you could buy 2 us cars for the average price of a us car (2 of the cheapest us cars). seems that China still has cheaper cars, but this article is biased in the title and article for some reason
Keep the car prices high, or its taxes and use the profits to fund public transportation?
What about everyone that’s not in a densely populated area?
Yeah, there are people who are living outside of the city because its affordable… Or, you know, you can plant trees in the yard. However… Nearest Costco is 100 years away walking, and or you might not make it a couple of blocks during winter.
Wow, in this case, the cheapest brazillian car can buy a whole fricking frigate of chinese cars
But can’t you also buy 5 American cars for the average price of American car? Just buy used 🤷♂️
fr, I got a pre-owned 2008 Prius in like 2018 for $9k, used it for several years, then sold it to my brother, and it’s still going strong. Used Toyotas ftw!
How much is that in big macs??
2 football fields worth
Football football or rugby with padding and helmets to avoid hurting the children football?
The one where they kick and throw the ball and try to get past defenders to the other end
This is why we have trade protectionism - tariffs, “made in X” laws, etc. - to ensure capitalists can continue to generate maximized profits, rather than having to compete with Chinese-made cars.
The oft-quoted argument is “well, we need to protect jobs” - well, tax the rich and subsidize it then, if those jobs are so important. Why should the working class pay the cost of protecting jobs (ensuring ongoing production for the benefit of the ruling class) in industries where capitalists continue to maximize profit?
The United States already subsidizes many industries, the idea that the rich capitalists on top of the auto industry (that has been subsidized through bail outs previously) just cannot compete against the subsidies of China’s industry is just capitalist thinking. And look where that’s gotten us.
This is not a pro-China post. I’m Canadian. I’m sick of this current world order.
Income comparisons aside, what the fuck is this “journalism”???
The average new car in the U.S. in March had a list price of $51,456, according to Kelley Blue Book.
In China, there are more than 200 battery-powered models, including hybrids, for sale at less than the equivalent of $25,000, according to DCar, an information and trading platform.
Reuters compiled a list of the five best-selling electric vehicles in China that start under $12,000 using DCar data.
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car in order to get their headline? Like I could buy 10 shitboxes from the junkyard for the average price of a new car, but that doesn’t mean much.
Show me how many NEW cars you can buy in the US for less then 25k.
10 seconds on Google shows 3 under $25k, and 9 under $26k. I spent longer typing this comment than finding cheap cars XD
And the article lists 5 Chinese-made electric vehicles that are less than half that.
They would be closer in price if we had made trade agreements that required worker protections consistent with those in the US, instead of trying to bring every country on board with the US’ idiotic copyright laws.
And the article lists 5 Chinese-made electric vehicles that are less than half that.
Sure, and the best quality stuff comes from TEMU.
Waves hands in vague direction of nearest Cybertruck
look at the cheapest cars to compare to the average American car
But then the average American car isn’t even electric…
Did they deliberately only look at the cheapest cars
Seeing how the highest selling car a few years ago was the Wuling Hongguang, which starts at ~$5k, I don’t think the authors have made any failure. If anything, they’re short of the reality.
Wuling Hongguang
omg it’s so cute
As much as I appreciate the charger “nose”, that’s a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
omg it’s so cute
And it doubles as a coffin. Pays for itself.
As much as I appreciate the charger “nose”, that’s a bad place to have it if you park close to the wall
Chances are because that’s such a small car, there would be ample space to park away from a wall and still remain within a standard car footprint.
Must be nice to live in a country where your vehicle working is a more important consideration than your vehicle making you feel like a big boy.
omg it’s so cute
I know right?? I hate that we don’t have affordable cutie electric cars like that in Europe :(
I never thought of the nose charger thing, something to consider definitely!
One of my friends has an electric mini thats pretty sweet
I bet it didn’t cost 5k€ though
but I bet it goes fast enough to use on a highway. The Wuling is closer to a Kei car.
It’s actually a great place to have the charger, I had a Nissan leaf for a number of years and it’s great not having to worry about the cord reaching when you’re at a public (free) charger.
I have an ioniq now and the charge port on the back quarter panel is the worst place for it, since almost all pull forward parking spots have a cord that doesn’t reach.
