Completely unmentioned: Chinese EVs are $10k worldwide except USA.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/08/2025-byd-seagull-ev-sta...
replies(9):
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/08/2025-byd-seagull-ev-sta...
Beyond that, the chinese EV brands are in market capture mode right now. The competition is cut throat and the margins are extremely thin.
It‘s a market skimming strategy that will presumably be a last man standing scenario. If the winner(s) are decided, prices will definitely not remain as low as they are right now in some places.
If Americans can't get a new car for under $25,000 but Southeast Asia can get them for under $10K, something is wrong. If the entry level car is 2.5x more expensive in America it means Americans are getting fleeced. I haven't lived in America for a long time and I feel like this makes it very obvious to me when the BS machine over there is in full spew. Free markets drive consumer prices down to the cost of production.
I don't know the auto industry in detail but it is an extensively documented fact that America has few free markets left, and they've been replaced by cartels - each industry has a couple of crooks at the top who rotate between private and public jobs. On the public side they come up with excuses to not enforce the anti-trust laws that are on the books, and they add regulations that raise the cost of business. On the private side they come up with ways to improve margins which usually involve fucking consumers.
Let's not make excuses for the criminals. America needs free markets and cheaper cars. Elite lawlessness is the cause of increased costs in America.
All Asian/European carmakers have tons of options available everywhere else they could bring here but they don't cos people just don't buy them. Even sedans are harder to sell today, the US is its own cosmos and trying to coerce it into "small family car" when all the ads are about being a rugged f150 driver is very hard.
Look at how people talk about minivans here, all about "the emasculation of men". It would require a lot of leadership to change the market perspective on these cars or americans getting very poor for it to work. It is also incredibly convenient, I myself drive a large SUV that's larger than the average WW2 tank and its insanely convenient to have that much space for a family of 6.
Up until 2024 there were no restrictions on cheap Chinese EVs that didn't apply to any other car. The cheap ~$10k Chinese EVs simply don't meet US safety standards.
There have been Chinese-built EVs sold in the US: https://www.polestar-forum.com/attachments/1000009812-jpg.27...
Further up this thread the discussion was about Asian market cars that are still sub $10k. There are both gasoline and EV vehicles that exist in this price range, but they are very different than the types of cars sold in the US market. They're more similar to off-road low-speed utility vehicles (and some are literally sold for this purpose in the US).
If you look at the western markets where there are Chinese EVs, higher safety standards, and higher buyer expectations, you'll see that they're very closely priced.
e.g.:
https://www.byd.com/uk/order-sealion-7
https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/modely/design#overview
The idea that other countries have equivalent cars that are cheaper just doesn't hold water. Asia has cars that are cheaper because you get less car.
As another example here, the cheapest BYD sold in the UK is the Dolphin Surf starting at $25,614 (18,650 GBP). Even if it doesn't require any changes to meet US regulations (which many cars do), I don't think many Americans are going to run out to buy what is considered a microcar here, just to save $2500 over a Leaf, that Americans already don't buy. It certainly isn't going to compete with the Corolla or Corolla Hybrid which starts at $22,325/$23,825 respectively.