The legacy car market is collapsing, and high tariffs cannot save it.

North America, Western Europe, and Japan are high-priced car markets, with average prices now over $50,000 for new cars in the United States. Legacy car brands enjoy very large per-unit profits, by selling large SUV's and pickup trucks, and by locking out low-cost Chinese-built models.

But they are also in mature markets, with overall car sales far below those of ten years ago, and ever farther below industry estimates of where new car demand would be at this time.

Ironically, it is US, Japanese, and European carmakers that are struggling with overcapacity. Factory utilization is at near-record levels for the past five years, and companies are laying off, reorganizing, and merging to buy time.

China, meanwhile, is playing a different game, and dominating markets in Southeast Asia, South and Central America, Africa, and East Europe, where our legacy brands cannot compete on price.