Chinese Ev Giant Byd Sees UK Sales Soar by 880%
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Chinese EV giant BYD experiences an 880% surge in UK sales, sparking discussions about the growth of Chinese EVs in Western markets and the potential implications for the global automotive industry.
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Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
But it's nice to see that old fashioned small minded politics isn't dead yet;
>>Car buyers can claim subsidies of up to £3,750 on purchases of brands including Nissan, Peugeot and Vauxhall.
>>But the scheme excludes Chinese-made vehicles due to the emissions produced in their manufacture.
>>BYD has criticised the decision and said it would damage the UK's car market in the long-term.
It looks like the way they are going to save the car industry in Europe and stopping it falling entirely into the hands of the Chinese is with.... tarrifs! (they're also quietly trying to work out how to extricate themselves from their blind rush towards electric, at least i hope they are.)
China (and every other developed country for that matter) achieved its status by protecting their industries. And call it small-minded if you like, but when you're competing with someone taking full advantage of in-group preference (i.e. playing like a team), if you play solo, you will lose, miserably. Unite or die.
I think you were pointing out chinese strategy to force auto makers to make JV like SAIC Volkwagen[2].
While I'm not sure if that could work in west due to high cost of labour, regardless to me it seems the strategy behind these auto tariffs is to just shut chinese automakers out of the market at great harm to european consumer.
[1] https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3287079...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAIC_Volkswagen
You're saying China doesn't protect and help their native industries? That's simply incorrect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025
James K. Galbraith has stated that "free trade has attained the status of a god" and that " ... none of the world's most successful trading regions, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and now mainland China, reached their current status by adopting neoliberal trading rules." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Criticis...
China imposes more trade and investment barriers, discriminatory taxes, and information security restrictions than any other country by a vast margin. - https://ecipe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/DTE_China_TWP_R...
As with most countries, China has adopted some policies aimed at protecting or promoting its domestic industries, including targeted quotas, subsidies to certain key industries and rejection of patents in critical industries. - https://www.rfa.org/english/news/afcl/fact-check-china-prote...
> harm to european consumer.
What about the European worker and the European citizen? As a European myself, I don't like being reduced to a mere consumer.
My point was they didn't not shut down their companies from foreign competition and that that's exactly what the EU commission is doing with these tariffs.
> What about the European worker and the European citizen? As a European myself, I don't like being reduced to a mere consumer.
European citizens would be fine given how much they like to import from china.
Given the popularity of temu and other apps in europe, I don't think the general public wants to be fleeced by domestic industries/retailer and pay 12E for wine opener from esselunga v/s 1.7E on temu.
As for the domestic workers and industries, they'll have to up their game and innovate to become efficient. It was embarrassing how bad VW's EV products were till a few years ago. Domestic industries can't just expect to hold consumers as captive and fleece them forever.
If they can't good riddance.
> European citizens would be fine given how much they like to import from china.
It's telling that your reply to my not wanting to reduce Europeans to mere consumers, does just that - saying they'll be fine because as consumers they'll be fine, ignoring all other considerations.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement
Europe has destroyed it's own car making industry. Extreme taxation, self-exclusion from usage of reasonably priced resources among things that buried it. While at the same time chinese focused on making their cars better. It's as simple as that.
Now there is no way to stop chinese cars from penetrating markets. Tariffs will just buy some time. Eventually noone will buy expensive and crappy european cars.
It's a sad conclusion for someone who dislike chinese cars and been benz user for few decades. My next car won't be benz and i fear it may be chinese huawei, as the current one spends more time in workshop while being a shadow of technological and design marvel .
Did you spend 3 seconds googling, or just assume because you're uninformed and someone says something you don't know, that person must be a racist?
Here's ONE example. You know how to find more if you want to know:
> The Brazilian authorities found that the [BYD] workers could not leave their dormitories without permission, [BYD workers] were forced to work long hours without weekly breaks, and [BYD workers] were deprived of wages and passports.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Brazil_working_conditions_...
> [BYD workers] living quarters were overcrowded and lacked basic amenities, including sufficient toilets and refrigeration for food. Brazilian labour authorities stated that the [BYD] workers are victims of human trafficking.
Your comment didn't deserve a reply, but I hope you learn some critical thinking skills so everything isn't just racism to you, as that won't get you anywhere.
> Today, Mayor Tim Keller announced that the City of Albuquerque filed a lawsuit against Build Your Dreams for failure to meet contractual obligations and delivering unsafe buses to the City
https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/mayor-tim-keller-byd-will-be...
One of the issues was that there was no blockage/pressure sensor on the door/wheelchair ramps. I believe the city claimed the door closed with enough pressure mame someone. The busses couldn't hold a charge to even complete the daily bus routes that the city had ordered them for and when the city decided to add generators on the busses to make them last an entire day, my memory is that BYD said that would void the warranty - leaving the city with useless, unusable busses.
This is one example. There are countless, and BYD is often the name mentioned in the articles I see going by.