It's the hottest car company. You can't buy one in America

Life long car nerd here. Sat in a BYD dolphin last year, expecting it to feel cheap and nasty. Nothing of the sort. Everything felt as good as a decent European car (people often reference VW but I think others are as good). It all seemed very substantial and well put together. Panel gaps definitely better than the tesla I drove later in the day.

Don't make the mistake of thinking these are alibaba quality junk. I think legacy car makers and tesla (or at least musk) have been doing that for years and now it will come to bite them.

Can we change the title to mention BYD and not copy/paste CNN clickbait?

For reference, Chinese labor costs are 1/3 American, so that provides a ~ $2000 advantage. Europe's analysis of their subsidies pegs it at 17%.

That's pretty small compared to the price advantage they have. It helps, but it's quite clear they are doing a lot more than taking advantage of these differences .

I'm all for having a cheap, high quality alternative to light a fire under the incumbents' asses, but I'm a little paranoid about the potential security aspect.

Are these cars network connected? Do they have cameras/microphones? Is the software auditable?

Imagine they become as popular as Teslas, and China decides it needs to cause some logistics chaos and flips the switch to turn each one into the equivalent of a large boulder blocking whatever lane it's currently in.

I'm not saying there _is_ such a switch, but we've already had a few scares about backdoored networking equipment.

>Having dominated its home market of China, the world’s largest auto market, BYD is starting to expand globally, with notable exceptions like the United States, a country it is effectively barred from due to 100% tariffs on its passenger cars.

I can't believe that Trump and Musk conspired to put a 100% tariff on these cars. This will really screws over American consumers as the average price for a new car reaches over $50,000. Clearly Trump and Musk hate America.

In "solidarity" with the U.S., Canada also has a 100% tariff on BYD cars.

China is trying to seduce the new Carney administration to lower that tariff with the promise of building a BYD factory in the country. It would be a beachhead to, later on, enter the U.S. market.

As a Canadian I hope it goes well. We desperately need to stop this "partnership with the U.S." belief. Partnership with an abusive partner is dangerous.

BYD is cool and all, but what I really want is one of those new Xiaomi roadsters.

$73,000. >1500 horsepower. 0-60 in less than 2 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNpBzwx1SnY

Even with a 100% tariff, it might be a bargain (and would turn more heads than a $600k Ferrari), if it's compatible with US charging infrastructure. (Need to check.)

Based on some long term tests on YouTube it seems to me BYD would likely get sued to oblivion if they didn’t be honest with their range claims and charging times with the US market. Most Americans tend to expect a lot from their vehicles - BYD might actually have issues when reviews and quality issues become apparent. Then again panel gaps on Teslas didn’t stop buyers from paying more for less, though competition was lacking, and now a recall because the wrong adhesive was used on the trucks is a laughing stock.

I am eager to see a BYD compared to a new MB CLA.

Yes, not all products are being sold in every country. I had to buy the phone I liked on ebay from an US based seller because it wasn't available in my country.

It's really bizarre, the American animus towards Asian EVs.

We can all complain about Trump's chest-pounding on tariffs, but Biden's largely unexplained 2024 100% (!) tariffs on Chinese EVs were even more restrictive and barely covered in the media. I'm genuinely curious about the quality and price of these BYDs and am concerned that we're functionally restricted from buying a normal consumer good from another country.

Meanwhile, Kei-car enthusiasts looking for a practical and safe pickup unencumbered by the massive bloat of modern US trucks are limited to 25-year-old imports.

(I personally own cars manufactured from primarily American parts both in Canada and Mexico, as well as an EV primarily from Belgium. I'm largely agnostic on global manufacturing, and I just legitimately don't get what is going on with US car tariffs and import policies, which seem restrictive and arbitrary regardless of left or right-wing US politics.)

Edit: Man, you people hate this comment and honestly I think it's straightforward and accurate.

Edit 2: This main post, which I didn't make, has been flagged despite being a reasonable post from a typical news outlet about manufacturing, technology and consumer products. Huh. What is up?

Pretty sure you can buy one it just will cost half a tesla with import duties, and you are on your own for maintenance, and the logistics on getting it here.