this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2026
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And, a recent tour of one of the Asian powerhouse's vehicle plants has proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt, at least to Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe.

"We have no chance against this," Mibe said upon a visit to a Shanghai parts factory, commenting on its seamless automation across all levels of production. Logistics, procurement and all aspects of the process were so automated, in fact, that he did not spot a single human worker on the supplier's floor.

Ford executives saying even three years ago that China was way ahead of the game

Toyota's CEO has likewise said regarding not just his company, but the industry in general, "unless things change, we will not survive"

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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 160 points 3 weeks ago (26 children)

Well that's capitalism. It's what you wanted right? Competition to keep you on your toes?

Looks like the invisible hand of the market favors what the people want more than what bosses think we can take.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 43 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Please keep buying our shitty cars, we won't survive otherwise.

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[–] thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe 91 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Good these are companies that fought the transition to EVs every step of the way. Toyota in particular. Which was ironic after releasing the Prius

[–] Geologist@lemmy.zip 44 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

Toyota is way too conservative. After nailing hybrid tech early on, it seems like they wasted the opportunity to put it on every vehicle they make which would have been such an amazing step forward, instead of treating it as a weird niche for so long.

Also that bz4x or whatever deserves a spot on the worst cars of all time list, just straight up ewaste.

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[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 60 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

I've been wanting Honda to make an affordable all-electric car for years. Based on how BYD is selling, I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

Instead they keep making bigger and bigger, gas-guzzling vehicles, with bells and whistles we don't need, saying that's what sells and they can't make an electric vehicle they're happy with.

Well, too bad. It seems I've bought my last Honda, sadly, because my next vehicle will not burn gasoline.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 21 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

On the same boat and yes it's depressing. It's also depressing that nobody seems to be thinking about all electric small cars, or even normal width cars, at least where I live. Teslas and BYDs here are about as wide as buses. I can only dream of Honda or Toyota making an electric vehicle no wider than 70% of the lanes they're supposed to drive on.

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 23 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

They did. The Honda e was the perfect tiny EV, except for its massive price tag and small-ish range. And of course, in classic Honda fashion, as a promising but flawed attempt didn't succeed immediately, they promptly abandoned the segment instead of capitalizing on acquired knowledge, battery technology advances and price drops. Given how successful the Renault 5 is, I'm pretty sure a 2nd gen e at half the price would have been a massive success.

Of course, being Honda, they changed their mind and came back with a significantly worse SUV.

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[–] ummthatguy@lemmy.world 59 points 3 weeks ago
[–] treesquid@lemmy.world 43 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

"We took zero action to compete and relied on protectionism and other forms of corruption to stay in business knowing that China was pulling ahead, we refused to plan for the future and harvested all the money for our owners instead and now we're fucked unless you bail us out! Not the owners, of course, who could afford to bail us out, they will continue siphoning money even though they're clearly incompetent, we need your taxes" ... How about no?

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[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

How many of those companies spent literal billions of dollars on stock buybacks to inflate share market price over the last decade instead of investing in the people and facilities and products to remain competitive. Even if there is dumping I doubt it's anywhere near the combined spent on share price inflation buybacks & savings instead of investing in the workers and business, these companies enjoy unjustified tax breaks and subsidies from their governments as well.

This is a the economy being equated to wealth/investor class problem. Workers in and around cities want cheap affordable evs & charging infrastructure for renters, mechanics and parts producers want to build and work on affordable evs. People who own stocks expecting growth returns and executive compensation want to sell 10 cars a year for a trillion dollars each if they could.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, this is what bad leadership is. Lack of leadership really. China and the US both found themselves the manufacturers of the world.

China took the money and built an infrastructure. The US took the money and destroyed unions..

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[–] etherphon@piefed.world 36 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Well I guess your high paid CEOs and executives really fucked up then, right? That's exactly what you were saying? Because everyone else saw this coming from miles away, and we have been clamoring for these kinds of cars for a long ass time, even small gas cars are hard to find now. So what are those guys paid such high salaries for if they are so completely dense...?

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They thought they had captured the market and could get away with anything because there were no other options.

Now there are options. They fucked around, now they find out.

[–] etherphon@piefed.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

The stock markets have turned every company into a bunch of myopic dipshits.

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[–] imahappyguy@lemmy.world 36 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

Aww man, China is dumping to gain market share for EVs? That's crazy. If only car manufacturers had adapted to EVs sooner and researched more into better battery technologies, they might not be in this position. Get fucked. This whole, every car has to be super luxorious in America is getting ridiculous. I looked at a rav4 last year and the "features" they included in the base model was mental. I just want my car to go when I press the pedal. Brake. And a CD Player. I don't need half the shit they put in American market cars. Doesn't help that I have a large family that needs to travel far, frequently. So, my hands are tied with getting an SUV. I'd kill for a better train transit in America. Next car gets to be an EV though. Cause that's the sedan.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 34 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Good morning. You old style car companies (and it is not just the US ones, count the European companies in, too) slept through the last decades. They tried everything in the book to supress EVs, and still keep developing fossil fuel cars to be released in ten years.

And now they start to wake up, seeing that the world moved onwithout them, and they cry.

[–] VinegarChunks@lemmus.org 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I work in a USA manufacturing plant that has nine figures worth of EV motor manufacturing lines cancelled, sitting around collecting dust since the new administration changed all the regulations and incentives.

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 34 points 3 weeks ago (18 children)

OH NO! THE FREE MARKET IS WORKING BUT NOT IN OUR FAVOR!!!

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[–] Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org 34 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

Okay, so you're getting out-competed in the market. Pay proper wages, invest in innovation instead of executive salaries, and take a slimmer profit margin to help your customers.

