• Steve@communick.news
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    8 hours ago

    Because the government is subsiding those cars in a number of different ways; In an attempt to control the global automotive and clean energy markets.

      • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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        8 hours ago

        And the oil industry and builds the roads and fights the wars to acquire oil.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        7 hours ago

        Not to the same degree, or with the same goals.
        US subsidies are simply about corporate profits. China’s are about over-producing and lowering prices to incentivize global adoption.

        Forks and knives are both silverware, but very different.

    • Astrealix@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      And because wages are lower as well. Manpower costs more in America than China by quite a bit. The article doesn’t scale prices to purchasing power. It’s not 5x as much anymore probably, but it’s a significant amount.

      • InternationalHermit@lemmy.today
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        6 hours ago

        I occasionally watch an American YouTuber married to a Chinese man, living in china, and they can’t afford a car (my observation, she claims they don’t need one). They have recently upgraded to a bigger electric scooter as their family car.

        • socsa@piefed.social
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          3 hours ago

          Most Chinese cities have extremely high registration fees which make car ownership impractical for most people. They also have great public transportation which tilts the calculus towards not needing a car if affordability is even remotely a concern.

    • krisevol@lemmus.org
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      5 hours ago

      And they are winning. China is expected to dominate 4 of the top 5 auto manufacturer by 2030

    • CannedYeet@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      That’s very nice of them to make stuff cheaper for me. If only my government wouldn’t tack on 100% tariffs.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        6 hours ago

        It’s not. They aren’t doing it for charity.
        It’s just like when Amazon sold diapers at a loss. Once all the competition is gone, and China has the global monopoly they want, they’ll use it to inflate prices even higher, or for leverage on other markets.

    • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      Subsidizing practical applications of clean energy seems like a moral good to me.

      Are they attempting to control the market? Even if they are the solution is to produce a more competitive product, not sit on one’s hands or double down on ICE vehicles.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        5 hours ago

        Are they attempting to control the market?

        Absolutely!
        A competitive product isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that they’re intentionally pricing the cars below cost, loosing money on every vehicle. Once there’s no real competition they can leverage that market monopoly to to gain others, or simply increase prices well beyond what they naturally would be. Just like Amazon did with diapers and other markets.