Detroit may be making the same mistake on EVs that it made with Japane
Once upon a time, Japanese cars were seen as exotic vehicles that could never take on the might of Ford and General Motors. Right now, Chinese EVs are in a similar place. “Corolla, New Economy Car, Is Shown Here by Toyota," the New York Times yawned in a 1968 headline, introducing history’s best-selling automobile to the US market.
Four years later, another piece noted with idle curiosity that Honda Motor, “primarily a motorcycle name in the US," was starting to sell “diminutive" four-wheelers as well. The story of America’s Big Three automakers’ hubristic fall to Japanese rivals is well known, and should caution carmakers who underestimate China’s competitive threat. With designers focused on large, powerful gas-guzzlers that earned better margins for Detroit’s inefficient production lines, the US auto industry in the 1970s failed to comprehend the appeal of affordable Japanese cars that sipped fuel, needed minimal maintenance, and came packed with standard features that local buyers were used to finding only as pricey add-ons.
By 1981, heavy political pressure forced Japan to accept voluntary caps on the number of cars it would export to the US. In response, Asian car-makers launched luxury brands that could earn more export dollars for each vehicle sold, giving birth to Lexus, Infiniti and Acura. Meanwhile, they built factories in the US to market their popular vehicles free of trade curbs.
About one in three US autoworkers is employed by a Japanese company now. Only pickup trucks, defended by a 25% tariff, have remained largely immune. Chinese EVs are currently as rare a presence in the US as Japanese cars in the late 1960s, put off by a 27.5% tariff imposed under the Trump administration and the tacit understanding
. Read more on livemint.com
