this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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Chinese cars are heavily subsidized by the state. The reason they're so cheap is because China bets it can squeeze the competition out of the market before charging basically whatever they want.
I've seen Starbucks do the same thing to independent coffee shops.
Edit: This is a post about real car companies like Nissan, Volvo, Mercedes, Renault, whatever. I don't care about America. Nobody has for decades.
American car companies (and American built cars) get subsidies from the US, Canada, and Mexico as all three form a single manufacturing chain. They simply have had a different set of priorities that allowed newcomers to eat their lunch, like it happens to any complacent industry.
Used to be, to get them going, robotics, innovation and vertical integration is most of the reason now. An example, BYD have their own roro ships and have ordered another 10,
https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/byd-orders-10-more-car-carriers-export-push-accelerates
and the new ships will be built in China
they make their own batteries, electric motors etc and have massive robotic assembly plants.
To suggest the reason why is because it's not a level playing field is ludicrous, the US spends many billions subsidizing car manufacturers on top of the billions us consumers spend in subsidizing them. directly.
Frankly, american cars could use a knockdown. Tesla was our only real hope, and we would have glided into a strong Tesla and EV empire if conservative dems didn't bail out GM, Chrysler, and Ford. Additionally, Tesla wouldn't have been in a position to get bought by a dumb nazi.
I'd say, let their stuff in. Lets get some good cheap and subsidizes vehicles from China on the condition that they don't raise car prices by more than 2% a year.
American companies will more than likely fall on their face and hopefully die. Making room for a new american car company to take their place.
Detroit has received $88B in subsidies and loans since 2008. That's why we have so many cheap EV options?
Heavily subsidized by misery, as well.
Detroit pays union wages and has to respect worker rights (at the top end of the supply chain). The “communist “ state seems to escape these limited obligations in big parts of their supply chains.
Workers in Detroit might get paid union wages, but many auto factories have relocated to the South where they can underpay and abuse workers much more easily. I just did some quick googling and it seems like being a factory worker in China isn't bad compared to in the US. They work in highly automated, clean, air-conditioned spaces like would be found here. Dirty conditions and manual labor are no longer compatible with today's automotive quality requirements. Low level workers make modest wages, but they employ a bunch of engineers and technicians just like here in the US, and they have subsidized cafeterias and some provide housing or stipends for housing. You might criticize the expectation of working significant overtime, but I've worked in factories which had mandatory overtime in the US, so that sort of structural coercion isn't unique to China. Compared to a "right to work" state, Chinese workers have stronger protections from being laid off or fired. The main downside seems to be lax enforcement of safety standards. If the government doesn't notice something unsafe on its own, there isn't a Chinese version of dropping a hint to OSHA.
Now further upstream in the supply chain? No thanks. That's where you'll find abysmal working conditions. Just remember there are good reasons our government wants us to believe everything sucks for workers in China.
And yet even at 2-3x the price, the Chinese EVs provide a better value than the handful of the American options they would compete against.
This SUV would be competing with the likes of a high end EV option like Lucid or Tesla. The Lucid Gravity starts a around $70k, and the Tesla Model X (now discontinued) was around $92k.
The Xiaomi SU7 (the car the Ford CEO has driven since 2024, despite being banned in the US) starts at $32k and clearly is targeted to compete the Porsche Taycan at $112k.
The vehicle in this article has heated floors, a projector, a pop-up roof, a fridge, swiveling seats, and over 1,000 miles of range. Functions western companies consider "luxury" are basically just standard in the Chinese market like heated and ventilated seats. They don't even bother to advertise things like that because it's a minimum expectation. There are zero western options that come close to something like that. The options available in the US suck, even taking industry subsidies into account.
Never have I once thought I needed any of that bullshit.
And yet there it is, along with basically every other "luxury" feature western companies save for high end models... all for the price of a base model SUV here.
Ok
...fucking WHAT?
I see you forget about the first 3 models that Tesla made that were $70k or higher when they were discontinued, and all launched at $90k+
They were only high-end EVs because the EV market was dogshit then. They've never competed with high-end cars in general.
Unfortunately it's a race to the bottom and high-end cars are doing the same Tesla bullshit of a minimalist interior with a huge display instead of physical buttons with heft like they used to.