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

Don't charge $100,000 for a regular fucking vehicle?

Seriously, all the useless expensive shit they add to vehicles to make them unmaintainable data miners is why they're going to get slaughtered.

Give me an electric pickup with 4WD and crank up windows. Preferably no radio. I'd buy one of those Slates in a heartbeat if it were 4WD, as much as I hate Jeff Bezos.

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[–] No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 30 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

automation across all levels of production

Maybe its true. Regardless, article sounds like anti-worker propaganda to me. China is gonna eat our lunch! Better take a pay cut, and be glad you're not laid off!

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 16 points 3 weeks ago

I get your perspective, but complete automation with as little human input as possible is exactly how you make cheap products.

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[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 27 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This continues to baffle me. Europe, the US, and likely even Japan was never going to be able to win the race to the bottom on price. China understands its supply chain and mineral strengths and has optimized its entire production towards churning out good (or good enough) EVs at scale.

Still, the US could continue to wall China out of its market with massive tariffs while also promoting alternative cheaper vehicle options, a large portion of which should and could be EVs. But the US hasn't even done that... Domestic manufacturers have run screaming from EVs, seemingly ceding the entire field to China.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

But the US hasn't even done that...

And continues to stubbornly refuse to.

 

This is a repeat of the '70s when fuel prices shot up, and people started buying fuel efficient Japanese cars.

The American manufacturers just continued making their land yachts and muscle cars until they came up with such innovations as the Ford Pinto or the AMC Gremlin...

And even those weren't as fuel efficient as the average Toyota or Honda or Datsun of the era.

Ford, GM and Stelantis are going to just keep pumping out SUVs as fast as they can with only the occational token EV that doesn't meet what the market demands.

Mustang drivers or pickup truck drivers aren't the ones most actively seeking an EV.

They need to come up with an EV that competes with a Corolla. Or one that is in the same ballpark as the BYD cars. Not on price alone - no North America based manufacturer can compete directly on price against a subsidizd Chinese company, but on the being a car part.

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[–] MrSulu@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago

This is the very same extreme capitalism that they have enjoyed, engineered, abused. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Or, rapidly change expectations for what they charge. They cannot have it both ways

[–] mrdown@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Are we supposed to feel bad about corporations ?

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

I've been in the market for a decent Japanese EV for like 10 years now and still drive my 2004 toyota around. Sure China is dumping but Japan has been sleeping so hard it's hard to have any sympathy here.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 20 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Back in the 80s, American cars got really, really crappy, and that's when Honda, and Toyota, and later Hyundai, Daiwoo, and Kia were able to get market share. American car companies got their shit together, and started making cars that could compete again. So here we are a few decades later, in the same spot.

These scummy Capitalists get a taste of luxury, and they start getting lazy, while the Asians continue to crank away like they're in last place. In the past, the Capitalists finally wised up, and got back into the game, but the current crop are so breath-takingly ignorant, that I doubt they could even recognize that they're in trouble. If someone were to try to explain it to them, they'd probably just attack back.

The Japanese and Koreans will get their shit together. America won't.

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 19 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Maybe you should have kept up and innovated instead of just trying to stifle your competition and enshittify your products idiots.

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[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

So what you're saying is you need Daddy Trump to bail you out with taxpayer dollars we don't have so you can not change anything to make vehicles nobody can afford?

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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

While Toyota and Honda at least have an acclaimed history in low cost and efficient vehicles, Ford is literally 1/3rd the the reason the US doesn't manufacture sedans anymore, with the other 2/3rds being GM and Chrysler.

I actually witnesses them layoff their entire sedan division in real time when they announced the end of the fusion. I'm pretty sure it was mostly liquidated by the time covid hit.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Because trucks are made with safety loopholes and have higher profit margins, and Ford shit the bed with the Fusion, Festiva and Focus with a garbage transmission they knowingly sold for 7 years.

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[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago

Simple affordable vehicles if they want to keep the factories busy and and sell a lot of vehicles. Greatly reduce the massive trucks and SUVs. I don't know how many people need to tell them that before they finally listen.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That’s the problem with disrupters, people are so involved with dismissing them that they don’t see what’s happening. For years it was all about cheap Chinese labour then turn around and discover that it’s really all about robotic factories and slick organisation. Throw in EVs and it’s the same but worse.

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[–] patruelis@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

No, no. Build big beautiful F150, Tundras and other mastodonts running on dinosaur fuel. Fail to adapt, fail to exist.

[–] thorhop@sopuli.xyz 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"Detroit Motor City". I.e subsidizing losses.

Of course you could apply protectionism, but that wouldn't be fair and would set a public precedent on the global markets.

But yeah, the petroleum lobby really managed to screw us sideways. All those anti EV, anti solar and anti wind campaigns.

It is perhaps the biggest, oldest, slowest moving and most fraudulent of bailouts in all of history.

We are just that stupid.

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[–] UncleArthur@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It could hit my portfolio? What portfolio?

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[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. You know, the whole "meritocracy" thing.

[–] chocrates@piefed.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Herp my derp look who is mad about the "free market" now?

Don't come crawling to us for bailouts this time

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[–] quips@slrpnk.net 15 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)
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[–] qevlarr@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"We insisted on fossil fuels and now Chinese electric car companies are eating our lunch, boo hoo"

Cry more fat capitalists

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[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That's capitalism.

¯\(ツ)

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[–] CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 weeks ago

Lmfao at the pro capitalism crybabies in this thread

  • Free market is superior
  • We're getting steamrolled by a planned economy

Pick one.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 weeks ago

You won't survive because you made your vehicles too big and expensive for the average consumer. I welcome China's BVD's as an option for the lower middle-class, the class which North American manufacturers have forgotten.

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