Chinese car exports are flooding the market
It’s a huge threat to competition
And to national security
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
When you think of buying a new car, you probably think of getting something from the US, Germany,
Japan, or South Korea. Or if you’re on a budget…
Bedrock.
But there’s a new player in town—China.
You may not think of China as a big shot in the car industry. But
it’s 2023. Chinese cars are taking over the world.
In just a few short years, Chinese exports have suddenly surpassed the US, South Korea,
and Germany, making China the world’s second largest car exporter behind Japan.
This is despite the massive Covid outbreaks and shutdowns in the past 3 years.
Part of it is because of how hard Chinese employees work. Look at them go.
I bet there’s a lot of sweat in that shop.
Another part of it is because of how China outcompetes other countries with
low prices. Chinese cars are being sold at a third of the price of German cars.
They’re also 30 percent less expensive than Japanese cars.
In other words, it was totally a lie China said
in 2007 that they wouldn’t flood Western markets with cheap cars.
Even more evidence that China is fueled by the Communist Party’s lies.
Too bad their cars aren’t also fueled by lies. I could drive from New York to Oregon
just by whispering into the tank that I think Xi Jinping is doing a great job.
China’s car exports skyrocketed around 2020 and 2021.
This is thanks to record sales of Chinese electric vehicles.
“Chinese car makers used to focus mainly on budget markets such as Southeast Asia,
but now they are turning to more international destinations. In addition to SAIC, other local
car brands such as BYD and NIO have also announced plans to enter European markets.”
The Chinese government has been pushing hard to build up their electric vehicle industry.
And knowing the usual quality of Chinese goods, it probably won’t be long before consumers wind up
pushing the vehicles they bought from them.
But China couldn’t have done this alone.
Western carmakers like BMW, Volkswagen, and others are partnering with Chinese automakers.
These companies help build EVs in China and export them to Europe and elsewhere.
Other carmakers like Volvo, Polestar, and MG Motor are outright owned by Chinese companies now.
The biggest boost in China EV exports comes from Tesla’s Shanghai factory.
This is despite the fact that Chinese companies constantly steal technology.
They’re making cars, they steal technology, and yet they *still* haven’t produced a
time-traveling Delorean? This might be the worst thing China has done yet.
Why do Western automakers keep supporting a regime that steals from them constantly?
Well, they believe they can stay ahead of the curve by churning out
the most advanced technology. By the time China comes out with their own knockoffs,
Western companies would already have even better products to sell.
This is like thinking that if you give a T-Rex some beef jerky, it won’t want to eat you, too.
“Surely this will be enough to satisfy them and keep them loyal!”
And thanks to Western partnerships and technology, China is now making cars that
are high enough quality to enter the European and North American markets.
Because it turns out, a lot of consumers prefer affordable cars over the latest technology.
This is helping China not just outcompete, but outright dominate the market.
It’s also a huge national security threat for every country. I’ll explain how after the break.
Welcome back.
China is seeking to dominate… Actually, that’s all you need to know.
That’s the only item on the Chinese Communist Party’s To Do list.
And one thing they’re looking to dominate is the car industry.
Not only are they taking advantage of Western car companies to make cheaper cars, but they’re
also setting up the infrastructure to make Chinese cars easy to get.
For example, two of China’s biggest automakers are going the extra mile
to get cars from China to other countries by building their own transport ships.
And Chinese authorities are encouraging Chinese automakers to acquire even more foreign companies.
That’s despite promising not to flood the market. They’d probably just say, “We’re not
flooding the market! We’re just overwhelming, oversaturating, and overcrowding the market.”
But getting the world to buy more cars from China isn’t just killing
competition. It’s also a national security threat.
You see, cars these days collect and transmit a lot of data—everything from GPS location
to camera footage.
Probably even music playlists. And I don’t need anyone knowing how much I still listen to Korn.
Who needs new music when you’ve got nu metal?
Tesla says that some of its models have eight surround cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and a radar.
And data stored by the vehicle may be transmitted wirelessly.
The data can be everything from call logs,
to on-board browser searches, to average speed and route history.
One German programmer found even more data from hacking Teslas, such as where the Tesla has been,
where it usually parks, when it was driving, the navigation requests, etc.
Which means someone may know how many times you went to Taco Bell and ate
it while parked in your driveway last week. As if this habit wasn’t sad enough already.