I have to awkwardly back into angled forward spots if I want to use the charger, and most fast chargers on the interstate aren’t designed for a back end charge port either, so you kinda have to find a very specific angle to get the car parked to charge.
The middle front works in almost every situation.
deleted by creator
That sounds like a limitation you could remove by broadening your horizons.
That sounds like some liberal bullshit to me
/j
“I’m ignorant of foreign cultures”
deleted by creator
That is the only reason why I don’t own a Koenigsegg
I’m sorry, i can’t pronounce that, I dont want it.
Then learn how to pronounce it. What the fuck kind of stance is that?
Lol read more and learn? Or get mad and pout?
Yeah, this comparison is terrible they’re purposefully putting an upper limit on price when comparing things. Not to mention that they aren’t even looking at features and range of these cars.
Someone below mentions the “Wuling Hongguang”, the top selling car in China apparently. While it’s cheap, its max speed is 62mph and it has a range around 75 miles. Like of course that’s cheap, and could work in some situations, but that’s not comparable to any car sold in the US.
The more I read into things like this the more I realize that cars are just expensive. Sure China has a wider range of options, but when comparing apples to apples things look more similar than I’d expect.
100% agree, I too could get a car with no speed and range for cheap. Why compare that with something decent, and then brag about price?
These are sweet, and you can drive them on sidewalks! Try that with your Koenniggggsssegggg.
I think they were looking at the average price for a new car. All the new American cars are on the more expensive side
Someone’s gotta pay for all that extra tech that the US Government is going to use to spy on you.
my first thought is how many dozen eggs could you get for the average cost of a dozen eggs over here. things don’t always measure up one to one. I remember people talking about great electronics being tossed in japan or korea.
US average income being 6x China’s was my first thought too, but then I got so fucking angry at how they fudge the numbers they’re looking at for the headline.
But then my cars would be in China, and that’s not much use.
Also I don’t really need 5 cars
Yes, but do you want 5 cars?
And if you haven’t tried 5 cars, how will you ever know?
Good god no, I can’t afford all that rego and insurance. The parking at my little house would be a nightmare.
OK, we’ll just have to have 5 houses - with a car at each!
Fuck man, I don’t want to clean 5 houses!
Add 5 cleaners to the shopping list
Dad?
Still getting cigarettes bud
China doing capitalism better than the US 🫡…America!..Fuck yeah!! 😒
Yea but you’re still hungry for another car an hour later!
I have never understood this joke
The thought is the simple carbs from rice, noodles, and high sugar sauces in a lot of takeout-style Chinese food gets digested quickly, so while one can eat that until they feel stuffed, the body will quickly break it down, and with the volume of fiber and protein in the meal being relatively low to the volume of starches and sugars, your stomach will soon be wanting more due to the low satiety provided. One could eat a smaller amount of, say, steak and broccoli, and remain fuller for much longer, due to the better nutritional balance and higher protein and fiber content which takes the body much longer to digest than starches and sugars.
It is played as a joke since a large number of people experience this overeating, yet soon hungry again situation, and attribute it to the food, although probably not in a way of understanding they’re eating a different kind of junk food than what they’re used to. My understanding is all this stuff is westernized and not really reflective of what Chinese food actually is.
This is also why people talk about Asians getting a “secret menu” at Asian restaurants. It’s not as though Westerners are forbidden to order real Asian dishes, they’re just a completely different taste profile than what a lot of Westerners are accustomed to, whether dishes be too spicy, too salty, or not sweet/saucy/cheesey/etc enough. One time I went fishing in the ocean and got way too many fish. I offered them to the guys in the Chinese takeout place attached to where I was working. They offered me some of what they made for themselves with it but gave me a heads up that I may not exactly enjoy it. I took a bite and it tasted sooooo salty, and I got surprised it still had the soft fish bones in it, and it wasn’t bad but was not what my palette was ready for at the time and I could not finish it, meanwhile they were all grateful and fully enjoying it.
I have always associated this kind if joke with America fast food, but I guess any fastfood works ofc!
Impressive writeup btw.
