BYD Seagull price drops below $10,000 as senators urge Biden to boost Chinese EV import tariffs

[Roger Fownes]

It seems to me that EVs have had an artificial premium added to their price to pay for re tooling factories.
Fair enough in the short term but a small city car like the BYD Seagull should be able to be made and sold below £15000. In the UK petrol city cars are sold for below £15000. If Governments want to get rid of polluting cars in our towns and cities they need to encourage cheap EVs.

[Graham]

America needs to learn how to compete.
It's current competition rules are :
1. Huge tarrifs
2. If rule 1 fails, start a war

[Jacob]

Ironically the capitalism leader of world is afraid of competition.  It is not thinking of ways to compete, but set up walls to protection.

[Garey]

If Henry Ford did it, why not China similarly?

Double standard, of course.

The world accepted Ford products, but won't accept any from China.

New style of HYPOCRISY?

[Robert Fry]

The problem in North America that plagues the industry is not the cost of technology or parts its the cost of LABOUR. unions and their disgusting greed is why the big three can't compete. It is the workers GREED and the UNIONS POWER that make vehicles so outrageously priced. You all want to make big bucks at a factory do nothing job, well those are the consequences. Greed and Unions are the issues that need to be addressed

[A]

America needs to learn how to compete.
It's current competition rules are :
1. Huge tarrifs
2. If rule 1 fails, start a war

I will remind you that the reason why US put tariffs on Chinese cars was because China put tariffs on American cars first. China required that car manufacturers either form a joint venture with a Chinese company to produce locally, or face huge import tariffs. Through this method, China pretty much stole most of the automotive technology as car companies formed joint ventures with Chinese companies for the sake of short term profit

[anan]

ATM the prices on new EVs in China might be artificially low because of high inventory and low demand. So these prices might not last.
Moreover no Chinese manufacturer will import cars to US with the current 25% tariff. It just does not make sense economically. There is a market for these cars elsewhere without the tariff.
The only inroad into US is through a new Mexico factory for BYD. And that is ways off. And cars produced there will be more expensive when it comes online.
And least we forget - Chinese cars have rather poor quality. There are a lot of horror stories about breakdowns. And a lot of videos of buyers shouting at dealers to fix their cars or take them back.
This will not fly in US with it's lemon laws, class action lawsuits.
If someone brings Chinese cars into US market they will choose a higher end/pricier model. Most likely a compact SUV with targeted price just below Model Ys.

[Scott franco]

Since when is the job of government to suppress competition?

The USA makers complain they can't build cheap evs. So time to suppress others that can?

[A]

ATM the prices on new EVs in China might be artificially low because of high inventory and low demand. So these prices might not last.

There were 8 million EVs sold in China in 2023, or about 30% of total car sales. EVs are selling well there and sales continue to grow. Everything is about economies of scale, the more you build something the cheaper it gets. Why do you think Ford discontinued the Ford Focus despite it selling over 100k cars a year? Because you need more than that, you need multiple cars sharing the same platform each selling way over 100k to make a profit, gas or electric.

And least we forget - Chinese cars have rather poor quality. There are a lot of horror stories about breakdowns. And a lot of videos of buyers shouting at dealers to fix their cars or take them back.
This will not fly in US with it's lemon laws, class action lawsuits.
If someone brings Chinese cars into US market they will choose a higher end/pricier model. Most likely a compact SUV with targeted price just below Model Ys.

The thing is, the cars sold to the Chinese market are not the same kind as the ones sold to international market. This is why the ones sold internationally have a much higher cost despite the same name

PS EU has much tougher consumer protection than US does and they are in the EU market. But EU, EVs are over 20% of car sales, while US is like 8%. So they aren't in a hurry