Many American auto manufacturers have plants in Mexico, CATL needs to build a factory close to the plants. If the US reenacts tariffs on Mexican auto, then US automakers are also screwed. The US automakers will keep their Mexico plants and construct new plants in US if that happens, CATL can also build factories in US then.
CATL is already planning another factory in US already (Georgia?), this Mexican plant is just another plant in north america.
The American auto manufacturers are still American. They are not going to be banned from selling in America.
CATL has no factory in the US. Right now, there is a huge bullseye on Chinese companies in America. Placing factories in an area of Mexico known for cartels so that they don't have to tariffs is a really bad look. If they were going to put a Mexican plant, they should have put it in around Mexico City. At least the gov't is in control there and they'd get great coverage from Mexican press.
Another traditional automaker bites the dust in China. I think Stellantis' days in China are numbers. Only Peugeot, Citroen, and DS brands are left, and only barely.
Yep, this will be a common sight over the next few years.
I think the Chinese government should seriously consider merging some of the uncompetitive SOEs together. For example, FAW realistically is only known for Hongqi. Why not merge FAW, JAC, JMCG, BAIC, and Dongfeng together? It will form a conglomerate that could build vehicles of every type and price range. Only issues is that it reduces competition in heavier trucks.
I would say that SAIC, Changan Motors, and GAC seems to be much more competitive as a stand alone company, so they should remain independent.
They don't need to. Let them go under. Their factories will get bought out by healthy automakers like BYD and those workers will get hired again. China's auto industry is doing great. Let the market figure it out. The last thing you want to do is rescue uncompetitive companies.
NIO explaining how they disrupt German automaker pricing
At this point, I think the door has already been knocked wide open and other Chinese brands like Denza, Hongqi, Hiphi and Li Auto have all moved into this space. Bad news for Germans.
So, I've been looking at this thing with amusement.
The politicians think they can overcome reliance on Chinese dominated supply chain just by signing a few agreements and complain about relying too much on China to business leaders.
Even IEA is getting involved
Rather than trying to see how they can work with China, these politicians just complain all day.
So despite the talk, 96% of Australian Lithium gets exported to China! Because that's the market is.
Hint Australia, it might be a good idea to try to get a company called BYD to build factories in Australia in exchange for Lithium rights. Use your natural resources to help your citizens rather than just making promises and do nothing.
And I understand why politicians in America are so clueless about this. They only speak to these Big 3 CEOs, who tell them crazy outlandish dreams with no realistic hope of succeeding.
These politicians cannot even figure out that Tesla is the dominant EV maker in America, how can they possibly figure out how far China is ahead of them in auto market. The reason companies cannot separate themselves from China is because it's the largest and most competitive EV market in the world (no close seconds). The competition in China is so fierce that everyone needs to utilize the Chinese supply chain and research centers to be competitive with local Chinese automakers. How do you expect companies to shift away from China when they have never sanctioned them, but have always provided quality product at low prices?
I think Huawei will have a hard time exporting to Europe and America. However, CATL is having no issue building factories outside of China. Gotion is the go to battery provider for VW. BYD will soon be building more factories in Europe and North America. The world is only become more reliant on Chinese supply chain in spite of the politicians in Washington.
