- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- pravda_news@news.abolish.capital
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- pravda_news@news.abolish.capital
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/49178
I took my first ride in a Chinese car recently. Not in the U.S., of course, since sky-high tariffs have made them almost impossible to import. I was visiting family in the U.K., and we rented a BYD Sealion SUV. And let me tell you: I saw immediately why American car companies are desperate to have these things kept out of this country. It was elegantly designed, incredibly comfortable, and a smooth ride.
From blog via This RSS Feed.
They’re cheap because BYD received about $1.86 billion dollars in government subsidies last year.
Like in other sectors, they flood the market with cheap goods to put competitors out of business. Then they’re the only car company in town and they have you by the balls.
US automakers have received $85 Billion in taxpayer money since 2008.
So where are the $20,000 cars?
Many countries subsidiese their car brands. In Germany exact numbers are not known, because the government works for the companies I guess, but most experts assume that brands like Volkswagen receive about 1 billion euros (or 1.15 billion US dollars) a year. Source A Source B. I’m no expert for other countries, but a quick research lead to the claim that until 2015 Tesla and the adjacent businesses (SpaceX etc.) had received 4.9 billion US dollars in subsidies Source. I don’t think its fair to say that they are cheap just because they receive subsidies, they are just getting what everyone else is.
Not really. European countries usually subsidize purchasing EVs. China subsidizes manufacturing them, including for foreign markets.
If you buy a Chinese EV, it still get a subsidy from your own government too (if it still has such a program - mine does not), not just the Chinese one.
From the article about BYD:
From your first article about VW (I used google translate, let me know if it got anything wrong, mein Deutsch ist sehr schlecht):
So we don’t know what BYD’s true equivalent for the €6.4 billion (over 8 years) number is. They get grants for building manufacturing plants and such too. But here’s what we do know: their equivalent for VW’s €2.4 billion (over 8 years) is that $1.86 billion dollar figure (for one year). That’s the subsidies for actually manufacturing and selling cars. And crucially, since that €2.4 billion (again, over 8 years) was from purchase subsidies, that means BYD cars are eligible for those too, that’s not a VW-specific subsidy. Unless Germany has rules saying EV buyers only get subsidies for buying German EVs, but I don’t know that they do.
Basically, China pays BYD 2-3k (IIRC) to build an EV and then Germany pays you 3-6k to buy an EV, while China also has significantly cheaper labour. BYD’s average salary (including everyone from factory workers to engineers and executives) was 1500 EUR per month in 2025, from their own financial reports (total cost divided by head count). That includes taxes, benefits, etc. Now consider what a factory worker makes in Germany and then also consider what engineers make in Germany. According to this article, the LOWEST in-house employment contract VW has, was 2400 EUR per month in 2024. There are also allegations of 7 day work weeks in BYD’s Hungarian plant, but those might be from a biased source.
China is subsidizing it’s auto industry far less that North America and Europe.
We could also subsidize this if we chose to. It’s not cheating, they don’t have to play by America’s made-up rules that they don’t follow themselves.
You mean like French brands like Renault receiving free money since the 80s? If I can afford a Chinese car, it’s still better than a French brand that I cannot afford.
Why do you think the only US brand available in France is Ford? Because they are the only ones who managed to stay despite a lack of subsidies. Chevrolet tried to enter the French market a few years ago, they closed shop and said “fuck it.”
Renault has two EVs at 20K and 25K euros. Twingo and 5 EV.
It’s nice of you to think that everyone has 20k€ to waste on a new car.