Just not sure that I am ready to trust my driving safety to 100% Chinese automobiles.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/adventure/red-li...
There is no theoretical reason why Chinese manufacturers cannot attain the same quality level over time (maybe even short time) as everyone else.
And Korean (e.g. Hyundai, Kia) in the 80s and 90s
Chinese manufacturers can build to any standard of quality, the key being you have to be ready to pay for it which most companies aren't, which is why Chinese manufacturing continues to keep the rep it does: they'll build you a widget worth $0.50 or $50.00, but everybody only wants to spend $0.50 and then they complain when they get $0.50 worth of widget.
However, I would like to know why the BYD vehicles are so much cheaper. Are their workers being paid enough to live? Are they cutting corners in manufacturing? Is this a case of simply vertical integration providing dividends, or are they being sponsored by the Chinese government, and if the latter, why? Is it because they don't have dealers, and if so, is that a good thing? People rag on dealerships all the time and there's plenty of good reasons to hate them, but they do have upshots too. My dealership of choice where my salesman of choice works is one of the few places I'm fairly comfortable that I'm not going to get put over a barrel as soon as I sign. That relationship is hard to find these days.
I'm all for cheaper cars, absolutely. Prices in the states especially are fucking ridiculous. But I also am cognizant of what "X but cheaper" usually means. It usually means one or more of the following:
- It's built by slaves (or near slaves)
- It's stolen from the global south
- It's of shit-quality
- It will show me ads
I don't think that's quite the case. Instead, I think the people complaining at receiving the $0.50 widget complain when the (now-broken) widget was in a $1000 gizmo, which used to include the $50 version before cost-optimization.
It's a market for lemons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons), only with general, notionally durable goods. Build quality is opaque and liable to change without notice, whereas price is obvious.
It's not that it's that much cheaper for what you get, it's that you can actually pay less for the smaller product, which is harder and harder in the US because they're simply not offering them.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/uaw-le...
You do not need to be a slave; it's enough to accept that the living standard comes with a cost.
The Chinese can build a safe car if they're required to do so.
I think in this context people are more referring to country of origin in terms of culture, engineering, and operations. Not just the financial side of the fence.
Of course they will build a safe car, because they definitely will be required to do so; the law is there, and the local car industry are sufficiently powerful and capable to act as an effective watchdog ensuring that all the requirements are enforced for their Chinese competitors.