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Comment by knownastron | Hacker News Reader

I believe they'd be able to sell their vehicles in the US if they were willing to build it here (or Mexico/Canada due to USMA).

If that were the case they wouldn't have the cheap Chinese labor and I doubt the Chinese government would continue to subsidize US build vehicles for the US market.

It'd still be a compelling vehicle but it wouldn't be starting at $33k.

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There's a non-zero possibility of that actually happening. It's already happening in Europe. Trump has mentioned the idea of a JV with Chinese companies. It is possible for this to happen in the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting. Chinese companies have started pursuing more foreign investments as a way to avoid "involution" -- fierce and unprofitable domestic competition. Their profit margins when going aboard is considerably better than at home. Maybe it won't be $33k but it might be $45k, which for a car with those kinds of specs, it would be a steal. China's EV advantage doesn't come just from labor costs but also from vertical integration of the entire supply chain. The mining stage is pretty low margin but China does it because it enables the next stage, which is batteries where profits are better, and then you get to even more profitable stage with cars, etc.

Why 45k and not 33k, if we ignore the tariff issue? It being 33k would be a good thing, 45k would miss the point.

Just a dumb estimate. I'm just making an uneducated guess on what the car would cost if it was assembled using American labor with Chinese parts. I honestly don't know what the actual price would be. It's very possible for it to be 33K.

Fair enough. I can imagine regulatory hurdles that might increase it, but could imagine a potential light touch partnership to help things along.

> If that were the case they wouldn't have the cheap Chinese labor

I don't think labour costs are much of a consideration anymore. It's 2026; robots do most of the work.

People are completely oblivious about modern auto making.

And Mexican labor at this point is cheaper than Chinese. Makes sense to me.

BYD was planning to do that, but Trump said he'd put 100-200% tariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico and BYD cancelled those plans.

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