Economy

This comment is a comment from an owner of different models of German cars.

As someone who has owned a lot of German cars, let me tell you, the answer is not easy to find. None of the German brands will be reliable following the cars have driven a certain number of miles.

These are not Asian vehicles and are full of electronics that seem to have problems following 75,000 miles or so.

Although I like the look and handling of these cars, unless you have a lot of money to fix them up, the best way to get a German car is to lease one so the dealer will cover all repairs for the term of the lease.

BMW seems to have issues with their electronics following a while and little sensors will go off all over the place.

You can’t even check the oil level with the dipstick, you have to use an electronic measure on the dash, which is ridiculous.

Audi has some of the strangest engineering. Of course, this is part of Volkswagen and Volkswagens are not the most reliable. I remember years ago Audi had a design where they put the battery under the back seat. The Volkswagen Toureg had it there, it was almost impossible to remove.

This caused some problems for the owners. I remember a Midas muffler shop was welding something up and it burned down to the battery under the rear seat which was a shock to everyone.

Neither is Mercedes better, with many electrical problems and devices that do not work following a short time of use.

Despite all these new cars will change their style to electric vehicles, so reliability should improve, since they are getting rid of many mechanical devices that engines require.

If you want a reliable used car, you shouldn’t look for German cars, don’t

In fact, I should amend that statement by saying that you shouldn’t look at European cars.

French and Italian cars seem to be even worse and I wouldn’t buy a British car. I’m sure you know regarding the reliability of Range Rovers. American cars, especially Ford, have come a long way and are more reliable than European cars in many segments.

Most of the Japanese brands are relatively reliable and the Korean brands are going up. Although you also have to be careful with some Korean brands, such as the Buicks made in Korea by GM. Another luxury Korean brand is already having problems. A friend has a Genesis.

This is their top model, of course, and it’s very nice and much better than, say, a Mercedes in the same class. Anyway the push button start failed on the Genesis and there is no part on your model so you have to buy the whole radio assembly which is a $4000 dollar purchase.

Your options are to find a junkyard that has this part or get some superglue to hold it up and sell it to a naive.

You can buy used BMWs and Mercedes pretty cheaply and think you’re getting a good deal, until something breaks and then you’re in for the shock of your life when you see the price of the repair.

You have to know how to buy, and when it comes to used cars, always start with the Japanese models, and not the European ones.

Commentary part of Mark Heinze

Charles-André Philipona from Friborg takes over from Peter Jedelhauser as director of the “Léman 2030” rail traffic improvement program.

The latter retiring, Charles-André Philipona, a civil engineer with a degree from the University of Engineering and Architecture in Fribourg, will take up his new duties on May 1.

Aged 54 and now head of the West region in the Infrastructure division of CFF, he joined the federal public utility in 2001 before occupying several management positions there.

This is the second consecutive quarter in the red for the group, which had already lost $664 million in the last quarter of 2022. In the first quarter last year, it had earned $8 billion in net profit.

From January to March, its revenue fell, plunging 36% year-on-year to $11.7 billion, its lowest level in more than a decade.

But the market expected even worse results, given Intel’s heavy reliance on makers of everyday electronics.

Revenue from its desktop and laptop components business fell 38% to $5.8 billion.

Global consumer computer sales slumped earlier this year, falling to a level below pre-pandemic levels due to a sharp drop in demand, according to firms IDC and Canalys.

Companies such as Apple, Lenovo or HP have excess inventory, and their customers have already bought equipment during the pandemic or are waiting for better days in the face of inflation.

Intel has embarked on a major reorganization in 2021 under the leadership of chief executive Pat Gelsinger, but the group will take time to catch up, analysts say.

Delay in AI

“Intel has long rested on its laurels,” commented Jack Gold, independent analyst, for AFP. “They didn’t do what they should have done to stay on top of the industry,” he said.

The Californian groups AMD and Nvidia have thus developed the latest generation chips, and are in fierce competition with it.

Nvidia is taking full advantage of the current craze for artificial intelligence (AI), which requires ultra-sophisticated graphics processors, its specialty.

In the first quarter, revenue from Intel’s components business for data storage centers (data centers) and artificial intelligence fell 39% year on year to $3.7 billion.

“Intel is trying to produce semiconductors that can compete with those of Nvidia, but it’s a new area for them, they haven’t made graphics processors for at least ten years,” notes Jack Gold.

South Korean tech giant Samsung also saw its profits plummet in the first quarter: they plunged more than 86%, the lowest in 14 years.

And Samsung’s chip arm suffered losses of 4.58 trillion won (3.1 billion euros), its first net loss since 2009, when the world was just emerging from the financial crisis. of 2008.

Intel remained cautious in its forecasts for the current quarter, citing the macroeconomic context (inflation and risk of recession).

“The personal computer market will stabilize”, predicted Pat Gelsinger, during the conference call with analysts, “but the server market has not yet bottomed out”.

The group expects revenues of between 11.5 and 12.5 billion dollars and net losses comparable to those of the past quarter.