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.

I bought a used Chevrolet Bolt '23 which is the closest I could get, they're still relatively cheap and mine has been working great.

5K/year isn't exactly poverty when rent is <200, phone data is 20, and you can get pic for 1.50 USD. I too would like them to be treated better, but I dont know if their overall situation is worse than the average american worker making 50K, but spending 24K on rent, 12K on car payments, and 16USD if they eat out.

They have some wonderful new finamcial products released just this quarter!

Okay but see none of tjose are stock buybacks or exec bonuses, so...

It might just be that, since BYD is serving such a large domestic market/population, that allows them to have cheaper cars? Something something, economies of scale. I'm no expert though.

GM received more than $7 billions of subsidies and around $50 billions of "Federal loans, loan guarantees and bailout assistance".

US auto manufacturers are getting their fair share of subsidies.

The average new truck costs 50% more. Every small car they sell is a lost truck sale.

Tesla somehow manages to do well(at least prior to the nazi events). Still at a good price in Norway.

But all other manufacturers have dragged their feet with EVs, and that price cost of starting is large enough that they are in trouble. I'm not a huge fan of China, but they did the investment and are ahead exactly because of that (and crazy subsidies). Being left behind is their own fault imo, and I think that applies a lot to EU as well. Eg. WV.

I mean, didn’t Japanese and Korean automakers already do that?

They actually have a problem with workers or the lack of them and they have invested heavily in robotics. They aren’t the China of the 70s and 90s. It’s really something that we need to face up to if we want to compete but our political class isn’t really ready for that sort of reality. Years behind because of smugness.

I am union so don’t misunderstand the comment, but doesn’t BYD rely heavily on terribly paid non-union labor to reach it’s price advantage?

Japan used state capitalism to promote it’s auto industry and other key sectors to sustain strong growth. America’s weakened billionaire owned government system is just being strip mined into the ground. We won’t be able to compete in an economy that’s only product is wealth extraction because of our massive corruption.