I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked [InsideEVs]

[Tico]

https://insideevs.com/features/719015/china-is-ahead-of-west/

 

Interesting read. Even if these brands are not coming to US soon, Ford et al will compete with them in other global markets. There is the question of whether the Chinese are well ahead of the old school manufacturers regardless of their short commings or goverment support. The title of the article may be a bit dramatic (what in the internet isn't hyped up now adays?) but it seems the chinese are not something to be ignored. I don't think huge tarrifs is the answer in the long run. We need to compete somehow. Interested to see all your OBJECTIVE thoughts.

[Footballfan]

What makes this clown such an authority? 

[mackinaw]

Nothing new here.  Non-Chinese OEM's are well aware of what the Chinese can do.  Farley says worrying about BYD keeps him awake at night.  Musk has said that the Chinese would "demolish" American car companies without trade barriers.

[silvrsvt]

On the flip side of this, depending if you believe certain people, China might not be an issue in the next 5-10 years. They are facing some huge demographic issues due to their 1 child policy that they had for almost 30-40 years and the protectionism your seeing from the US and EU is because the Chinese market is starting to shrink due to the population getting older and not having as many young people to consume/buy items. So the Chinese makers are trying to dump their products into our markets, which both the EU and US will protect...and the 3rd world isn't going to buy EVs. 

[Tico]

Does not BYD out sell Telsa now? They must be selling them somewhere besides China. Putting questions about the author, China demographic trends, and US - China politics aside, I was looking more for an assement of where they are at technoloically? I know they may not be up to snuff as far as US saftey standards go, but what about battery, drivetrain, infotainment, body and assembly tech? Are they ahead of the US, Europe, Japan and Korea? Are they ahead of everyone else in EV tech? That is my question. Stictly a technical question. I work in the tech industry btw. 

 

 

[silvrsvt]

8 hours ago, Tico said:

I was looking more for an assement of where they are at technoloically? I know they may not be up to snuff as far as US saftey standards go, but what about battery, drivetrain, infotainment, body and assembly tech? Are they ahead of the US, Europe, Japan and Korea? Are they ahead of everyone else in EV tech? That is my question. Stictly a technical question. I work in the tech industry btw. 

 

I don't think they are ahead of what western or eastern world builds, just that they are being subsided by the Chinese government, which gives them a competitive edge when it comes to spending money on products. You can afford to take risks on products or sell say a 25K EV when the government is covering 10-15K of the price. 

 

EV batteries where developed by the US university/development system and built in China because it was cheaper to do so. Its like you designing a tool that no on else has, and then having another party build it for you, they'll learn the ins and out ofs of it and then make themselves. 

 

I just took a look at the article and comment section....very interesting, but not very surprising. All I say is this-people need to learn that there are lots of "bad actors" out there and I saw that in the comment section of that article. Your in the middle of a propaganda campaign, like it or not. Just take the time and read in between the lines on everything. 

Edited May 17 by silvrsvt

[akirby]

So Chinese consumers at a Chinese auto show in China paid more attention to Chinese brands than imports.   Shocking.  😂

Edited May 18 by akirby

[silvrsvt]

Another thing to consider-what an auto industry reporter likes or want is often at odds with what actual is sold. Case in point-car interiors-the NA market really doesn't give a flying shit about them, but yet you hear how great brand X is say a Ford interior with apparent interior material issues. I haven't heard one non car person ever say, Oh I didn't buy that because the interior plastic looked like crap. 

[tbone]

With all that said, you still never underestimate your enemies.  

[jpd80]

Saw this recently,

 

 

Quote

China's BYD is the world's biggest electric car maker — but it's not coming to America anytime soon

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-byd-electric-car-ev-why-not-coming-to-us-2024-3#:~:text=China's BYD is the world's,coming to America anytime soon

There's no chance the company, which passed Tesla to become the world's top EV seller last year, will "do a Toyota" by expanding Stateside, a top exec said last month.

"We're not planning on coming to the US," BYD Americas CEO Stella Li told Yahoo Finance."It's an interesting market, but it's very complicated if you're talking about EVs."

According to analysts, even if BYD did want to start selling its cars in the US, a combination of geopolitical challenges and weak demand would leave it facing an uphill battle.

 

[balthisar]

God's honest truth? I spent five years in China. We gave everything to our joint ventures. And those of us that didn't want to leave China for various reasons agreed to work for Chinese companies. While there is undoubtedly Chinese espionage, there's also simply the hiring of foreign experts. The number of job offers I got and the level of salary that was offered guaranteed this. I wanted to be home after five years, but I'm from the USA. Folks from South Africa, India, etc.? I don't blame them for taking the foreign specialist salaries and spilling our IP.

 

Chinese cars 10 years ago? Get in one and prepare to die. Today? Honestly, probably not on par with our own standards, but damned close. Close enough not to matter for 95% of crashes. Only pertinent if you're one of the 5% of unlucky assholes. .