This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/49178
I took my first ride in a Chinese car recently. Not in the U.S., of course, since sky-high tariffs have made them almost impossible to import. I was visiting family in the U.K., and we rented a BYD Sealion SUV. And let me tell you: I saw immediately why American car companies are desperate to have these things kept out of this country. It was elegantly designed, incredibly comfortable, and a smooth ride.
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Funny how legislators are scared of Chinese cars crossing the Mexican border
The real question is what has made the USA auto industry so uncompetitive. Answer: protectionism. So, will even more protectionism make things better?
I'm in IT and personally I'd genuinely like to see a "grey hat" examination of the internet traffic they send/receive before I'm ready to listen to a car reviewer giving reviews on how nice the seats are or charging is.
The fact that I work in IT is also why my home is secured with security doors and deadbolts.
It's worth looking into how much data modern US cars are gathering as well, if you're concerned with that. Frankly, it seems like you're just deciding who gets your data at a certain point.
As a Canadian who holds negative views of both the American and Chinese governments, I think to myself: which am I more likely to visit someday and will therefore have the opportunity to stick me in an ICE detention center when they look up my profile to discover that? Which of the two governments is a more direct threat to my own country's security and sovereignty?
I get an answer that would perhaps surprise Americans.
I think to myself: which am I more likely to visit someday
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was China for quite a few people.
The two Michaels gives me serious pause to even consider visiting China again. I've been there before and even have extended family from there.
It’s worth looking into how much data modern US cars are gathering as well
Well known.
Location & Movement: Real-time GPS coordinates, route history, frequently visited destinations (like home or work), and travel times.
Driving Behavior: Speed, harsh braking, rapid acceleration, steering angles, and how often you engage safety features like lane-keep assist.
Vehicle Telematics: Odometer readings, tire pressure, battery/fuel levels, diagnostic trouble codes, and maintenance needs.
Infotainment & Syncs: Call logs, text messages, contact lists, and connected music or app preferences. Some systems use voice recognition and record conversations.
Biometrics & Cabin Monitoring: Cabin microphones, seat sensors (which register your weight), and cameras that track eye and head movements for fatigue.
External Cameras: 360-degree cameras, dashcams, and automated parking sensors that catalog the physical environment around your vehicle.
If I'm ever forced to buy a new car you better believe I'm finding the lte module and faraday caging that shit, regardless of what emblem is on the grill.
You can safely assume that everything that goes through the car's computer is sent to the manufacturer, no difference if it's Tesla, BYD or BMW
They all do it, but at the very least, European manufacturers are liable for GDPR violations for cars being used in the EU.
I was sent a tiktok link by someone recently so I opened it and this is what they have showing on their website:
Remote-access “transfers of EEA User Data to China”: Update on Irish GDPR decision
In April 2025, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) found that TikTok had not complied with GDPR requirements in relation to transfers of some "EEA User Data to China by way of remote access". The DPC ordered TikTok to bring its transfers into compliance within 6 months, failing which they must be suspended. TikTok strongly disagrees with the DPC's decision and is appealing through the Irish courts. The High Court of Ireland has paused the decision while that happens, allowing the transfers to continue for now.
They straight up don't give a fuck, they'll just continue doing what they're doing and appeal it through the courts.
What happens if they do lose? They'll just close down their European operations and leave a huge sign blaming the GDPR and people will complain until they get special privileges. Because as a Chinese company, they can easily afford to lose a huge market like Europe.
BYD, Geely, etc can do the same. China's got enough leverage on us.
That's sort of why I want them. America loves to customize cars. We'd take them apart and put them back together again six ways from Sunday.
There'd be YouTube channels dedicated to this and recycling the drivetrains with various levels of creativity. There'd be someone rewinding motors for torque and reflashing anything they could find to see what happens.
It will be a good time
"Pimp My Ride" to the maxxx
Also, how long are the gimmick features like in car karaoke going to last and how much will it be to repair them?