Oh yeah, because US car companies are NOT subsidized at all /s
Both statements can be true at the same time. But the scale of one is many times larger.
China’s MO from rare earths and magnets to cars to silicon follows the same plan. Take IP, Subsidize the industry, Research, once you have a monopoly use it to squeeze adversaries.
I will say at least China is willing to kill off underperforming companies.
The US needs to let a lot of legacy companies that aren’t performing die off. It also needs to break up oligopolies in many industries. Why compete when you can buy up the future competitors and set prices with a handful of competitors. The financialization of our economy is choking us.
Sure, but try launching a new auto startup here. It's a lot harder than in China.
Wrong. US manufacturers have effectively been shut out of China. But not before they made investments that China basically stole.
Because Chinese won't buy massive thirsty trucks. Wtf...Tesla was in China before they even started making EVs.
There's a lot of protectionism going on in China, most western manufacturers aren't allowed to sell their own cars without a Chinese company owning the majority of the partnership. Most countries don't really have rules like that, China is kinda unique.
The Chinese actually LOVE big cars. Every other European manufacturer makes long wheelbase versions of their midrange sedans for China exclusively. Space in the back is a status symbol more than comfort up front apparently. And there are a ton of big Chinese crossovers out now. I won't call them SUVs because they're not really off road capable, much like most western "SUVs" aren't these days.
Where does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Tesla,_Inc. say Tesla was in China first?
Who would want a US made car?
Even Americans don't want them.
Depends on what you mean by American. Most assume you are referring to Ford or GM. But Tesla and Rivian are US made. Many are built in the States by non US companies. BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia.
Tesla is a toxic brand due to Elon.
I love the idea of Rivian but they don't want to sell in Australia and the R1/R2 have too steep/bulldozer blade of a front to sell in EU (no pedestrian rollup protection)
Chinese batteries and many parts from Canada and Mexico.
Just like every other vehicle made anywhere in the world. It's a global supply chain.
The dumb ones do
I worked in the government for a bit, national park service if it matters, we were only allowed to use US made vehicles.
Constant recalls, constant breakdowns, overall unreliable. These were all vehicles that were less than 5 years okd
I have a 2007 toyota today that refuses to die and has barely needed any work. I'll probably have it at least another 3 to 5 years at this rate
Worked at an oil refinery in the US. All the company cars were Ford. They all had various issues such as lights not working, the reverse beeper not working, constant engine light. We would get a loaner ford to replace our fleet ford and the loaner would fucking die. It would be comical if it wasn't my safety being jeopardized.
American capitalism has rendered companies incapable of producing anything that's not crap at a scale because they need to maximise profit at all costs, while quality doesn't mean shit. Every company is Boeing.
It's very possible your Toyota was made in the US.
Where car is made is irrelevant. How it is designed and engineered matters. Toyotas made in North America outlast anything designed in Detroit.
My point is that there's really not much difference now. I'm betting many car manufacturers are starting to have AI design some parts. So where something is designed matters a lot less.
Your point doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Different companies have different approaches to engineering and quality control, and it absolutely makes a massive difference for how long their products last. This is very obvious in the car market.
ML will likely play a massive role for engineering going forward, but again, it's up to each company or organization to decide how to use it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if some companies try to have LLMs weigh in on engineering matters, where they shouldn't. AI will amplify bad engineering.
But responsible companies will make proper use of ML and their cars will be better for it.
Except for the design and almost all the parts. Probably was assembled here
Many GM and Ford parts are made outside of the US. Possibly only the design and headquarters really separates them. It's a global supply chain for all companies.
But Ford is responsible for bad designs like EcoBoost and trucks with plastic oil pans. Peek under a Bronco, many of the steel parts aren't even painted and body seams are not sealed. Peak 1970s manufacturing.
Plastic oil pans save weight, who even uses metal anymore?
The only time I ever got a hole in an oil pan was a metal one and it was my ex who somehow hit a rock and hid it from me. The one car I had with a plastic pan never had any issues, but it also had a skid plate that makes a larger difference than the material of the oil pan itself, since loose debris would just bounce off. Plus the skid plate helps reduce wind resistance so it's a necessity in this day and age anyway.
There are always trade-offs. All polymers deteriorate when exposed to that kind of thermal cycling and chemical exposure. A metal alloy fit for the job can last forever.