Tariffs.
Income comparisons aside, what the fuck is this “journalism”???
The average new car in the U.S. in March had a list price of $51,456, according to Kelley Blue Book.
In China, there are more than 200 battery-powered models, including hybrids, for sale at less than the equivalent of $25,000, according to DCar, an information and trading platform.
Reuters compiled a list of the five best-selling electric vehicles in China that start under $12,000 using DCar data.
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car in order to get their headline? Like I could buy 10 shitboxes from the junkyard for the average price of a new car, but that doesn’t mean much.
I think they were looking at the average price for a new car. All the new American cars are on the more expensive side
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars
Seeing how the highest selling car a few years ago was the Wuling Hongguang, which starts at ~$5k, I don’t think the authors have made any failure. If anything, they’re short of the reality.
Wuling Hongguang
omg it’s so cute
As much as I appreciate the charger “nose”, that’s a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
I would not buy a car I can’t pronounce.
As much as I appreciate the charger “nose”, that’s a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
Chances are because that’s such a small car, there would be ample space to park away from a wall and still remain within a standard car footprint.
omg it’s so cute
I know right?? I hate that we don’t have affordable cutie electric cars like that in Europe :(
I never thought of the nose charger thing, something to consider definitely!
One of my friends has an electric mini thats pretty sweet
my first thought is how many dozen eggs could you get for the average cost of a dozen eggs over here. things don’t always measure up one to one. I remember people talking about great electronics being tossed in japan or korea.
US average income being 6x China’s was my first thought too, but then I got so fucking angry at how they fudge the numbers they’re looking at for the headline.
bad math.
Average price does not reflect what people actually buy.
Chinese cars abroad are not actually that cheap.
Most sold Chinese car a few years ago was the Wuling Hongguang, starting at about $5k
mode != median
Most sold model could still be like 3% of total cars sold. There’s a lot of models.
It’s interesting but still not a very good stat. Average or median price would be better
But then my cars would be in China, and that’s not much use.
Also I don’t really need 5 cars
Yes, but do you want 5 cars?
And if you haven’t tried 5 cars, how will you ever know?
Dad?
Still getting cigarettes bud
Yea but you’re still hungry for another car an hour later!
I have never understood this joke
Have you eaten Americanized “Chinese” food? I eat it every on every last Tuesday of the month. I order two meals for myself every time, because without fail, I will be hungry again within less than 2 hours. Yesterday (4/28/2026), I had a pint of General Tso’s Chicken with a pint of beef lo mein. That’s an entire quart of food. If I ate a quart of spag bol for my lunch, I’d be done for the night. I’d be asleep. But after my big ol’ “Chinese” lunch, I was hungry ~90 minutes later, so I ate my pint of Szechuan Chicken and my pint of pork fried rice. Wonton soup was also involved. Yes, I added the fried noodles.
And even after that, I got a large pizza (pepperoni, pineapple, and extra cheese) at 10:30pm, just to cover the late night munchies. I only ate 4 slices out of 8, so I had some left for breakfast today. The stuff we sell as “Chinese food” in the USA is not very filling.
YMMV, I am a large man, and I am very active. I’m 6’4", I lift weights, and I run 6 miles a day. My TDEE is ~3800 calories. If you’re one of those folks who only need 1200-1600 calories a day, a simple lunch from the “Chinese” spot would be a lot of food for you. My wife is small, and she can easily live off 1600-1800 calories a day. Our gf is tiny and lives off of 1200 calories a day most days. A “splurge” day for her is 1500-1600 calories.
Could you give much more detail please?
I’m happy to answer any questions you have.
I eat it pretty often, I just haven’t found that to be the case for me. Then again, my breakfast this morning was two big cups of coffee and a single clementine. Im pretty active but not close to what you do, I think 7 miles is my personal best for distance.
Then again, my breakfast this morning was two big cups of coffee and a single clementine.
Damn homie, I honestly love that for you. No sarcasm, no cap. But I need to have what amounts to a full English every morning. And one clementine would honestly just piss me off. I’ve had 6 blood oranges today, and it’s not even 4pm yet. I’ll likely have 2-3 more today, plus a steak sandwich.
I think 7 miles is my personal best for distance
7 miles is a respectable distance, you’re doing great. I just chose 6 a day because then I can plan out my times better, and my dogs love it.
I love how different 2 humans can be.
I probably wouldn’t eat until the evening if I had a full English! My goal is to hit a 10k in under 50 mins. I’ve managed to do a sub 53 minute, but shaving off those three minutes has been surprisingly difficult.
The thought is the simple carbs from rice, noodles, and high sugar sauces in a lot of takeout-style Chinese food gets digested quickly, so while one can eat that until they feel stuffed, the body will quickly break it down, and with the volume of fiber and protein in the meal being relatively low to the volume of starches and sugars, your stomach will soon be wanting more due to the low satiety provided. One could eat a smaller amount of, say, steak and broccoli, and remain fuller for much longer, due to the better nutritional balance and higher protein and fiber content which takes the body much longer to digest than starches and sugars.
It is played as a joke since a large number of people experience this overeating, yet soon hungry again situation, and attribute it to the food, although probably not in a way of understanding they’re eating a different kind of junk food than what they’re used to. My understanding is all this stuff is westernized and not really reflective of what Chinese food actually is.