The assumption they will be repairable at all is wishful thinking at this point, but that's not really what I'm worried about. Every new car has LTE and I don't trust even American companies with telemetry, let alone a nation state that requires their exporters to share data with their governement.
Having used some lockpicks, unless you have the best locks those deadbolts won't stop anyone. The worst I can pick faster than I could get the correct key into the lock (I only have 3 keys on my keyring) - and I'm not even any good at picking locks. The medium quality will stop me, but again I'm not good, it won't stop anyone who has put in any practice...
I've also been in construction long enough to know there are faster ways into a house than through the doors if I'm trying to be dishonest. Fortunately most people are honest.
Even if they prove there's nothing bad happening, I will never ever, trust them not to change that, very suddenly. They could love to have 100M American cars they can brick the moment a U.S. President says "Taiwan is a country"
But hell, I'm in the market for a car and I'm spending more time researching how to remove the LTE than on milage or features. I'd rather drive a go-cart down I-95 in rush hour than have my car selling everywhere I go, or tracking how many times I hit "next track"
Id rather be spied on by a country whose jurisdiction I am not within
Maybe make regulations to limit the degree to which any car sold can spy on citizens? Nah, let’s limit competition so U.S. companies can keep making huge profits from inferior cars that still spy on everyone with no need to up their game.
For real. Every. Damn. Time.
Like if you want privacy or control of your car in the US you have to buy cars slowly becoming antiques or rip and replace a bunch of electronics not built to be maintanced at all. Doesn't matter the country of origin. I think I'd rather EU, Japanese, or South Korean spying at this point but what a hell of a choice...
Because they want you to be a fucking debt slave and die penniless.
(That's why they're bragging about how well credit card companies are doing right now.)
They're cheap because BYD received about $1.86 billion dollars in government subsidies last year.
Like in other sectors, they flood the market with cheap goods to put competitors out of business. Then they're the only car company in town and they have you by the balls.
Many countries subsidiese their car brands. In Germany exact numbers are not known, because the government works for the companies I guess, but most experts assume that brands like Volkswagen receive about 1 billion euros (or 1.15 billion US dollars) a year. Source A Source B. I'm no expert for other countries, but a quick research lead to the claim that until 2015 Tesla and the adjacent businesses (SpaceX etc.) had received 4.9 billion US dollars in subsidies Source. I don't think its fair to say that they are cheap just because they receive subsidies, they are just getting what everyone else is.
Hey! That's our thing..
We could also subsidize this if we chose to. It's not cheating, they don't have to play by America's made-up rules that they don't follow themselves.
US automakers have received $85 Billion in taxpayer money since 2008.
So where are the $20,000 cars?
If only U.S. companies could innovate and reinvest instead of spending billions on stock buybacks to drive up share price. Big 3 apparently authorized $5 billion in buybacks in 2022/2023.
Lemme guess "because they're better than American cars"
And exponentially more affordable.
Stern says her first reaction to driving the car was “holy crap,” and she “I fell for the SU7 Max inside and out, and now I’m left wanting what I can’t have.” She was impressed with the way its infotainment system integrated with a phone, the between-seat minifridge, the karaoke system, the walkie-talkie system, the driver-assistance system, the range, and the comfort. “I fell in love with all things about this car, including its price tag,” she said, noting that it was a better experience than a similarly priced Tesla. The Xiaomi, she says, is not even in the same universe as American cars. “It’s like if Apple had actually built the long-rumored Apple Car and everything just… worked.” “I will wait for you, Xiaomi,” she concludes. “We shall be together again one day.” One is relieved the Journal took her car away before things between them got too physical.
And if Stern sounds like lovesickness may have compromised her judgment, consider this: the CEO of Ford himself drives one. "I don't like talking about the competition so much,” he admitted to a podcaster, “but I drive the Xiaomi… I don’t want to give it up.” Noting that the car is “fantastic,” he told a company board member that the Chinese auto industry is an “existential threat.”
