Can the U.S. Keep Chinese Cars Out?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:05)
Welcome to BYD King Lounge.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:09)
In 2024, BYD threw a big event in Mexico. The Chinese electric vehicle company was celebrating one year in the country.
Executives took the stage to announce a new model, and the CEO of BYD Mexico talked about a hybrid SUV that sold out in the country in just a few weeks.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:31)
It sold out the most in the Mexican market in just three months of work.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:37)
He also set a big goal, to sell 50,000 BYD cars in Mexico by the end of that year.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:44)
50,000 sales at the national level this year.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:50)
These days, industry executives estimate that BYD is selling closer to 80,000 cars a year in Mexico, capturing a huge chunk of the country's EV market. Chinese vehicles overall make up a quarter of total car sales there.
But if you're in the US, you might have missed the hype. That's because here, all of these cars are effectively banned. Still, as more Chinese vehicles show up in America's backyard, more US drivers are taking notice.

**Ryan Felton** (1:23)
These cars aren't sold here right now, but what's clear is there is more interest.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:29)
Our colleague Ryan Felton covers the auto industry.

**Ryan Felton** (1:32)
There's routinely sightings now of these cars in border towns. And so you just kind of have this small pocket of the US that is, you know, not just being exposed to these cars online, but like they could actually see them around town on American streets, even though they can't buy them.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:51)
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Wednesday, June 3rd.
Coming up on the show, will Chinese cars come to the US, and what will it mean for the car industry?

**SPEAKER_5** (2:20)
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**Jessica Mendoza** (2:59)
When China first entered the global car market back in the 80s, the US auto industry didn't think much of it. They saw it as a place to sell cars, but Chinese automakers weren't considered serious competition.
And for decades, that was the status quo.

**Ryan Felton** (3:16)
That carried over into the 2000s when companies that were launched on their own started trying to think about coming to America. I remember I had a conversation with one former executive at a domestic automaker who said that when they showed up at the Detroit Auto Shows for the first time in the 2000s, they were kind of just laughed at more or less.

**Jessica Mendoza** (3:38)
Why? Because of the designs of the cars?

**Ryan Felton** (3:41)
Yeah, the designs, just the way that they drove. I mean, it was just everything from the top down. They just weren't viewed as serious contenders. I mean, BYD was trying to come over to the US as early as 2010
And there's a video of Elon Musk being asked at that time about BYD. And he literally just burst out laughing.

**SPEAKER_6** (4:04)
Why do you laugh? BYD is trying to compete. Why do you laugh?

**SPEAKER_5** (4:09)
Have you seen their car?

**SPEAKER_7** (4:11)
I have seen their car, yes.

**Ryan Felton** (4:13)
I think it's just fair to say they just weren't taken seriously at all.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:16)
But China kept investing in its auto industry, and the designs and software have advanced quickly, turning a lot of skeptics into converts.

**Ryan Felton** (4:25)
There's a common story that's shared by a lot of American auto execs who during the pandemic, weren't traveling to China during the early years, and then when China reopened and held its first auto show in 2023, a lot of automakers went there and were just blown away by what they saw. It's just this period where everyone in China just really accelerated and ramped up, and I think a lot of it ties back to the country's overall investment prioritization of building up that supply chain.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:57)
These days, there are more than 100 car brands in China. So the bigger players, brands like BYD, Geely, and Great Wall Motor, are taking their product overseas.
These companies are exporting hundreds of thousands of cars, electric, hybrid, and gas, to places like Europe, Southeast Asia, all over the world. Canada is also opening itself up to Chinese car imports. And the electric vehicles and hybrids have performed especially well. Elon Musk may have mocked them back in the day, but customers are raving about them now.