andreluis034

You’re overstating how decisive that power really is. The President isn’t the only one (Provedor de Justiça, Prime Minister, Political Parties, etc…) who can trigger constitutional review , Parliament can override the president’s vetoes, and most harmful policies aren’t unconstitutional anyway, just political. The Court doesn’t magically prevent damage either, very often, it rules after laws are already applied. So yes, it’s a useful brake, but it doesn’t change the fact that real power in Portugal is with Parliament and the Government, not the President.

At the end of the day, the President’s main visible role is representing the country abroad and maintaining diplomatic relations, and on that level I’m glad Ventura isn’t the face of Portugal. All these headlines about a “socialist landslide over the far-right” ignore how the Portuguese system actually works: the President doesn’t govern. Parliament and the Government do, and they’re right-leaning right now.

Not that it matters that much as the majority of the parliament is right-leaning and the president is more of a figure for public relations than anything else.

It’s a lot cheaper for OEMs to just manufacture one SKU (a car with all the hardware) than to have a bunch of different options. Now, wether or not they pass those savings to the consumer, I have my doubts

Kinda of unfair. The Chinese government essentially mandated that cars needed to be built in China if OEMs wanted to sell cars in China, I doubt OEMs were willing to lose 40+% of their sales just because they didn’t have factories in China.

Of course it was a lose-lose situation, as they will just get their parts copied and lose market percentage.