this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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Mercedes-Benz may be shut out of U.S. market under bill aimed at Chinese automaker ownership (www.cnbc.com)
submitted 1 day ago by stumu415@lemmy.zip to c/world@lemmy.world
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[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Bozzella wrote China’s strategy to “dominate global automotive manufacturing” poses “a clear and present danger to American economic and national security.”

It threatens the hegemony of the fossil fuel car industry. If America would allow chinese cars, no one in their right mind, would buy an American gas gusler.

Another area where the US is left behind compared to the rest of the world. The speed run towards the bottom is endless.

BTW the CEO of Ford is driving a Xiaomi SU7 that he refuses to give as it's the best car he's ever driven.

Equality is only for the rich, bitches.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

He drove the SU7 for half a year to understand what was being done elsewhere.

He chose it over Tesla because he acknowledged they were innovating.

I think you’re over analyzing what is otherwise clever marketing from the head of an automaker signaling they intend to innovate in new ways, praising your “competition” is a sound strategy.

Anyways, competition is good, china catching up is a good thing.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Catching up? Their cars are straight up better, everyone is buying BYD cars everywhere they're sold because they're actually excellent vehicles. Hell, brazilians, who are known for not having any sort of money whatsoever, are saving up or financing them cause the amount of money saved on gas pays for the extra price of the car within like an year.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social -5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

neat, I’m not interested in shaking dicks about who has the better team.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

The fact of the matter is that the US market is shutting out competition because they know they would be completely fucked if they allowed BYD/Geely there. They're gonna turn themselves into Cuba with old cars that can't be repaired.

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you familiar with Chinese restrictions on their domestic market? Why do they think they deserve unrestricted access to the US and other markets when they do not extend that same privilege to their own market?

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Pretty much every Western car company is allowed in China, they just have to obey local laws. I don't think they ban entire car brands based on political bullshit.

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

For 40 years, china required 50% Chinese ownership of foreign automakers who wanted to sell in China, technology transfer requirements, and other restrictions. It's only very recently that these restrictions have been eased. Combined with their decades of currency manipulation and other protectionist limitations, I don't think it's fair for them to expect unfettered access to other markets.

I actually like and admire a lot about China, but this just seems hypocritical.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Or as much of the rest of the world views the Chinese international model: flooding the market with “impossibly” cheap products, being a loss leader everywhere to kill the competition.

What the USA is doing is equally anti-competitive.

So now that the two leading narratives around the Chinese automotive market have been laid out here I still have no interest in shaking dicks about which is right/better.

More competition is good, China catching up ( or even being light years ahead as apologists proclaim ) is a good thing.

In 2023 the top selling car in Europe was American. In 2024 that car is still the 4th best selling. With Dacia, Renault and VW being in 1 2 3 respectively.

The American market isn’t being shut out, they still have a stranglehold on the continent and their subsidiaries sell quite well in Europe.

It’s good that China is catching up.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm not a China apologist, they're literally more capitalist than the US because of that Deng cunt. And yes, I know that is their idea, Uber and Doordash did the same thing, but at this point American car companies deserve to go out of business.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

but at this point American car companies deserve to go out of business.

I’ll take the bait, go on. Do tell. Why do they deserve to go out of business specifically? Just a “we hate America” position or ???

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, it's because they are stagnant, complacent, refuse to sell anything people actually want and instead railroads people into buying 100k dollar trucks they don't need that do nothing but cause trouble, take space, and kill pedestrians, constantly bribe officials to get competitors neutered or banned, and overall treat their customers like actual dogshit. And I think this goes for any car company that sells in the US, they all know American customers don't fucking care about being treated like shit so they do the same thing. Brazilian car companies did the same exact thing, and BYD and Geely essentially spooked them into lower prices and trying to be more customer friendly.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can you provide an example of how people are "railroaded" into buying trucks and how there is not a single car on the road in the US that "people want" yet they bought one anyway? These claims are so ridiculous.

And I think this goes for any car company that sells in the US

You're claiming that no auto manufacturer in the world sells a vehicle that people want outside of these two Chinese brands? If thats the case then why don't BYD and Greely have a 100% market share everywhere they're sold?

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The railroading would be more akin to aggressive marketing and some degree of propaganda, which is extremely common in the United States. Very rarely you'll get car ads on the US that aren't some sort of SUV or light truck.

And no, that's not my claim. It's more that BYD and Geely have vehicles and features that aren't made with the sole goal of making the car more expensive. American car companies (and subsidiaries of foreign companies) are extremely predatory, and BYD/Geely try to focus in moving away from that way of treating the customer. And yes, that is a marketing tactic. But if this marketing tactic makes predatory western car companies change their ways, I don't see a problem with it.

