The Lifecycle Transition

Europe may not win every contest at the factory gate, but it can test whether industrial continuity creates another field of competition around support, repair, evolution, reassignment and material retention.

A model this integrated can easily become dystopian if efficiency is treated as sufficient justification. MML could create manufacturers that know where customers drive, how they behave and how much risk they represent; it could create proprietary components that remain technically repairable but cannot function without manufacturer authorisation, or exclude independent workshops through certification requirements. Insurers could translate postcode, income and behaviour into increasingly granular pricing, while a technological discontinuity could strand enormous quantities of capital.

The final chapter returns to the household question and asks whether a system that preserves mobility, technical value and material capital can also make continuity economically competitive.