan/Korea a bit further back and of course don't forget South Asia at 10 (why do we always overlook India?). And of course the Chinese industry has been growing rapidly (though its rate of growth has tapered recently) while the others at best plateau, or even shrink. 100% agree. BUT recall that this industry is an odd one in that it counts UNITS not REVENUE. This is like Walmart announcing how many pairs of socks they sold last year, not sales revenue. The average transaction price (in thousands of Euros) is in the high 30s in Europe, mid-40s in the USA, and around 20 in China. So if we look at REVENUE North America is cranking some $675 billion, Europe about the same, and China $450. The largest production markets in the world remain NA/US and EU/Europe by a large margin. Should NA and EU take comfort in this? Nope! China is growing and moving up market rapidly and I have no doubt that in X years it will be the largest market in revenue terms as well. But the fact remains that just comparing unit output is an incomplete metric. Revenue pays the bills, not units.