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by srockets 530 days ago
Not just US auto makers. Modern car companies don’t manufacture, they assemble (and for a pretty good reason, but I digress).
2 comments

Disagree strongly on the soundness of the reasoning. Divesting themselves from manufacturing facilities, equipment, and skilled personnel has been a slow motion trainwreck for the big three US auto manufacturers. It opened them up to competition from Tesla and others. Tesla, who make the majority of their own parts here in the US.
Tesla manufactures/assembles about as much as any other western car company.
Here's the NHTSA filing: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2024-10/MY2025-A...

Honda is the only one who comes close to Tesla.

This lists country of origin, not manufacturer of said components.
Country of origin is what I said: "Tesla, who make the majority of their own parts here in the US."

And is the relevant measure, as all auto manufacturers employ job shops for various parts.

I don't care if Tesla or Honda manufactured a part in a building under their logo. I care that they invested in US infrastructure and paid US citizens to build the car I drive. That's what country of origin measures.

Heaven forbid we have to fight another war and all the factories and skilled tradespeople are in Mexico or Canada.

But that wasn’t my point. My point is that Tesla buys the parts and assembles them. They don’t build the parts. Just like VAG for example (who also assembles, and doesn’t build. They’re actually pretty interesting because they insist on multiple vendors in multiple regions for each part)
One of BYD main advantages (according to economists) is that they have full vertical integration. So maybe it was not a good reason after all.