China, China, China

With the New York Auto Show, which was surprisingly busy, in the rearview mirror, this week brings us Auto Shanghai. It’ll be another stark reminder of how the Chinese continue to innovate in electrified transport, so let’s get into that and more.

In This Issue

• China, Again

• The Affordability Problem

• Musk Isn’t Leaving the Government

China, Again

When it comes to Chinese auto production, there are some legitimate concerns about how the country operates. Questionable labor tactics combined with only recently developed concepts of intellectual property protections provide the businesses that operate from there an advantage over domestic automakers. Those facts shouldn’t be disregarded.

But what the Chinese are also doing is innovating the heck out of transportation, and taking governmental action to protect its consumers.

For example, the Chinese government has banned the terms “smart” and “autonomous” from advertising after a fatal crash. Ask anyone in the industry — who doesn’t put their Tesla referral code in their articles or videos — about full self-driving, and they’ll tell you the technology doesn’t exist. There is no autonomous car available today that a regular consumer can buy.

But the terminology used to describe some level 2 driver assistance technology can confuse owners, lulling them into a false sense of security, and then those owners end up very much dead.

While the United States moves to strip consumers of protections¹ , the Chinese government is improving its consumer protection laws.

(Editor’s note: This is where normally I’d curse and say something like “What the fuck are we doing here?” I am abstaining this time from doing that.)

Here’s a fun fact. The Japanese government is reportedly looking to lower its requirements for vehicle safety to appease President Trump. Why? So automakers could potentially sell more U.S.-made vehicles in Japan.

It’d be like saying that the European Union doesn’t import U.S. beef because our food safety standards are lower than theirs.

Wait, hang on, I’m receiving new information.

Of course, what all this does is draw attention away from the fact that the average Japanese consumer isn’t going to buy an American car. Maybe it’s because of a sense of nationalistic pride. Maybe it’s because the government actively keeps non-Japanese OEMs out. But allowing in “less safe” vehicles isn’t going to move the needle, except maybe in Trump’s syphilis-addled mind.

With Auto Shanghai, we’re likely going to see a slew of new products available in parts of the world that aren’t the United States. Whether the new products are battery electric only or plug-in hybrid variants, they’re likely all going to be electrified in some way, shape, or form.

They’ll also likely be more affordable than their non-China counterparts.

Again, some of that is due to the issues I mentioned at the beginning of this section. But some of it is also due to the innovation that’s taking place. Our protectionist policies and deregulation of the automotive industry might be good for share buybacks, executive pay, and competition (at least for the short term), but it also helps cede our global power to a new player, changing the global world order in a way I’m not sure many are prepared for.

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