this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024
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When China’s BYD recently overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla as the global leader in sales of electric vehicles, casual observers of the auto industry might have been surprised.

But what’s caught other carmakers around the world off-guard is something else about BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway: its low prices.

“No one can match BYD on price. Period,” Michael Dunne, CEO of Asia-focused car consultancy Dunne Insights, told the Financial Times. “Boardrooms in America, Europe, Korea and Japan are in a state of shock.”

BYD can keeps its costs low in part because it owns the entire supply chain of its EV batteries, from the raw materials to the finished battery packs. That matters because a battery accounts for about 40% of a new electric vehicle’s price.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 10 months ago (17 children)

Uh... yeah? China beats nearly everyone on price but you don't go there for quality and durability.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 10 months ago (4 children)

The American car companies haven't exactly been stellar with regards to quality, reliability, and safety lately either.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

My VW-built EV seems pretty high quality. China and USA aren't the only game in EVs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Get Yourself an European car???? That's where you go for quality

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Then get yourself a Japanese car. That's where you go for reliability.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Depends on the make and model.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Mazda non turbos are very reliable. My 2014 Mazda 2.5l only ever needed oil changes, tranny fluid changes and now at 130k miles I have to do the front control arms. My VW 2010 Passat wagon 2.0tsi needs constant maintenance, like carbon cleaning, water pump dsg fluids, pcv and so on, but I have 200k+ miles on it with no oil burning and original suspension parts.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Strange how that reputation persists even when they tak, a car made by someone else and put their name on it.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago (22 children)

That view is unfortunately out of date. Many Chinese products are of equal or superior quality to their global counterparts. Think Lenovo laptops and OnePlus smartphones. Chinese stuff can be cheap and high quality.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Then it's got to be what the person below said: beating the hell out of their workers, poor conditions and benefits, stuff like that.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago

You are one hundred per cent correct. There're a million things you can criticise Chinese manufacturing for but universally poor quality isn't one of them

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

One of the reasons these commodities can get so cheap is because the true cost is obfuscated through the vicious exploitation of labor at every step of the chain.

We may not have paid the full cost of the product, but those who were directly involved in their fabrication certainly did.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Lenovo has lost all sense of reputation for me after the whole superfish fiasco.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In my own experience trying the waters for a business importing and selling LED Light Bulbs from China, they're a mix of little crappy companies and large more well established ones and the larger ones are perfectly capable of designing and making good products but due to the market pressure for "make it as cheap as possible" end up mainly cutting down on component quality and using cheaper designs to make it cheaper.

Sure, the tiny companies are generally crap and the local culture (at least in Electronics, and at the time which was a decade ago) was to expect things to be cheap and break down often, but the larger companies are professional and can actually make quality products, its just that they generally are very weak in branding so can't really get people to pay them for quality, hence end up either mainly competing on price or working as suppliers for non-Chinese companies which are little more than Brand-management outfits (which is pretty what all big name Brands in the West are nowadays - managers of one or more famous brands, not creators of superior products).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I've heard the exact same thing before: Chinese manufacturers will build to whatever quality you pay for, but almost everyone just asks for the absolute cheapest. The profit margins on the absolute cheapest quality are better than competing with other countries who can also produce higher quality goods.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Lenovo is mostly American. The Thinkpad division was bigger than Lenovo when they bought it. Many of the directors and teams are based in the USA.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 10 months ago

As if Tesla was famous for its quality and durability either.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's what the British car industry said in the 60s and 70s about Japanese cars. Everyone bad mouthed anything made in Japan as being poor quality.

The Japanese succeeded through good products and their domestic rivals (in Britain) being arrogant, xenophobic and letting standards slide thinking they were great and couldn't be beaten.

I've a Japanese Honda CRV (ironically built in UK) and a Chinese built MG5 EV. The EV is best built car I've owned in 35 years.

Many established car brands are going to disappear Tesla, I believe, being one.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I once read that the failure of British industrial policy to engage labour as a long term competitive edge instead of a dispensable short term concern saw Germany overtake British car makers. Germany dealt with labour strikes more comprehensively by engaging labour in policy structures. Like including Labour representatives in boardrooms.

I wonder how this may reflect on Chinese / Western competitiveness.

Found the piece: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23406467

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

I wonder how this may reflect on Chinese / Western competitiveness.

Sounds like it's almost a 1:1 copy of what happened with the Brits.

For whatever reason, English speakers are easily-duped into thinking non-English speakers can't compete.

[–] tomatopathe 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Your iPhone / Samsung is manufactured there. So no, that's a bad take. You get what you pay for, and good quality is still cheaper than made elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Samsung is slowly moving some production from China though. For instance, my phone is manufactured in Vietnam instead.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

That doesn't say much about the build quality though as the reason companies are moving out of China is Chinas increased manufacturing costs.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Samsung isn't building their phones in South Korea anymore?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They produce a lot of quality and durable products in China. Apple and Tesla are both producing there, as do many thousands of other companies.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (3 children)

You gotta be a special kind of innocent to think Americans make quality automobiles.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

All the side said was that it is cheap Chinese shit and nothing about MERICAN vehicles.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The BYD cars they sell in the West are pretty decently build. I’d be more worried about the aftersales services. Chinese electronics companies always have shitty customer service. Like Lenovo and Huawei. And since a car always needs some repairs during its lifetime I will never buy an EV from a Chinese brand unless they have proven to have good aftersales service.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

This is why I love my Toyota - only recently brought my first Mazda after 8 or so Toyota.

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[–] gravitas_deficiency 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not to mention: I’ll eat my hat if the CCP isn’t providing some sort of subsidization, for no other reason than the fact that it’s a national pride thing for them

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago

Most carmakers get heavily subsidized. All the German ones for example. It’s a big industry and states like to keep their brands competitive.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

furiously typed into their Chinese Assembled IPhone....

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Samsung phones are largely assembled in Vietnam. It looks like they're one of the few phone companies not relying on China though.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

BYD is better quality than the shit Stellantis puts out

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Depends on what you are buying and the price you pay.

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