When both of those companies arrived in Brazil, the cars became extremely popular mostly because of them offering (assumingly) non-predatory practices. They're still large companies, so I don't inherently trust them in that regard, but it's competition that is making western car companies shit themselves hard enough to try to ban those vehicles.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

aggressive marketing and some degree of propaganda

You mean like BYD and Greely claiming they'll sell everyone brand new cars for $10k if only you'd just let them take over your entire auto industry? This is a well worn ploy of any disruptor. Move in with something that dazzles everyone and earns good will just long enough to take over the market and then immediately enshittify your product because there is no competitor left.

American car companies (and subsidiaries of foreign companies) are extremely predatory

Meaning every auto manufacturer in the world outside of China since they all sell here? "Everyone is a predator except China!"

BYD/Geely try to focus in moving away from that way of treating the customer.

Of course they do because they're in the growth phase. They're that new drug dealer on the corner that wants you to try their product and hey! they'll even let you try it for free! What compels them to maintain goodwill once they're the only ones left standing since they're being directly funded by their powerful government? Can you provide examples of other Chinese companies doing this in the past and maintaining that goodwill in other industries?

it's competition that is making western car companies shit themselves hard enough to try to ban those vehicles.

That's not "competition" that's their wealthy government using their vast resources to undercut everyone else and sell their product at a loss. It's quite an obvious ploy and its completely unsustainable long term. As I've repeatedly stated, this is only being done to capture and control the market.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're not doing yourself any favors defending General "I sell pedestrian-crushing trucks" Motors.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is all you can respond with? Some appeal to emotion regarding something I didn't even say?

How lame.

Funny you bring up "crushing pedestrians" as that reminds of an incident in Tiananmen Square from a while back...

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

No, I just thought your argument was terrible and extremely defensive of the Western car market cartel, as if anyone needs to defend them. I am aware that Chinese companies are not little angels, but compared to the Western brands that explicitly run a rat race to see who can sell the shittiest car for the highest price, they're more saintly than Mother Mary.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

My argument is "terrible" which is why you keep moving goal posts and can't actually respond to anything I've said with a rebuttal.

Ah yes the "~~US~~ ~~American~~ western cartel" is what you've finally decided on, which is comprised of every automaker in the world, with the most popular ones being countries even further east than China. Yeah that makes perfect sense.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe you should look what entails today to get a brand new car in the US, and you'll learn why everything about the US car market is beyond fucked.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You think I've never bought a car before? It entails going down and paying for it. How about you make the argument yourself instead of hand waving and making vague claims

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 21 hours ago

Try those three videos, for starters. Guy is not an expert, but he's a car enthusiast who has a lot of connections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivp4O-udEDs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jxt75wACo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6o0uVsJX_o

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Ford sells globally though, even if BYD is legislated out of the US market, they still need to compete everywhere else - to the point where they teamed up with VW to sell a sedan in EU that they don't offer in NA.

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Catching up? The US auto industry is a dinosaur.

[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Catching up? China is miles ahead in regards to EV's and innovation. And not just in that area. Luckily the western mind is still set in the China copies , China bad, China shit quality mindset, except the people who have visited China and see advancement across the board.

[–] 100@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

chinese spyware integrated into todays smart vehicles doesnt sound like something anyone wants

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago

American spyware created by the CIA: "Aww, you're sweet"

Chinese spyware: "HELLO, HUMAN RESOURCES???"

(both are bad. but pretending one is worse than the other is stupid)

[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

Yes. Palantir, meta, Google, Amazon, openAI are leading US examples of valuing users privacy.

Plus that spyware myth is propaganda to convince the ignorant citizens to avoid anything Chinese but put your faith in American ~~spyware~~ solutions. Think about the F16 fighters and their kill switch.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ugh every single time someone posts one of these articles, people in the comments act like American auto manufacturers are some monolithic entity when in reality there are only 3 American companies remaining (GM, Ford, and Tesla) and they don't even make a majority of the cars sold on the road here and one sells nothing but EVs.

The automotive market here is mostly comprised of foreign auto makers and none of them can compete with the shady economics of Chinese EVs just like their American counterparts. What you're arguing for here is for the Walmart or Amazon of car manufacturing to take over and create a monopoly. Once they create that monopoly, they will 100% leverage it to their advantage and raise prices sky high. Then you'll be complaining about all the people out of work and sky high prices on cars and demand that something be done about it. How about using a little bit of knowledge and foresight to stop it before it even starts.

[–] PepperoniNipple@lazysoci.al 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

So, capitalism is bad or what? Just tell Western companies to lock in and stop fucking around. You only convinced me to consider a Chinese EV even more, because you have no evidence they will enshittify other than your negative vibes about China. Western ones, in the other hand, are already enshittified. I highly doubt a Monopoly will ever happen, you make it sound like absolutely all car companies will disappear, as if they won't be able to adapt, like capitalism dictates they will.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

What western companies? You guys keep trying to claim every country that builds cars is a "western" country. Are Toyota and Kia western companies? Nissan? Honda? Hyundai?

You only convinced me to consider a Chinese EV even more, because you have no evidence they will enshittify other than your negative vibes about China.

"No evidence" other than literally every "market disruptor" and monopoly in existence.