I’m a bit surprised how popular this was! I guess this was a question a bunch of people had but didn’t want to ask.
That was one of the most typed out joke explanations I’ve ever seen online, I salute your patience.
I try to keep things simple, but I also always want to give the most complete answer I can, so I end up being pretty long winded. If someone takes the time to ask a question, I assume they do want the full answer though. I always worry I’m beating things into the ground, but I really want people to know as much as they can. People are always free to tell me to shut my trap. 😄
:)
Thanks Peter.
Due to my chronic meme illiteracy, I had to have knowyourmeme explain this one to me. We all need a little explaining now and then. 😇
simple carbs from rice, noodles, and high sugar sauces in a lot of takeout-style Chinese food gets digested quickly
I always thought it was because of the high salt content, and possibly how “spicy” Americanized Chinese food tasted to the palates of whichever decade first made that joke (50s?). With a lot of salt and spice you’re drinking way more water than you normally would, causing you to feel full quicker.
Anecdotally when I eat a big bowl of ramen it’s pretty much all simple carbs and it keeps me feeling full for about two meals’ worth.
Both could be correct, especially since many folks’ diets are much different today than they were that long ago.
I’m far from a nutritionist, and I don’t think I could really explain the GI Index well enough to give the real how and why of eating a ton of simple carbs actually makes you still feel hungry despite eating enough to feed an army.
With the high salt content, people can feel a craving, that is actually for water, but can be misinterpreted as hunger. We know our body needs something, but we don’t always understand what that something is.
My home ramen is too basic, and doesn’t do much to fill me up, but the ramen place in town I find very filling, as the broth has some fat content, there’s meat and egg for protein, and there’s things like mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other veg to provide that fiber which either takes a long time to digest or is just plain indigestible so it really sticks with you, literally. I can’t be bothered to prep all that at home. 😁
Not only did I not understand the joke, I didn’t even know it was a meme.
They’re implying that you could eat 5 Chinese cars and not be full, unlike when you eat one massive McGMC
Have you eaten Americanized “Chinese” food? I eat it every on every last Tuesday of the month. I order two meals for myself every time, because without fail, I will be hungry again within less than 2 hours. Yesterday (4/28/2026), I had a pint of General Tso’s Chicken with a pint of beef lo mein. That’s an entire quart of food. If I ate a quart of spag bol for my lunch, I’d be done for the night. I’d be asleep. But after my big ol’ “Chinese” lunch, I was hungry ~90 minutes later, so I ate my pint of Szechuan Chicken and my pint of pork fried rice. Wonton soup was also involved. Yes, I added the fried noodles.
And even after that, I got a large pizza (pepperoni, pineapple, and extra cheese) at 10:30pm, just to cover the late night munchies. I only ate 4 slices out of 8, so I had some left for breakfast today. The stuff we sell as “Chinese food” in the USA is not very filling.
YMMV, I am a large man, and I am very active. I’m 6’4", I lift weights, and I run 6 miles a day. My TDEE is ~3800 calories. If you’re one of those folks who only need 1200-1600 calories a day, a simple lunch from the “Chinese” spot would be a lot of food for you. My wife is small, and she can easily live off 1600-1800 calories a day. Our gf is tiny and lives off of 1200 calories a day most days. A “splurge” day for her is 1500-1600 calories.
Could you give much more detail please?
I’m happy to answer any questions you have.
Yes, please expand on the my wife and our girlfriend aspect of this story… You really eat more than them combined?
I have no follow-up questions.
please expand on the my wife and our girlfriend aspect of this story…
My wife and I are both in love with another woman. If it was legal, the three of us would all be married. The kids I have with my wife and the kids I have with our gf view each other as siblings, and recognize all three of us as their parents.
You really eat more than them combined?
Yes, a large athletic man eats more than two small mostly sedentary women. I also weigh more than the two of them combined. If I ate much less than I do, I’d be losing mass. Sometimes I eat even more than 3800 calories a day, but that’s in my bulk phases. 3800 is just my maintenance number.
I eat it pretty often, I just haven’t found that to be the case for me. Then again, my breakfast this morning was two big cups of coffee and a single clementine. Im pretty active but not close to what you do, I think 7 miles is my personal best for distance.
