Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs automaker dash for affordable cars

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 608 points –
Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs automaker dash for affordable cars
reuters.com
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It's not on, it really isn't, the Chinese shouldn't be allowed to engage in the free market. They're supposed to be the enemy.

They should be sanctioned so that Western car makers can continue to put out vehicles for ludicrous prices, the way God intends.

I get your sarcasm, but Chinese products are life savers in 3rd world countries like mine. My brother bought a Chinese pickup truck for $3500 brand new. American trucks are at least 10 times that. People there work a whole month for $500 - $900. No one can and will never afford that shit. Same goes for other products like cellphones, computers.... Etc. an iPhone there costs $1200 - $1400 and a Chinese one costs $300 max and it does the job no problem. People in those countries love China.

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I know someone is going to read that and not get the implied /s

I don't know, I feel like it works on both levels really. There are actual people that think like that and it's insane. The US trade war doesn't really help, It paints China as the bad guy even though they're only doing the same thing as every other country in the world.

By all means demand China improves in areas which makes sense such as blatant copyright violation and human rights abuses but not this. Making cheap cars is hardly nefarious.

It depends on how it's done. If the Chinese government is directly subsidizing the cheap cars then it's a problem.

Kind of like the US subsidizing farmers and then dumping the cheap corn on other countries such that their local farmers go out of business.

That's capitalism. You don't get to complain because someone else gets a better deal.

China will always be able to produce cheaper products because the cost of living is lower there. But that is hardly a major revelation.

You forgot the uyghurs and slave labour...
Convenient.

Well the US has 1.2 million prisoners who get paid on average 86 cents a day. So effectively slave labor. That they aren't directly building cars doesn't matter because money is fungible. Every dollar saved not paying prisoners is more money elsewhere in the economy.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/

Ugh I can't believe I'm wading into a "who's worse" thing on the internet, but here we go! Are the imprisoned Uyghurs all convicted criminals? Not that it makes it ok that the US prisoners are effectively slave labor but they did do something to get there (yeah yeah unfair justice system sure but I want to believe most are there for a legit reason). Maybe the Uyghurs broke the law of "don't be a Uyghur" and the US prisoners all jaywalked. I don't know. Even if we can say one is worse, everybody sucks. Why did I say something here? I feel gross now. I have to go take a shower. Look what you've made me do! It looks like I've defended effective slave labor and somehow endorsed the US' incarceration system!

Maybe the Uyghurs broke the law of “don’t be a Uyghur” and the US prisoners all jaywalked.

I suspect "don't be Uyghur" in China is equivalent to "driving while Black" in the US.

The chinese dictatorship is worse

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Yes I did, I mentioned human rights abusers, it's right there in the comment that I made, I can still see it.

I find it's always a good idea to actually read the comments before getting angry about them.

That’s capitalism. You don’t get to complain because someone else gets a better deal.

China will always be able to produce cheaper products because the cost of living is lower there. But that is hardly a major revelation.

Where?

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they have dropped subsidies, and the companies making terrible product, and those with unsustainable business models are collapsing.. Weltmeister, Lepin.. all defunct.

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