I don't care. I just feel for the average American who is looking to buy a car and getting screwed over by corruption.
Cars in America are still relatively cheap to buy and operate by world standards. They aren't much cheaper in China (and can become very expensive for non-econo luxury models), and you can face a lot of restrictions on when you can use them.
I didn't know that, good point! You would already want to get an EV in Beijing since the license lottery has a separate allotment for them, but even then you might not win a license (not sure what the odds are right now, it depends on what they are selling). I assume SH is the same.