this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Read the interview with the Ford CEO. Who drives a Xiaomi SU7, imported from China and he refuses to give it up.

It is the arrogance of car makers all over the world. No one is matching the innovation of the Chinese car makers. This includes European giants like Volkswagen and BMW who are suffering in China.

http://autofreak.com/vw-bmw-mercedes-china-sales-collapse-q2/

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

Plus the price is outrageous here. I was reading china has electric cars for like 15k

[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yes. You can get cheap EV's here for this price, like the BYD seagull. But most standard EV's like a sedan or SUV start more around the 200000 RMB mark or 30.000 US$.

Like the Xiaomi SU7 that the Ford CEO is driving, is around the US$45.000. But it's an amazing car. There is nothing in the US or Europe that can compare. I personally prefer the Xiaomi YU7.

Last month I was in Europe and rented an Audi A3 sport, and that didn't even have rear view cameras or GPS!! The newest Maestro (car brand from Huawei), has an espresso machine built in.

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

I’ll have to deep dive into the Xiaomi, thanks for the breakdown

[–] stumu415@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're welcome. You should also check out the other major car brands like Xpeng, BYD (the largest EV car maker in the world) , Li, Nio, Geely (who owns Volvo and Polestar)

[–] Polisheocket@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago
[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Despite having cases of car makers that receive ~~subsidies~~ handouts from EU countries and then leave anyway to produce in China or elsewhere, Belgium just gave Volkswagen 119 million.
Let's see how long it lasts.

[–] betanumerus@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

US admin and auto industry: "We're digging our own graves? Let's double down!"

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Not in America they're not.

Which fucking sucks! The selection of electric cars on sale in America is terrible!

[–] Mediocre_Bard_Redeux@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Oh no! Is it time for the auto industry to collapse, get 81 billion dollars, change nothing, and berate the American consumer for being too poor to buy their cars that now cost twice as much for no specific reason other than capitalism again?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago (5 children)

It sure as hell isn't time to ride the bus or build a train. So I guess we're doing your thing.

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[–] Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

After getting that $88 billion bailout They'll bring back sedans and start researching EVs...for about 4 years and switch back to gas guzzling jacked up overcompensating trucks for the men and big suburbans/yukons for the moms who pay more attention to their phones than the road.

Rinse repeat

[–] Trampampoline@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

they'll bring back sedans

Dodge: here's your Dart

Chevy: here's another Cobalt clone that uses a worse motor

Ford: We'll make any Sedan you want as long as it's a Mustang and not a sedan

"th-thanks..." 😕

[–] forkDestroyer@infosec.pub 11 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I don't understand. Using Elon in charge of Tesla? How can it be failing? I thought he was a genius and not just some guy that had a profitable company partly in thanks to all the carbon credits being sold?

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[–] BigMacHole@thelemmy.club 23 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Have they tried CLOSING more EV Plants and DISCONTINUING More EV Models? That MIGHT help!

-CEOS!

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[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 121 points 4 days ago (18 children)

There is a legitimate reason to not want Chinese government subsidized cars to undercut American auto makers, but it’s also correct to say that American automakers can’t compete with Chinese automakers right now even if they were in a similar cost footing.

It’s hard to feel bad when GM intentionally killed electrics back in the 90s, the ship where America leads the world in EV production may have already sailed then. We may yet see the American auto industry have its Kodak moment.

[–] apftwb@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We've tried nothing and we are all out of ideas

[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 62 points 4 days ago

It’s nuts how the phrase “Kodak moment” has changed.

[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

There’s no reason to be protective over the auto industry. The years where auto plants could transition to weapons fabrication are over; the manufacturing process has become specialized to chase efficiency. If anything, it’s justice should American car brands go out of business, because they were subsidized and propped up time and time again and stole the money given to them to afford innovation. Most recently in 2010, when American cars lost in the marketplace because they didn’t match hybrid efficiency, they simply did not meet or exceed their competition. Instead, they sat on their asses, took the bailouts, and the Japanese sold better cars. Now, Japanese cars are losing to Chinese cars, while still maintaining superiority over American cars.

Anecdotally, the newest gen Ford Bronco, Explorer, and F150 ICE cars are terrible. I got to daily drive all of them while my Lightning was in the shop for repairs because they couldn’t loan an EV. Those cars were noisy, slow, awfully designed interiors, inefficient, and just plain cost more than the competition.

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[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 30 points 3 days ago (2 children)

US auto makers were too busy doing stock buybacks and building Canyoneros while the Chinese were building next gen factories and investing in battery technology. The Chinese government has subsidized their auto industry to dominate the EV market while the USA subsidizes their auto industry but with wild and often stupid swings in expectations.

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

People ....READ. 75% of all EVs in the USA is a whopping 5% of total sales.

No one in most countries can fit US tanks on their roads.

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[–] GhostFace@lemmy.today 14 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Does it really matter? Won't the government just block all Chinese vehicles from being sold here so carmakers in this country don't have to compete?

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Still doesn't help with the fact that not a single person outside the US will buy a Tesla or a Ford.

Sooner or later Americans will stumble onto TikToks and see how cool BYDs or Beijings are, and they'll wonder why their Chevrolet is a piece of shit.

The iron curtain only gets you so far when the internet exists. And when a government is too incompetent to even try to censor it.

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Tesla stores are pretty common in China. They still buy the Tony Stark tech genius businessman schtick.

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[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sadly Tesla is still 6% of the EV market in Europe (apparently because of inclusion in Uber Black and UberXL)

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ugh ffs why would anyone use Uber anyway when we have Bolt and I'm assuming some other services (but Bolt is the main one here since it's an Estonian company and I'm Estonian)

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Don't forget union busting and a general failure to pay workers enough to afford their products. Billionaires' greed always fucks us over.

End of the day, I can't afford a new car no matter who makes it. $30,000 for a DRM'ed shitbox that will shut itself down if I'm 30 minutes late on a payment? No, thanks.

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[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 51 points 4 days ago (13 children)

It's sad watching the U.S. and Japanese auto industry self-destruct in slow motion. There are a lot of smart and capable people in the auto industry, but the management are stuck in an 80s design and manufacturing process.

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[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 3 days ago (3 children)

As sad as this is, this is all the fault of the current automakers. The EV1 showed great promise but it was killed off despite the pleas of their drivers. It was just too cheap and convenient to keep making ICE cars and ripping off their customer base. When the innovations of Chinese manufacturers started looming over the horizon, the US did what it always does and wall off the domestic market with tariffs. Content with their captive market, they did token efforts for EVs but kept pumping out $80k+ gas powered behemoths. I'm aware of Tesla being the exception but frankly fuck that company, Elon Musk's Nazi shit ruined it and I wish it'll go under.

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