Europeans like Chinese electric vehicles because they are affordable.
Meanwhile European manufacturers are probably pushing behind the scene to restrict the Asian competitors on the market so they can decide what price is right.
In the next months in France they will reduce the subsidies for Electric Vehicle with a poor CO2 bill like imported Chinese cars.
So even less people will get to afford EVs.
I don't think this is just about cheap Chinese labor importing cheap Chinese cars to Europe. It's also about Europe ignoring the importance of battery tech and manufacturing for decades and suddenly acting all surprised that we are not competitive.
How VW, one of/the largest car manufacturers in the world, turns out the overpriced shit EVs it does, yeah... No wonder people are looking elsewhere
Covid also really did a number on the car market (like so many others), probably take another 2-4 years before the used market gets anywhere back to normal.
I thought this was a new brand of cars I never heard of but no, you used the name of the corporate group instead of Citroen, confusing! Looks nice though, modern Citroen are really nice.
Lol, a car industry that hasn't innovated in years is suddenly threatened by innovation. Still, fuck cars. We should make them nigh obsolete with better public transport.
I love cars. Fixing them is a pain in the ass but a fun challenge. Driving them can be fun, too. But, I think I'd love some kickass, efficient, abundant, affordable public transportation even more.
God. We could have had it by now. It'd be so rad. But no.
At the rate of industrial investment into this tech coupled with some places punishing gas cars, a cheap car that spans the gap from now until affoedable and better EVs is the perfect prescription, not to mention we havent stopepd having some form or financial crises since covid.
I think it's debatable. Is it really good if all the energy that went into making the vehicle goes to waste because it only lasts 50k miles? At that point you're basically building disposable vehicles.
I think the sweet spot for this period is in hybrids that allow people to run on electricity around town but also have the ICE as a fallback for long/extended trips. The main hesitancy with EVs is range anxiety (ignoring high prices) and hybrids solve that issue while still retaining a lot of the benefits of an EV.
If I was in the market for a new car, I’d strongly consider them because of the cost even knowing the quality may be low. It’s still an EV and would hold its value for now. It’s a good alternative to the slim-pickings we have here in the states
The solid state batteries that seem to be clearly on the verge of mass production within the next few years are going to make everything they're making now horribly obsolete. I've been considering a EV for my next vehicle and will definitely be waiting now.
The political class trying to protect the interests of the billionaire class. You grow up under this capitalist system and all you hear is "competition is driving innovation" but the moment true competition comes knocking on your door, you lock yourself into a room.
Government trying to steer a herd of impulsive and selfish citizens into doing what makes sense for the collective (or what they believe makes sense (or what they're trying to convince us they believe makes sense))
The Chinese cars by Chinese manufacturer are generally getting excellent safety rating. Most of them get 5 stars on NCAP crash test.
On the other hand the Renault Zoe, one of the best selling European car by a european manufacturer got a 0 star on the same crash test. It's not an isolated case, the e-c3 got a 0 star on the latin american test, I'm waiting to see what will be the score in Europe.
I'm not saying that Chinese car are better but the bad reputation is not justified anymore. Europeans automakers should get their shit together if they want to survive.
They're fighting Chinese market manipulation that is specifically designed to make the world dependent on them and lowers wages across the world by creating massive market imbalances. Every nation with two brain cells should ban the import of all Chinese vehicles and eventually all Chinese industry entirely.
Chinese electric car makers get absolutely massive state subsidies. There are companies like Nio that have never made a single dollar of profit. Nio has been losing money on every single car they sell, to the point where they've been losing almost a billion dollars in the last quarter alone.
However, China doesn't care. The state keeps financing these companies, because if they can undermine European and American auto makers to the point where they're simply unable to compete and maybe even completely collapse, then Chinese car makers will be the only ones left in the market, and they'll be able to charge any price they want.
And realistically, which American or European car maker will be able to compete with a multitude of Chinese competitors that all can afford to lose billions and billions every year without batting an eye?
It could be all three since racists tend to think China makes bad products and have unethical practices because they are Chinese due to conflating race and culture.
Only if it had something to do with race. If it's because you don't think their manufacturing standards are high enough to feel safe that wouldn't be racist per se.
Electric cars are so much simpler than ICEs...they're almost "phones with wheels"...so IF you happen to "trust" "buy" their phones, it's not a huge jump to cars...but it's a jump 😅 , just not on principle.
No. Chinese cars have been a thing in New Zealand for decades now and they are HORRIFIC. They import the good version for safety testing then promptly switch out the steel for cheaper “Chinesium,” and airbags for cheaper versions. No one should ever buy one until long term reliability studies are conducted. I will eat my hat if they’re anything other than terrible.
State literally calls itself communist. (Operates more like a fascist state than a communist one)
Conducts ever more of its industry through the state and strictly controls the banks and loans.
Exercises huge subsidies across the entire economy which is visible through their massive and growing imbalance between their internal consumption and export.
"You only say it's not capitalist because they aren't white"
No I say they aren't capitalist because they aren't capitalist.
As a nationalist economic policy, neo-mercantilism integrates well with the fascist economic model, particularly in this age when the masses are so accustomed to foreign goods that they might find the explicit notion of autarky alienating.
And why should I, a European consumer, care if China has a communist economy or not?
Same shit to me. You live your entire life under capitalism being lied to about how "competition drives innovation" and suddenly when competition knocks on your door, you lock yourself in.
Because China achieves it's goals though large scale industrial subsidy and directly suppresses global wages as a result result, impacting your paycheck.