American manufacturers are terrified of the Chinese auto industry, because Chinese cars are good, and they’re cheap. Their executives admit as much, saying that “the arrival of affordable, high-tech Chinese cars could upend” the industry. So they’re trying to ensure not only that Chinese cars can’t be sold in the U.S., but that Americans will never even be exposed to one. A group of Congressional Democrats recently sent Donald Trump a letter pleading with him to ensure Chinese cars never enter the United States. Supposedly progressive Democratic congressman Ro Khanna has been particularly aggressive in pushing for new rules, claiming the cars “put Americans at risk.” “Chinese cars are a serious threat to America’s national security and Michigan’s economic security,” Senator Elissa Slotkin has said. Astonishingly, even though the Biden administration already “imposed sweeping regulations that effectively ban Chinese automakers from selling passenger vehicles in the United States,” lawmakers are now trying to ensure that people can’t even drive Chinese cars across the border to visit the United States. They apparently envision an absurd scenario where agents at the Mexico border inspect every car to ensure it’s not Chinese before it’s even allowed to drive on U.S. soil. One problem is that U.S. manufacturers have focused on (deadly, inefficient) large SUVs and trucks, and the average new car now costs around $50,000. Car prices hit a record last year, and American auto loan debt hit a record $1.68 trillion, leaving many Americans with “more and more of their paychecks eaten by their car payments.” There are almost no new cars for sale under $20,000. But Chinese cars can sell new for as little $8,000 in China itself, and China may well be able to offer cars in the U.S. close to $20,000 new—if it’s allowed to compete. That’s why the industry sees Chinese cars as an existential threat: they worry that consumers will prefer them, and so the power of the government must be used to ensure that consumers are forced against their will to buy more expensive, lower-quality cars, in order to prop up the U.S. automotive industry. (They’ll say that’s about Jobs, of course, but it’s also about profits.)...
But wait! There's more! The article deserves a full read.
Here’s the thing, with some of the new tech they are mandated on putting it cars (look up DMS and the 2021 Infrastructure Act) I’m not sure we are going to be able to avoid being spied on so I don’t really care who gets to do it. At least the Chinese market isn’t going to send Trumps gestapo after me because I said I don’t like fascists. I don’t like the slave labor aspect of the Chinese productions for sure and would avoid that. But given the state of the American car market I don’t give car if it’s made and or subsidized in china. A 22k car that fully charges in 10 min sounds like a dream right about now. The quicker we get away from fossil fuels the better.
At least the Chinese market isn’t going to send Trumps gestapo after me because I said I don’t like fascists.
You realize there are "Chinese police stations" within Canada, right?
What do they do?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_police_overseas_service_stations
"Chinese police overseas service stations garnered public attention after human rights group Safeguard Defenders published a report accusing the Chinese government of illegally using the stations to intimidate Chinese dissidents and criminal suspects abroad and to pressure them to return to China."
"They"
the big "they"
Hate that shit in a headline.
I mean, Republicans just announced a bill completely blocking Chinese EVs from being sold in the US. Sponsored by a Car Dealership owning senator.
I drive an MGS5 EV - MG is a British brand, but it's manufactured by SAIC Motors. Every bit a Chinese company. I traded a VW ID.4 for it . . and WHAT AN UPGRADE. Better across the board - faster charging, longer real world range, much, MUCH better software . . . all for 25% less than the ID.4.
Jim Farley is right to be terrified . . . Both the American and the German legacy car companies are screwed.
It's all about the "national car manufacturers profit security". Nothing more, nothing less.
I'll stick with Hyundai for now but if BYD becomes available in Canada, I wouldn't mind giving it a try.
Hyundai/Kia have a major problem with the integrated charge control units that they're basically refusing to provide a long-term solution for. If it fails in one car, they just replace it with an identical module and hope it doesn't happen again. But the root cause has not been addressed.