This is also why people talk about Asians getting a “secret menu” at Asian restaurants. It’s not as though Westerners are forbidden to order real Asian dishes, they’re just a completely different taste profile than what a lot of Westerners are accustomed to, whether dishes be too spicy, too salty, or not sweet/saucy/cheesey/etc enough. One time I went fishing in the ocean and got way too many fish. I offered them to the guys in the Chinese takeout place attached to where I was working. They offered me some of what they made for themselves with it but gave me a heads up that I may not exactly enjoy it. I took a bite and it tasted sooooo salty, and I got surprised it still had the soft fish bones in it, and it wasn’t bad but was not what my palette was ready for at the time and I could not finish it, meanwhile they were all grateful and fully enjoying it.
simple carbs from rice, noodles, and high sugar sauces in a lot of takeout-style Chinese food gets digested quickly
I always thought it was because of the high salt content, and possibly how “spicy” Americanized Chinese food tasted to the palates of whichever decade first made that joke (50s?). With a lot of salt and spice you’re drinking way more water than you normally would, causing you to feel full quicker.
Anecdotally when I eat a big bowl of ramen it’s pretty much all simple carbs and it keeps me feeling full for about two meals’ worth.
Both could be correct, especially since many folks’ diets are much different today than they were that long ago.
I’m far from a nutritionist, and I don’t think I could really explain the GI Index well enough to give the real how and why of eating a ton of simple carbs actually makes you still feel hungry despite eating enough to feed an army.
With the high salt content, people can feel a craving, that is actually for water, but can be misinterpreted as hunger. We know our body needs something, but we don’t always understand what that something is.
My home ramen is too basic, and doesn’t do much to fill me up, but the ramen place in town I find very filling, as the broth has some fat content, there’s meat and egg for protein, and there’s things like mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other veg to provide that fiber which either takes a long time to digest or is just plain indigestible so it really sticks with you, literally. I can’t be bothered to prep all that at home. 😁
That was one of the most typed out joke explanations I’ve ever seen online, I salute your patience.
I try to keep things simple, but I also always want to give the most complete answer I can, so I end up being pretty long winded. If someone takes the time to ask a question, I assume they do want the full answer though. I always worry I’m beating things into the ground, but I really want people to know as much as they can. People are always free to tell me to shut my trap. 😄
They’re implying that you could eat 5 Chinese cars and not be full, unlike when you eat one massive McGMC
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It doesn’t matter how much it costs, you’re only looking at half of the equation. We need to know how much they can spend each month. If the car can be paid off faster in China then they are doing better. If I used USA’s minimum wage and China’s minimum wage which one would be able to a small percentage of their wages to pay off a car in 10 years, which wins?
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.
USA subsidizes auto industry too
And the oil industry and builds the roads and fights the wars to acquire oil.
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.
How about them tarrifs, though!
you also don’t eat your food with a 10" chef knife.
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.
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.
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.
My guess is that manpower share is probably not that significant in the price of an EV.
Ni, its pretty much all machine and robot made.
And they are winning. China is expected to dominate 4 of the top 5 auto manufacturer by 2030
I assume you meant “dominate”
Got to love swipe texting
😂 surely
Wow they really are turning communist after all!
Seems like a missed opportunity by everybody else.
That’s very nice of them to make stuff cheaper for me. If only my government wouldn’t tack on 100% tariffs.
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.How could they?
For shame… Only American technology companies are allowed to do that.
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.
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.
I dont want 5 cars i want 1 car
Okay, but it’s gonna cost five times as much.
:( can I have a 5th of a car?
So like a motorcycle?
That is like… half a car, if you count wheels and seats. Maybe a unicycle?
It does have 2 wheels, but there’s basically only 1.5 seats, no exterior body/trunk/etc. In terms of overall weight, they’re somewhere around 10-30% of a car’s weight depending on the models.
A unicycle with a flat tyre.
Not where I live unfortunately:(
I dont even want a car, I want frequent and reliable transit
I want that too, but im super rural, so no mass transit option for me
Maybe someday it will be possible but yeah rural areas probably need cars.
Although in parts of Europe they have pretty great bike path networks in the rural areas too. Might replace some trips to the neighbors or closer destinations.
Im all for ditching ice engines, and finding better alternatives, the downside is its over 2 hours by bike one way to the closest town. The other downside is being rural, power is super expensive, so even charging batteries sucks too
Yeah I mean I’m known to meme about banning cars but keep in mind we’re talking about in cities. We know you will need them in some areas.
Oh for sure, the lack of robust public transit is really depressing. I’d love 15 minute cities where you can get everything you need within 15 minutes that would be amazing
Let alone in China.
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Sweet. Lemme get a 5 pack of BYDs.
Buying chinese products are like buying caged eggs
We buy them in cartons here.
Step 1. Buy 5 cars in China
Step 2. Rent them out to Chinese people
Step 3. Profit
Step 4. Buy yourself an American car with the proceeds
Step 5. Can finally access entry level American labour
And a brake job probably wont run you $1200…
Cheaper labour in China. High tariffs imposed by the U.S. (when the parts and materials that come into the U.S. are tariffed, the price is passed on to the consumer.)
