I can afford neither, but if I had to save up for one it would be the BYD.

American cars are just large, stupid and inefficient. Also the parts are very expensive here in New Zealand

American manufacturing seems very incapable of change. If things worked this way for decades, why change it? Meanwhile the world moved on and they ask themselves why doesn't anyone wanna buy american...?

Have you heard of 996? It’s shorthand for a common work schedule in China: 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week

So a typical American teacher’s schedule?

Yes, there may not be child labor. But in places we cannot see, there are still black industry chains. A brick factory was exposed some time ago. They let some people with low IQ or disabilities work. They were not given masks, and the air was full of dust. They may work more than ten hours a day or even more. What is the difference between this and slavery? I just want to give this example to illustrate that there are still many black-hearted factories in society, and there is also the possibility of employing child labor. In China, young people who have not studied will choose to work in factories, but they must be at least 16 years old. If they are younger, they will not be hired. Back to the issue of BYD, although we are proud that it can be recognized by the world as a Chinese brand, and many people in China also buy it. But recently there have been some news that they blindly work overtime within the company, and have meetings after get off work, etc. Someone exposed the chat records within the company. We are all ordinary people. We just want to fight for our rights. Even if it is a big company, as long as it exploits people, we must oppose it.

Even if they changed how would they win?

They're just too expensive to manufacture as compared to chinese ones.

China builds cars using massive government subsidies, slave labor, and local resources that aren't available to anyone else in the world

Why are Japanese and Korean cars also better/cheaper than American cars then?

Slave labor

Citation needed

Massive government subsidies

The US doesn't massively subsidise auto-makers?

But yeah china bad

They could try going for quality or features.

But instead they are only going for size, what 94% of the world does not care for or want. (this includes the 5% of Americans)

Because it's available to anyone. Not just Chinese owned companies and every other auto maker has similar taxes.

Were you born in 1960 or something? That hasn't been true for 50+ years

China is performing a new colonialism. Exploiting poor countries for their cheap resources.

While the rest of the world is trying to steer away from it because it is so horrible. So please, don't praise China for it.

Dunno, seems like a global problem. European car companies are scared too. And they don't make those big cars.

The only issue I see is that china is very hostile with how it deals with other countries, otherwise this is just the trend of how things work out. In the 80s, it was the japanese car industry.

I mean, what is the reason those Indian engineers chose the US over India?

China builds cars using massive government subsidies

The federal government ended the the EV subsidy a few years ago.

slave labor

lmao. We know what slavery looks like, you can see it in the cotton fields outside Angola Prison, rows of enslaved people, and overseer on a horse, all behind barbed wire. In Xinjiang I saw farmers driving combine harvesters in roadside fields.

local resources that arent available

You're getting closer. Through 1 and 5 year plans, the CPC uses SoEs (and sometimes just asks private companies "nicely") to ensure the foundational inputs, steel, rubber, chips, college graduates, etc are all available to industry at the specific price point and volume that competing private firms need to produce say, 100m EVs or a million more apartments.

Any country can do a little central planning to make sure private industry has what it needs, but this only works if you're able to take action against companies that exploit the system.

Six months ago I moved from the US to a country where BYD and other Chinese brands are available. In the past I owned GM cars. The former GM executive is correct. After trying Chinese cars I find it extremely difficult to justify paying 40-60% more for a car made by GM or anyone else. GM’s best selling cars here are made by its Chinese joint ventures and aren’t available for sale in the US, and they are the only GM cars I would buy.

Where free market? It will regulate itself /s

They've got to keep their profit margins, or the CEO's and shareholders might need to take a paycut.

Right there with you on small trucks, the kid and I have been drooling over the Slate even if it is Bezos. I drive a '98 Ranger, and we've been kicking around the idea of a Ranger electric conversion.

Did Japan back then pay their assembly line workers the equivalent of $5k USD/year (in today's dollars) and have nearly no worker protections? Not a rhetorical question; I just don't know. Seems like Japan had a better standard of living back then compared to Chinese workers now, so I would guess their workers were compensated and treated better.

Not defending US auto corps (or any corp for that matter). The regulatory capture in the US is insane, and workers aren't treated as well as most of the rest of the first world.

Maybe GM could, I don't know, innovate?

You think Americans can't change, just look at German Automakers. They are stuck in Perpetual denial. VW only moved electric because of the massive diesel scandal, otherwise they also would have been like every other car manufacturer.