Then again, my breakfast this morning was two big cups of coffee and a single clementine.
Damn homie, I honestly love that for you. No sarcasm, no cap. But I need to have what amounts to a full English every morning. And one clementine would honestly just piss me off. I’ve had 6 blood oranges today, and it’s not even 4pm yet. I’ll likely have 2-3 more today, plus a steak sandwich.
I think 7 miles is my personal best for distance
7 miles is a respectable distance, you’re doing great. I just chose 6 a day because then I can plan out my times better, and my dogs love it.
I love how different 2 humans can be.
I probably wouldn’t eat until the evening if I had a full English! My goal is to hit a 10k in under 50 mins. I’ve managed to do a sub 53 minute, but shaving off those three minutes has been surprisingly difficult.
American-chinese takeout is all carbs, sodium and sugar. It provides little long term fulfillment, leaving you hungry even though they sell comparatively large servings.
Wait until you learn that you’re a likely a millionaire in a European city if you own a basic house. (which you can’t sell of course, you need it for living)
Housing market is kinda fucked everywhere though.
Yes, but the style of houses we build in Europe make it far worse because they’re more expensive to begin with.
Not sure where you get that claim from. Even here, in the Netherlands, where the housing market is through the roof, it’s not that expensive to own a basic house (maybe it would be in Amsterdam but that’s far from the average european city experience)
Unless “basic” for you means 4 bedrooms in the city center.
It’s not a claim, it’s literally this way in the street I live.
I didn’t go into detail of the location because it affects many of Europe’s main cities. You seem to be in luck.
It is definitely not the average european city experience. For a comfortable one-person appartment (if you want more than one person apartments, then it’s worth is shared between the occupants, of course, and ends up cheaper per person), let’s generously say 70m2, then you’d need the price per square meter to be more than 14k€ for it to be a million euro home.
That’s way above average, unless, again, you’re looking at city centers, which are always going to be expensive no matter the country.
So, if you live in a european city, not in a city center, and your street has housing costs above 14k€ per square meter (even, conservatively, 10k€), then your city is an outlier, not the average experience.
Now I didn’t say average, but thinking of popular cities; but anyhow, I was just casually speaking not doing a real estate discussion here.
So let’s agree to disagree 😂
(we bought for 400k and now it’s 900k, and it wasn’t worth 400k to begin with…)
Well, you’re already saying “we”, which implies you share that net worth with someone else! That’d be 450k/head, and no one is a millionaire!
Divided by two as it mostly is, correct.
Hm… I’m not sure how that is counted usually to be fair. But I’d guess it’s mostly not a solo person.
These comparisons are never not stupid:
- Chinese work longer hours. The infamous 996 is real - 9am to 9pm six days per week
- On average american salary is 3 times higher
- Chinese take on much higher health risk from rare earth metals and manufacturing etc. to subsidize this pricing
I think Chinese EVs are awesome but I’d rather pay higher american sticker price but actually lower real cost.
Chinese take on much higher health risk from rare earth metals and manufacturing etc. to subsidize this pricing
Never not stupid.
The infamous 996 is real - 9am to 9pm six days per week
As opposed to… totally not being real in the US?
Technically it’s mostly illegal in China, though of course various companies get around that. Average workweek in China is apparently 44.6 hours. This data is far from ideal, as the website itself points out, but at least it gives us some general idea.
According to this source, the Chinese work considerably longer hours than Americans. However, it should also be noted that workers in China get a lot more national holidays and better social protections than workers in the US.
On average american salary is 3 times higher
And everything is on average 6x more expensive. Made up number, but from what I’ve seen the actual one may be higher.
In China, you can eat every meal at a restaurant for as little as 5 USD a day. In the US you may be making 3x more money, but the same food would cost you closer to 75 USD, which is 15 times more expensive.
No tips included, since tipping doesn’t exist outside of burgerland.
Chinese take on much higher health risk from rare earth metals and manufacturing etc. to subsidize this pricing
They mine it for companies all over the planet, including American ones. Everybody buys rare earths from China either because they’re the cheapest or because they’re the only ones available. It’s not like China gets them cheap and the US has to pay 20x more due to safety regulations. Everybody buys them from China for cheap, regardless of their own safety laws.
