The withering dream of a cheap American electric car

If you're an American wondering why you're forced to buy shitty overpriced Teslas instead of those $15k BYD Dolphins, here's Janet Yellen screeching about how unfair it is that China uses its labor force to manufacture consumer goods instead of creating millions of bullshit make-work financialization jobs like good liberal democracies https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/yellen-intends-warn-...

I have a feeling that if BYD was a Taiwanese company it’d be fine, could there be a concern with the Xi government’s bellicosity?

Both parties are in the wrong on this. Americans (and others) would be wealthier and the world would decarbonize faster if the tariffs on China were lifted but it is what the people want

I would never, EVER, buy any BYD or any car manufactured in China. Support local brands who manufacture locally.

Why?

edit: presumably you don't (or can't) hold this position for electronics or a myriad of other devices you already own. Why are cars different?

I'd totally buy a phone that was mostly US produced if it was the same (or better) quality within ~30% of the same price.

I do tend to apply this same idea to a lot of things I buy. If there's an American version available with at least similar quality and some % of similar price, I'll pick the US one nearly every time. Goes even further when its something I know is made in my state, even further when it comes to the city I live in. The vast majority of the beer I drink is made in the city I live in, for example.

So you are blaming your good liberal democratic goverment for not protecting your market enough which forces you to make a living on some bs job while at the same time you complain that the market is overly protected so you cant get a cheap dolphin.

> Support local brands who manufacture locally.

There are none. The Model Y is the closest with 70% of it made in either the US or Canada (the law does not require them to break it down to US only...) Every other car available for sale in the US has more than 30% manufactured outside of the US or Canada. And the big 3 are some of the worst offenders for offshoring their manufacturing out of the US.

There are several vehicle models such as the Tesla Model 3 which have >70% North American parts content.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/part-583-american-automobile-labeling-...

Ah, I used a third party source which was missing the Model 3 Long Range specifically, which is 75%. Maybe it was not listed because it is limited to that one trim. Then there's the Model Y and the Model 3 Performance at 70%. All other American brand vehicles are < 70% and most are 20-40%

The top vehicle from the big 3 is the Ford F150 at a whopping 45% US/Canada.

My point is that if you buy any car in the US, you are buying a vehicle with significant foreign manufactured content.

I'm still confused on how/why cars are different for you? here you're making a cost/benefit calculation but your original comment said you would "never" buy a chinese car. Why are cars so special?

I am not the same person who said they would never buy a Chinese car. I might, but they'd have to be significantly cheaper while being pretty much the same quality. Quality also meaning parts availability and places willing to work on it and what not for the continued support of keeping that vehicle working for a long time.

And in the end that "$10k" Chinese car doesn't fit my needs in the same way a $14k US or Japanese car doesn't fit my needs. When I actually look at a vehicle that does do what I'm looking for, they're not too differently priced.

Note that the "$10k" car in China costs ~$22k in Mexico. So chances are, even without tariffs that car coming to the US would probably be $20k+, not $10k. Probably more, because BYD knows Americans would probably pay more in the end. That's without any tariffs applied.

Chances are though, a similar car to what I'd buy would be more along the lines of the BYD Seal, but even then that's a little smaller than what I'd like. Honestly the Mach E is pretty much the perfect sized vehicle for my family for the majority of our drives, so something like a large hatchback/small crossover is what I'm looking for but a full-sized sedan would do. That went on sale in Mexico without tariffs for 888,800 Mexican Pesos, or about $44k USD. A The 2025 Mach E pricing starts around $37k.