I highly doubt a Monopoly will ever happen

Oh, well if your feelings lead you to believe that then it must be true. You've certainly provided no evidence or reasoning why they wouldn't completely take over when they're undercutting everyone else on the planet with their bottemless pockets.

you make it sound like absolutely all car companies will disappear, as if they won't be able to adapt, like capitalism dictates they will.

China controls the world's rare earth resources. They control the lithium. They directly fund these companies and the development of these vehicles. They use slave labor. They have lax environmental protections. How do you expect any other company to compete against that? You can't just waive your hand around and claim it's a matter of will for other companies to compete against one of the most powerful governments on the planet.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 19 hours ago

They directly fund these companies and the development of these vehicles. They use slave labor. They have lax environmental protections.

So does every single Western car company, bucko. If you want everything to be fine and dandy you'd have to move past capitalism.

Also, "Western" usually means "country that is part of NATO".

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What you're describing has already happened in the US and China entering the market would break it. But since it's western car companies doing it you don't have an issue with it.

Oh, and most of those new Chinese EVs are actually way, way higher quality than even European brands.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What you're describing has already happened in the US and China entering the market would break it.

🤦‍♂️

Please elaborate on how the market being divided amongst dozens of brands from nations all over the world is the same as a single, powerful entity like Amazon or Walmart controlling the entire market?

Some of the best selling cars here come from Japanese and South Korean companies, but go on with this nonsense about western companies (did you move the goal posts? I thought it was American companies just one comment ago) controlling everything. Are Japan and SK "western" countries now?

Oh, and most of those new Chinese EVs are actually way, way higher quality than even European brands.

Whoa, cool. What do you define as "quality" exactly? Most of the luxury European vehicles need very expensive maintenance on a regular basis to stay road worthy. I don't consider over-engineering and 'premium' materials to be a sign of quality, I consider it a sign of marketing manipulation.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Please elaborate on how the market being divided amongst dozens of brands from nations all over the world is the same as a single, powerful entity like Amazon or Walmart controlling the entire market?

Because they're a cartel. Next question. Brazil had a similar issue with all the big worldwide brands essentially colluding to keep prices high until the Chinese EVs crashed the market and forced them to bring prices down and offer better customer support.

What do you define as “quality” exactly?

Those Chinese EVs are actually quite simple to fix and maintain. The only issue really is getting the parts, but at least in Brazil, they have plenty of spares they imported directly from the Chinese mainland to help fix those vehicles. And in the event you go to their shop and your car needs a part that isn't available, they'll import said part for you and pay all of the fees - you just pay for the part and labor.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because they're a cartel.

"Because I'll say anything to be right even if it doesn't have any basis in reality"

Those Chinese EVs are actually quite simple to fix and maintain

Every EV is simple to fix and maintain because they're much more simple than ICE vehicles. This isn't anything inherent to Chinese EVs in particular.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

“Because I’ll say anything to be right even if it doesn’t have any basis in reality”

Try buying a new car right now in the US. You'll be in a rabbit hole so deep it'll reach the Earth's core.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 0 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I'll "be in a rabbit hole" from buying a new car? I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.

Is it supposed to be a criticism of the price? Are you suggesting we should give Trump more of our tax dollars so that he pass them along to automakers like China does to disguise the true price of their vehicles? Maybe have him take all those immigrants sitting in concentration camps and force them to work in rare-earth mines for no pay too? That's what you're advocating for here, along with laying off all those Americans working auto manufacturing jobs, and it's all so you can buy one cheap new car before the enshittification begins. How gross.

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

No, that has nothing to do with my argument. It has to do with the fact that buying a new car in the US is a complete scam that was only allowed to happen because the western car manufacturers used regulatory capture to make an entire cartel for the market. It's flooded with 100k light trucks, terrible payment programs, and the entire thing is designed to keep you in massive debt. A 12k dollar Geely EX2 would completely blow up this scam.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 0 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

No, that has nothing to do with my argument.

That has everything to do with your argument because that's exactly how China sells these cars for that price. You must be ignorant of that fact and think they have some magical ability to produce something so cheaply and nobody else on the planet can figure it out or replicate it.

buying a new car in the US is a complete scam that was only allowed to happen because the western car manufacturers used regulatory capture to make an entire cartel for the market. It's flooded with 100k light trucks, terrible payment programs, and the entire thing is designed to keep you in massive debt.

Quite the rambling rant here. How could the market be flooded with $100k trucks if nobody wants them? What do auto manufacturers have to do with payment plans? You may not be aware of this, but loans come from banks and those loans have interest rates set by the federal reserve, which sets rates for all loans. Some manufacturers do offer loans but they're always short term with lower than market interest rates to incentivize people to buy new. Furthermore, who or what is setting the requirement that people buy brand new cars in order to trap them in this massive debt?

[–] SalamenceFury@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago

I'll refer to you to those three videos by a car enthusiast who's got a good grip on what entails to buy a car in 2026, even an used one.

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Mercedes will 100% find a way to make this seem like 'exclusivity' and the demand will increase.