Automotive industry analyst Michael Dunne warned on Friday that China has become “the world’s electric vehicle (EV) Godzilla, poised to smash everything in its path.”
“China builds and buys more EVs than the rest of the world combined. They manufacture at costs that are 30% less than in the West. Who can compete with that?” the analyst told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Dunne’s comments were inspired by a record profit of $1.4 billion reported by China’s top EV manufacturer, BYD — the same company California Governor Gavin Newsom fawned over during his trip to China last week, burbling that he wanted to buy one of their cars as soon as possible.
Newsom’s performance irked some of his constituents back in California, who wondered why their governor was shilling for Chinese EVs while American manufacturers were struggling to sell their inventories.
BYD’s profits soared even as American carmakers posted dismal sales figures and big losses on electric vehicles. GM and Ford are scaling back ambitious production agendas, and even Tesla profits slipped a little, although Elon Musk’s company remains the commanding presence in a niche market that no other domestic manufacturer seems able to penetrate.
BYD’s global EV dominance was achieved even though it does not sell cars in the United States yet. BYD is the world’s top supplier of EV batteries and other components, so most American EV drivers are the unwitting owners of products from the Chinese titan.
BYD’s products are already exerting a downward gravitational pull on EV sticker prices from foreign companies — and many of those electric vehicle models already had high retail prices but low (or negative) profit margins to begin with.
Chinese brands have their domestic market pretty well locked down, with a piece of the action reserved for the buzzy Teslas. Dunne and other analysts who spoke to RFA warned that if China breaks into markets like America, Europe, and Japan, it could hit their shaky EV industries like a smash from Godzilla’s tail.
Japan and the European Union (EU) are already considering an outright ban on China’s heavily subsidized EVs to protect their own domestic markets. Dunne was pessimistic about the odds of protectionism succeeding and he doubted investigations of China for unfair government subsidy programs would work, either.
“In Europe, the Chinese will find a way into most markets. They’ll face little resistance in nations like Spain and the UK and the Netherlands, where there are no ‘home team’ car manufacturing industries,” he predicted.
The spectacle of Chinese brands dominating American highways because American consumers are pressured into buying electric cars, and nobody else can make them as cheaply as China does, is not far-fetched at all.
Motor Trend noted in July that when BYD launched an electric vehicle line in Brazil, it managed to deliver an appealing electric sedan with generous features for about $31,000, which is much cheaper than most comparable EVs and reasonably competitive with small internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. The BYD car even has a karaoke function, which Motor Trend archly noted would delight the festive Brazilian market.
The Motor Trend reviewers were fairly impressed with the quality of the BYD build, compared to American manufacturers scrambling to produce EVs that do not cost twice as much as gas-powered vehicles and winding up with low-end products that feel chintzy and fragile.
“BYD makes every single part of the Dolphin except the tires and the window glass. If you know how much content in most cars is made by suppliers, you’ll understand that’s quite an accomplishment,” the review pointed out.
RFA also observed that BYD’s cars seem better put together than other low-priced EV offerings, no doubt benefiting from the $57 billion Communist China has poured into EV subsidies over the past seven years.
