[DaedalusII]

the ironic factor is - this is how vw itself started, as did mitsubishi etc

this is called: sensible state industrial policy

[throwaway2037]

Mitsubishi? I disagree. There were founded two years after the Meiji Restoration (~1870) to build cargo ships and (later) mine coal. However, during World War II, they were a huge part of the Japanese war machine.