top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 198 points 6 months ago (3 children)

It’s amusing to me that the same folks to deride Chinese car manufacturers because they are somehow cheating by getting support from the government are the same people demanding that the US government artificially protect the US car industry by blocking Chinese imports. The point being that neither side actually objects to government participation in the market. But, one side uses it to make better products and service consumers, and the other does it to protect worse products from market forces.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 89 points 6 months ago (35 children)

    "A free market is self regulating" until someone makes a better product for less money, I guess.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 37 child comments
  • load more comments (33 replies)
  • [–] 36 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    People CONSTANTLY harp on Chinese government support of the EV industry.

    Name one ICE manufacturer not taking state and federal money. Detroit took $80B in handouts after 2008. That's far more than the Chinese government has spent, and the largest investor in Chinese industry, by far, has been Apple Computers.

    So China ended up with a new industry taking the world stage. What did we get from Detroit? Bloated low tech shit boxes that barely make it past warranty.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    The UK was constantly bribing car makers to stay, and most of them still fucked off.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 116 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    "Struggling" implies the American Auto industry is at least trying to keep pace. But really, they aren't trying at all. They are content to sit back thinking their current flock of geese will lay golden eggs forever even as more and more of those geese drop dead from old age.

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • [–] 46 points 6 months ago (11 children)

    That‘s the main problem in Europe as well. I don‘t mind tariffs on heavily subsidized cars that are designed not to make profit but to destroy our industries. However, even then our manufacturers are in a constant crisis mode and unable to adapt. It‘s really pathetic.

    But hey, when the car lobby is dead maybe that means more trains and cycling paths in the long run? Perhaps there‘s an opportunity here.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • load more comments (9 replies)
  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago

    But really, they aren’t trying at all.

    GM's biggest sales increases are with Cadillac EVs last year.

    Detroit followed the Tesla model, with the highest profit margins in the industry because their CEO convinced simps EVs should be expensive. So they jumped in early with poorly designed and expensive vehicles, thinking Tesla stans were everywhere.

    There was a time, worldwide, if you just wanted a reliable and low cost sedan, you bought a Ford or Chevy, and they sold millions. But round 2016, Detroit lost interest in lower cost vehicles, and by 2020, they got addicted to price gouging cheap vehicles to make them expensive, and why not, people were paying $70,000+ for a Jeep and just taking it up the ass.

    Given Detroit abandoned that part of the market, they shouldn't care if Chinese EVs arrive, right? Because their $60,000 EVs are a better product, right?

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 86 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    American Auto Industry Struggles to Keep Pace

    You mean lobbies the government to ban Chinese EVs, because they have no means of competing whatsoever? Free market for me, but not for thee.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 43 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Has always been this way. Back in the late 70/early 80s, Harley couldn't compete with the Japanese bikes so they lobbied to daddy fed to make sure all the foreign bikes got tarriffed out of existence over 700cc. So the Japanese said "hold my soju" and made 699cc motorcycles that still made more power than the gargantuan Harley bikes of the time. USA has always tried to give US based companies a leg up over objectively superior products. Our tax dollars are why there are any American car companies left, sure Ford didn't get a direct bail out but we use them for police and other service vehicles across the country which has helped keep them afloat. Plus obviously Chrysler and GM taking govt bailouts and still flailing desperately while making trash vehicles and wondering why they don't sell. The American auto industry doesn't struggle to keep pace, it has NEVER caught up to or even compared to the rest of the world. They have always been 30+ years behind any European or Asian vehicle.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
  • [–] 81 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    It’s not struggling to keep pace. It’s not trying to keep pace.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 56 points 6 months ago (29 children)

    1,036 km (644 miles) on a single charge under China’s CLTC testing standard.

    Does anyone know how realistic this range is? You can get some absurd range from a vehicle if you're driving on a closed course at 60kmh with no air conditioning or entertainment.

  • source
  • hideshow 32 child comments
  • [–] 58 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Light-Duty_Vehicle_Test_Cycle

    The CLTC testing accounts for the country's higher congestion levels with more frequent stop-and-go and lower speed limits, which lead to increased low-speed driving and longer idling times that benefits electric vehicles.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Right, so you're not getting anywhere near that on the open road.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    Right. Open road should be more around 770Km. I have a BYD Han 2023 that has a claimed range of 550Km, and I get just about 420Km realistically, at a steady 110Km/h with a few bursts of up to 150Km/h to get away from idiots doing 80 on a 100 (or just to show off the torque to other types of idiots like BMW and some Tesla drivers 😏). I do still get a bit over the claimed 550 if I don't leave the city and drive as if I was afraid of tickets.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (5 replies)
  • [–] 25 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Came across this which I've not validated but does seem to make sense at a glance: Comparison of WLTP and CLTC

    Based on that the WLTP range would be 828-900km (515-560 miles).

    Real world, 6-700km at a guess?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
  • load more comments (26 replies)
    [–] 27 points 6 months ago* (5 children)

    American Auto Industry Struggles to Keep Pace

    Them being end up second place isn't new, as these makers can't help but throw in too many features but cut out the quality or improve efficiency, such as being unable to match the fuel efficiency of non-US compact cars more than 50 years ago.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (5 replies)
    [–] 22 points 5 months ago* (11 children)

    644 mile range? But what if I need to drive 650 miles once in a decade? Electric cars are just a stoopid fad.

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • load more comments (11 replies)
    [–] 12 points 6 months ago

    The US auto industry and market abandoned fuel efficient vehicles and continue to fail to improve BEV's and the infrastructure to support them.

  • source
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›