My brother in law has one. It’s a remarkably nice, true hybrid SUV.

Very smooth, both in road noise and rough ride - seems like most cars are, now.

But seems very well finished, assembled, etc.

New price was $25k.

Now, maybe they are achieving that with IP theft, but the difference in labor in a modern car/assembly plant cannot be that much.

The difference in labor costs is not just inside the plant. It’s in everything that went into building the plant, the equipment, the parts, the raw materials, the roads, etc.

What would the comparable US SUV be?

The labor differences are significant.

The American auto workers total benefit package is about $70 per hour.
The average Chinese equivalent is about $15 per hour.

Then add to that the Chinese government subsidization and you end up with the prices you see.

Edit to add that the American way of building cars is bloated with way to many layers of administration.

Also consider all the safety and engineering standards that are built into the American cars that likely are not present on the Chinese knockoffs

The Buick Envision & Lincoln Nautilus sold in the US are Chinese imports.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Anush,

Lots of Chinese cars in Europe as well. Chinese are very fast, efficient, workers. They also use robots which are faster yet, they claim to be building a dam using robots entirely. Some of their factories are dark since robots don't need light.

Their shipping ports are mechanized with a handful of operators in a control room running all the trollies, cranes and lifts remotely. No longshore blue collar workers milling around.

Chinese companies are contracted to build things all over the world because they get things done fast and on budget.

This is the Pelješac Bridge, 322 feet high, 1.5 miles long and built in 4 years by the Chinese, brilliant engineering, 5 soans of 985 feet each. Total cost around €420 million or 480 million dollars.

The Chinese are also much more efficient at building EV's through vertical integration. The whole industry is planned and structured for massive volume. It's something they are legitimately better at than the US.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
The Chinese are also much more efficient at building EV's through vertical integration. The whole industry is planned and structured for massive volume. It's something they are legitimately better at than the US.

True and conventional vehicles as well because they make all the components right there. Other manufacturers source components from China for their own vehicles.

AI Overview
$100 USD is approximately 676 Chinese Yuan (CNY).
Because exchange rates fluctuate constantly, you can check the exact up-to-the-minute conversion using the Xe Currency Converter.

The exchange rate comes into play when buying Chinese stuff also.
around 16 cents to the dollar.

They are getting popular in Australia too.

Now Vietnam is making EV's.

https://vinfastauto.us/

What about parts and repair ?? Will NAPA or Autozone be carrying parts or will this eventually turn into another Yugo or Smart car ??

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
They are getting popular in Australia too.

Now Vietnam is making EV's.

https://vinfastauto.us/

I've seen one Vinfast on the road, and 1 dealer, both in LA. The dealer looked like a struggling 90s lot.

Have seen a few BYD here in Houston

Yeah, let's all buy a car from the chinermen and fund their military, the military with which we'll likely be at war in 20 years. Or less.

They are our enemies. They steal from us. Spy on us. Have been caught recently with bioweapons in the United States.

Personally, no thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Biker_dude:
Yeah, let's all buy a car from the chinermen and fund their military, the military with which we'll likely be at war in 20 years. Or less.

They are our enemies. They steal from us. Spy on us. Have been caught recently with bioweapons in the United States.

Personally, no thanks.

And don't forget "Hello! I am Balloon!"

quote:

Originally posted by mike28w:
What about parts and repair ?? Will NAPA or Autozone be carrying parts??

Well, if they don't carry a timing chain for a Toyota V12...

Scratch that, hell they don't even list a heater core for an '93 F-150.

However, they do have Tweety Bird floor mats and a light up shifter knob.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
The labor differences are significant.

The American auto workers total benefit package is about $70 per hour.
The average Chinese equivalent is about $15 per hour.

Then add to that the Chinese government subsidization and you end up with the prices you see.

Edit to add that the American way of building cars is bloated with way too many layers of administration.

Chinese autoworkers are right around $4.00 an hour. That’s not counting the Uyghur‘s which are literal slaves that they use. I believe China still uses close to 5 million actual slaves.

Good reasons not to support them as difficult as it can be.

quote:

Originally posted by mike28w:
What about parts and repair ?? Will NAPA or Autozone be carrying parts or will this eventually turn into another Yugo or Smart car ??

where do you think their after market parts are coming from?

BYD is doing some pretty solid automotive engineering & innovation.

If anything perhaps it will wake up the US Automakers and get them the ability to be competitive with reductions in any costs we can, and as long as DJT is in, tariffs in place.

Back in the 70's Japan was dumping cheap motorcycles into the US and destroying the USA motorcycle companies. Lucky that the government decided to stop that and it helped HD survive.

There are several VinFasts I have seen running around here, they look nice enough and there is a dealer in town....

Probably also why you see Tesla dumping the high end electric market and leaving it to Audi, Mercedes et al. Be the Henry Ford of Electric with the 3 and Y models.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
If anything perhaps it will wake up the US Automakers and get them the ability to be competitive with reductions in any costs we can, and as long as DJT is in, tariffs in place.

Back in the 70's Japan was dumping cheap motorcycles into the US and destroying the USA motorcycle companies. Lucky that the government decided to stop that and it helped HD survive.

There are several VinFasts I have seen running around here, they look nice enough and there is a dealer in town....

Probably also why you see Tesla dumping the high end electric market and leaving it to Audi, Mercedes et al. Be the Henry Ford of Electric with the 3 and Y models.

I hadn't heard of VinFast. Had to go look them up. With only 230-250 miles of range. They'll be hard pressed to compete with some others.

But good looking SUVs.

Edit to add. Clicked on the bigger SUV. THey are getting closer to average EV mileage. 330 / 350 ish or something. Little better but at $60K+ probably pricing them selves out.