Small, well-built Chinese EV called the Seagull poses a big threat to the US auto industry

This whole article is just paid marketing. Some AP journalist didn't tear this car down and analyze its build quality.

Specially when you see the stats and it has a 190-250 mile range and a max speed of 81 MPH. And even the article points out they cut costs with things like having only one windshield wiper.

I stopped reading there.

No one i know under 50 years old wants a giant truck or suv, and thats all they wanna sell us. My only friends with new car $ bought a small wagon, which is all I'd want myself.

Those huge electric pickups are too heavy for our guardrails on top of everything else; it's insane and dangerous to let the big three make car culture here even worse.

If dealerships refuse to sell EVs, what can be done?

Direct sales, which is becoming increasingly popular in a car market where dealership market ups price people out of purchases.

Especially in states where cars can only be sold from licensed dealerships?

We'll see how long that lasts. Dealerships are the last great American petty aristocracy in a business environment that's increasingly all about absolute monarchies. Tesla has already been lobbying hard to overturn the ban on direct sales in Texas, and is doing plenty to end-run the system in the meanwhile. Amazon would love to get into the automotive market (we'll see where they go with their Rivian partnership). Silicon Valley hates these guys for getting in the way of their own drop shipping schemes. And its just a matter of time before the dam bursts.

So, there's a guy Silicon Valley Billionaire named Peter Thiel who released a book back in 2014 called "Zero to One", in which he advocates for the monopoly system and claims any good businessman ultimately seeks to corner the market.

The US car market has been consolidating over the last 40 years, in an effort to cartelize and ultimately monopolize the automotive industry. We've passed a host of regulations and taxes that compel foreign manufacturers to build and assemble cars domestically, to partner with US car firms, and to absorb parts of the market American firms don't want to occupy (US firms have functionally given up making small cars - almost everything is a truck or an SUV now). And we've unleashed our investment banks on East Asian industries, guaranteeing financial control of the largest firms in Korea, Japan, The Phillipines, and Taiwan via our international system of credits and debits.

The goal was never free markets, it was captured revenue streams. As we enter a new high surveillance age, vehicles are increasingly part of the always-on Internet Of Things information network used to continuously monitor anyone with enough money to afford a cellular device.

Excising firms like Huawei, ByteDance, and now BYD from the US marketplace is about cementing that captured state of the American economy and tightening the surveillance network. These are absolutely perceived of as threats, because they don't integrate into our controlled networks. Until Chinese businesses are willing to submit to Five-Eyes surveillance and the Chicago School Economics of the New York banks, they're not welcome in our country.

They'd prefer to sell you a giant SUV or truck with massive profit margins and so they can continue to flout emissions standards.

The problem is the companies in China are backed by government funding that allows them to operate at a loss. To be clear, no governments should be spending public funds on propping up automotive companies. It’s a move to try and manipulate the market.

Someone has to pay for the R&D to make EV's possible. So far, that's not BYD. It's been US and European countries.

I don't know if the laws have changed but (for some reason I forget), a dealership here imported two three-wheeled small pickup trucks from China within the last decade or so. So it was at least possible within the recent past somehow.

Drive it over the border from Mexico. Although, you'll likely have to pay above the sticker price. Latin Americans are gobbling up Chinese NEVs as fast as they can deliver them.

How do you, an average American, purchase an anti-worker product created by an adversary government? Simple, you move to China along with the rest of the American CEOs.

I won't defend the US auto industry, but there are issues in play here that might not be obvious. For example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance

Except it’s not capitalism when China does it, it’s socialism. The EV manufacturers like BYD have had massive subsidies from the state to bring those products to market, and that level of state support and intervention is not palatable to Americans.

Political, Climate change and National Security concerns aside, the subsidies are how the US government are about to justify the tariffs.

I'm really not a fan of China, but I'm inclined to agree. We need smaller, more affordable vehicles. SUVs are antiquated, and trucks are largely decorative for most of the population. We need smaller, lighter vehicles. Though we also should be investing much more into mass transit rather than (largely redundant) highways and roads anyways, as it's a huge waste of taxpayer money. Keep the key highways, build rail to reduce reliance on shit we shouldn't really be rebuilding anyways. A lot of highways are going to be hitting the end of their useful lives soon, anyways, and require rebuilds.

What? The big three are trying to rig the game in their favor again? I'm very surprised! ...not really, it's business as usual from them.

We have a free trade agreement with Mexico, and legacy car manufacturers are heavily dependent on Mexican factories with no tariffs or restrictions.

…. BYD has announced manufacturing in Mexico.

Even if they built them in a US factory their cars would still be better and cheaper. They just know that once they start the US will ban them like Tiktok, and they'd rather keep the battery and bus factories they already have in the US and avoid competing with anybody politically connected.

Lol western nations dint give a fuck about that. They just externalized the environmental costs to China and other poor nations until now and then sold the end result to their customers. The only problem is that that US doesn't own the company.

Ford when they outsourced to South Africa during their apartheid for cheap exploit labor

All 3 American automakers who already outsourced to Mexico right now to do the exact same thing

Yellen telling China to scale back eco tech production to protect American profits

Ah yes America, the global leader in human rights and environmental protection.

Or our businesses don't want this type of competition? An affordable and reliable sub 10k EV? This would hurt our businesses and billionaire class, no?

If I needed a new car, and had a 10k EV as an option, it'd be my first choice to look into.

Por que no los dos, though.

Where is your evidence of these claims

Problem is, that goes for expensive cars as well.

At some point we need to decide are we in the West are either (a) importing cheap small cars from China, or (b) stopping poor people from driving. Because petrol is on the way out.

Western auto workers weren't and aren't anywhere near ethical with their workers. Also Western automakers do have plenty of wiggle room, but they're not charities.

Exactly!

The car still sucks ass, dude. Literally no one is buying cheap Chinese shit that has a million problems. They're not even close.

Yes it does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Seagull

Might be a connectivity issue on your end (or the mobile link playing up).

and are only sold in China are no threat to anything.

The export model, the Dolphin Mini, is expected in Europe in 2025.

They might not pass inspection, I don’t know. But that’s only in states with inspections. Not all states have those.

That's false. The same car is sold in Mexico & Brazil and probably other countries as well

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/03/01/byd-dolphin-mini-rolling-in-mexico-cheapest-electric-car-by-far/

This may surprise you but US manufacturers count on a lot of income from selling outside the US. They’re all global conglomerates. Even looking through your roses colored glasses, do you really think legacy manufacturers will do well when they lose all of their global sales?

BYD has been making buses and work trucks for the US market for years. I've only had a ride on a few BYD buses, but they seem to be quality.

I mean at those prices you don't expect too much quality. Unlike Teslas that are poorly built but priced like the aren't

I agree with many of these points, but have two thoughts here. First, the same was true of many items being produced in China in the past, but quality control got better and honestly most of the products you can buy for a reasonable price are partly or wholly made in China. Second, Tesla is a good example of a US based company with many of the same issues. Loose panels, door handles that fall off, accelerators that get stuck, and so on. Bad engineering is not only available in Mandarin.

I hope they can produce a good quality electric car and help accelerate the transition.

1000% this.

This article is fuckin ridiculous. There hasn't been a Chinese auto manufacturer that is even CLOSE.

It was an American company doing a teardown of the vehicle that said it was well built.

Or, we just want bigger vehicles. Pure supply and demand.

Yes but all cars with smart software or trackers such as OnStar spy on you and sell your data. A car that won't spy on you is that $12000 Toyota pickup that lacks most of these features designed for spy use (which won't come to the US even though I want one).

Smart shoes are a thing and probably collect data as well.