All this can be very helpful for things like identifying things like people who
get near the car, or military bases, or even politicians’ schedules and contacts.
It’s no wonder why China banned Teslas from driving
during an important Communist Party meeting.
They’re trying to hide their most personal secrets.
If the Chinese Communist Party is afraid of electric vehicles being used to spy on them,
then it probably means they’re using them to spy on others.
They kind of have a history of accusing others of doing the same thing they’re already doing.
China has already called upon every EV manufacturer in China, including foreign
brands, to keep information inside China on government-backed monitoring systems.
Now that’s scary, because that means the Communist Party has access to all that data.
But that’s not even the scariest thing. According to Sun Fengchun,
the director of China’s National Engineering Laboratory for Electric Vehicles, China has
monitoring platforms that can predict what will go wrong with cars and even make them stop.
Yep, they can just stop your car. Because they want to,
not just because it’s made-in-China quality. This is absolutely terrifying. Imagine if China
used its control over EV data to create traffic jams in Taiwan right before a military invasion.
Or imagine if China targeted certain politicians or businessmen in order to gain trade secrets.
Or let all your friends know what you listen to while driving alone.
That’s really not a far stretch.
Earlier this month, a hidden Chinese tracking device was found inside a UK government vehicle.
The device was a SIM card capable of transmitting
location data. It was inside a sealed part imported from a Chinese supplier.
This was only discovered after British officials dismantled
government vehicles to counter espionage.
As opposed to the usual reason people dismantle their cars,
trying to reach your phone you dropped in
the black hole between your seat and the center console.
Conservative British MP Sir Iain Smith said that this is
proof that the UK needs to refer to China as “a systemic threat.”
*This* is the proof China is a threat? Well, you’re a bit late,
but glad you finally made it to the party I’ve been throwing for 10 years now.
The Chinese Communist Party of course denies that there
was such a tracking device and called it “sheer rumor.”
China’s UK Embassy claims “China has always acted… with integrity… [and] has no need and
no interest in collecting information on the location of British vehicles.”
Yeah, you can totally trust the government that always lies and beats up political dissidents.
Cases like this are proof of why having economic ties with China carries a lot of risk.
The Chinese Communist Party will always use economic dependence
to coerce other countries and lay out the groundwork for espionage and surveillance.
You’re much safer buying cars from anywhere but China. And if you’re *really* afraid of
surveillance, your best bet is buying a car with no technological capabilities at all.
Like the one from Bedrock.
And this show is possible because of viewer support. So as a thank you to
all my wonderful fans who support China Uncensored through the crowdfunding website
Patreon or the exclusive social media platform Locals, I’ll answer one of your questions:
Kam Wong asks on Patreon: Do you know the Chinese are building a nuclear power station in the UK?
I wonder how many defects that will contain? You’ve got me worried now!
Kam was replying to the episode I did about how China’s Belt and Road infrastructure is crumbling.
Well Kam, China was actually involved in three different nuclear power plants in the UK.
Back in 2015, Xi Jinping visited then Prime Minister David Cameron,
who declared that this was the “golden era” in China-UK relations.
Which they cemented with a pint down at the pub. Now
if that doesn’t scream “golden era” I don’t know what does.
As part of this golden era, the UK government gave permission to China General Nuclear,
a Chinese state-owned company, to invest in three different nuclear power plants in the UK.
The first one is already under construction in Somerset. It’s known as Hinkley Point C.
But it’s actually being built by EDF, a French state-owned company. China just invested money.
But the golden era didn’t last long. Last November, the UK government removed China from
the second nuclear project, known as Sizewell C. Again, they were only providing funding,
but they aren’t anymore. Now it’s being funded by the UK government and EDF.
The third project, Bradwell B,
was supposed to be a nuclear power plant entirely built by China General Nuclear.
Last year, the UK nuclear regulator approved the plans for the Chinese nuclear reactor.
But it’s looking “highly unlikely” that this plant will ever get built,
especially since the UK has now removed Chinese funding from the previous plant.
So Kam, this is good news, kind of. The UK government definitely
messed up back in 2015. But now they’re trying to fix that problem. And it looks
like China probably won’t be building a nuclear power plant in the UK after all.
Thanks for your support and your question, Kam.
And thank you to everyone else who supports China Uncensored through Patreon. Join us
at Patreon and contribute a dollar or more per episode. You’ll get a lot of cool perks,
including me answering your questions on the show. Check out Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.