[FridayoLeary]

This is not surprising as other manufacturers continue moving away from producing cheap cars. One notable exception is dacia.

For all the China lovers here it's not a clear sign of Chinese superiority. I saw a video on youtube recently exploring BYD. It's success is due to the fact that the Chinese government as part of their plan to dominate the global car industry gives them massive amounts of money. Which manufacturer can compete with that? European tariffs in the near future looks likely.

Among other things the video explores some of BYD's shadier practices including artificially inflating domestic sales and not paying suppliers for up to 9 months.

I have my doubts whether their success is sustainable.

[dangus]

I hear this all the time, but I would point out that US car manufacturers are heavily subsidized as well. I’m sure other countries do their own things that effectively subsidize their automotive industries as well.

NAFTA and its successor keeps a lot of automotive production and assembly in North America.

The chicken tax protects American manufacturers from foreign competition on trucks and vans.

Tesla was started on the foundations of inexpensive loans and a “free” factory courtesy of government economic stimulus.

GM was bailed out and briefly owned by the federal government, saved by below-market rate loans.

Stellantis is also an organization that owes its existence on a bankruptcy bail-out package.

The US financially incentivizes car usage, period. They underfund transit projects, allow the gas tax rate to lag inflation, make zoning laws that require car ownership, and more. One great way to subsidize car companies is to make car ownership mandatory.

State and local governments frequently give tax incentives to major assembly plants in the name of preserving jobs for their constituents. For example, GM had a $60 million tax break to keep the Lordstown, OH plant open. Some of this was clawed back after the plant closed anyway.

CAFE standards incentivize manufacturers to build SUVs that aren’t practical or popular in many other markets, essentially enshrining America-specific car design, further separating the American market from global car designs. Companies like BYD can’t compete with American cars if they don’t sell models that resemble popular choices like the Ford F-150, which are designs which would be completely insane if sold in the Chinese, Japanese, and European markets.

[FridayoLeary]

Ok but we are talking about tens of billions versus tens of millions. And some good old fashioned protectionism which has limited effect on the global market which we are discussing at the moment.

[dangus]

That’s only one example of subsidy for one location: tens of millions in one specific type of tax break from one state for only one factory.

Now multiply that and add in every other kind of subsidy.

Ford Motor Company topping the list at $8 billion in subsidy.

https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/?major_industry_sum...

[tim333]

They've been hyped up recently by that sort of thing but a lot of the success is built on a dedicated founder who is exceptional at building things and has been keeping at it for ages.

Vid of Munger saying Wang Chuanfu is great and he tried to talk him out of starting a car company in 2003 https://youtu.be/PbgqkAQ41mM?t=69

[somelamer567]

Don't forget their rampant channel-stuffing, which is so flagrant, that it makes Ford's and GM's channel-stuffing antics look like kindergarten games in comparison.