Why China poses a growing threat to the U.S. auto industry
Why China poses a growing threat to the U.S. auto industry
Chinese companies are releasing new models in record times, and many are producing EVs efficiently and profitably.
Chinese automakers pose a growing threat to their American counterparts — even without selling directly to consumers in the U.S. market.
Sales of China-made vehicles are rising at notable rates in Asia, Europe and other countries outside those continents. China recently reported exports of more than 5 million vehicles in 2023, topping Japan to become the top country for car exports in the world.
That volume from well-established, government-owned companies like SAIC and Dongfeng, as well as newer players like BYD, Nio and others, has catapulted China from the sixth ranking to the top seed since 2020. It comes amid declining U.S. vehicle exports as companies such as General Motors have cut international operations. U.S. auto exports in 2022, the most recent data available, were down 25% from their peak in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
America — fourth globally in vehicle exports prior to 2020 — ranked sixth in the world last year, falling behind No. 5 Mexico, No. 4 South Korea and No. 3 Germany, according to global consulting firm AlixPartners.
New headline: American automakers not making car people can afford.
Yeah maybe we want an affordable smaller electric car that’s not a 60k SUV.
Kia Niro is nice, not too pricey
GM is the slime of the earth. I would gladly buy from anyone but them.
You need a better slime guy, mine only delivers the best earthly slime.
You could not pay me to ride in a Chinese made car. Have you ever seen what happens to one in a crash test? They crumple like tin cans. If you're in an accident in one where either vehicle involved is doing more than 50 mph your odds of survival are pretty much 0. One of the few instances where being ejected from the vehicle probably increases your survival odds.
"Crumple like tin cans," as long as you're not talking about the passenger cabin, is what safe cars are supposed to do.
I haven't done a deep dive yet, but this seems to suggest that crash testing for many Chinese cars is actually pretty good.
I know Chinese are really bad for safety like escalators, elevators, and automated parking for bikes cars and people getting trapped or dying in them, but cars are purposely made to crumple so the cars take all of the energy instead of the passengers. Is there a too much crumple going on in Chinese cars the issue?
All Polestars and some electric Volvo cars are currently only made in China. Yet they are volvos in every sense of the brand. Volvo(and Lotus) is owned by the chinese car manufacturer Geely.
This is objectively false. According to Euro NCAP 5 out of the top 10 safest family cars of 2023 are Chinese.
Is this why we can't import Chinese cars in the U.S.? They're actually affordable and desirable?
Chinese automakers are heavily subsidized by the government, so the US prevents their import to prevent them from undercutting domestic automakers. I'm sure there's a balance to this that doesn't involve a total import ban, but the US hasn't figured it out yet.
You think Europe and the US don’t heavily subsidise their auto-industries? The US literally bailed out the major auto-makers during 2008.
Like @altec@midwest.social said, Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles are helping to flood the global market. In fact, the EU has started to look into this:
The European Union is launching an investigation into subsidies that China provides to electric vehicle makers, the head of the bloc’s executive branch said Wednesday, as concern grows that the aid is harming European companies.
“Global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars, and their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies. This is distorting our market,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.
I would buy one of these cheap Chinese EVs in a heartbeat if I could.
I've read it a few times that China is due to take over as the worlds biggest economy by the year 2040/2045