I think Chinese EVs are awesome but I’d rather pay higher american sticker price but actually lower real cost.
What ‘real cost’ are you referring to here? American cars, not just EVs, are so expensive that almost nobody can afford them. In my country a BYD Dolphin Surf costs 50% less than the cheapest competing car, while still offering better range. How can it be cheaper to buy a more expensive car that performs worse?
You can buy a supercar made by a video card manufacturer for 30k.
you can buy a motorcycle made by a piano manufacturer for $12K.
on an average 18,000usd/year salary?
I dont want 5 cars i want 1 car
Okay, but it’s gonna cost five times as much.
:( can I have a 5th of a car?
So like a motorcycle?
That is like… half a car, if you count wheels and seats. Maybe a unicycle?
It does have 2 wheels, but there’s basically only 1.5 seats, no exterior body/trunk/etc. In terms of overall weight, they’re somewhere around 10-30% of a car’s weight depending on the models.
A goldwing has a trunk, and I think the account of plastic on the front qualifies as a little bit of exterior body
A unicycle with a flat tyre.
Unicycle? What’s that? Are you talking about a onewheel?
Not where I live unfortunately:(
I dont even want a car, I want frequent and reliable transit
I want that too, but im super rural, so no mass transit option for me
You only say that because of how it is, not how it could be.
Here in Sweden we have smaller busses that go outside the normal (which are pretty extensive themselves) areas that you call to book beforehand, they’re like vans with 10 seats that drive on demand to get you from where you are to the nearest mass transit point.Combining every city having good buss networks well outside the main cities with the above mentioned and a train network throughout the whole country means you can get pretty much anywhere via public transit. I’ve traveled from my city, Gothenburg, to a very remote area near a place called Arvidsjaur which is 1,200km north of here like that. Starting with trams to a sleeper train to a buss to those on demand busses, I think it took about 16 hours in total.
There is a population density which would need to considered. Your country is about 6 times as dense per square km than mine. That’s does make public transit easier in some cases.
I’m also fairly rural, and work rural, too. Cars kind of suck, even when they’re required to do what you have to.
I genuinely like driving, and the freedom and comfort associated with cars tbh.
There is freedom of having one of your largest capital investments being a tool that depreciates the moment you purchase it and every time you use it, combining a variety of functions in such a way that all can be done, but none as well as something that just does one of them, while also requiring the majority of your attention to be spent on it and others using a similar device just to make sure everyone survives?
Okay, I guess.
There is freedom in being able to hop in my vehicle and go most anywhere I want when I want, yes. I’d love for a train to run through my hamlet, but it doesn’t, and I doubt it ever will.
Maybe someday it will be possible but yeah rural areas probably need cars.
Although in parts of Europe they have pretty great bike path networks in the rural areas too. Might replace some trips to the neighbors or closer destinations.
Im all for ditching ice engines, and finding better alternatives, the downside is its over 2 hours by bike one way to the closest town. The other downside is being rural, power is super expensive, so even charging batteries sucks too
Yeah I mean I’m known to meme about banning cars but keep in mind we’re talking about in cities. We know you will need them in some areas.
Oh for sure, the lack of robust public transit is really depressing. I’d love 15 minute cities where you can get everything you need within 15 minutes that would be amazing
How about no kids and 3 money?
Let alone in China.
Because the government is subsiding those cars in a number of different ways; Attempt to control the global automotive and clean energy markets.
oh yeah…the 8 billion dollars to Detroit subsidy is why they make all those cool, highly efficient cars.
Not all subsidies are done for the same reason. Keep reading my other comments down that thread.
USA subsidizes auto industry too
And the oil industry and builds the roads and fights the wars to acquire oil.
They actually build roads??
Not to the same degree, or with the same goals.
US subsidies are simply about corporate profits. China’s are about over-producing and lowering prices to incentivize global adoption.Forks and knives are both silverware, but very different.
How about them tarrifs, though!
you also don’t eat your food with a 10" chef knife.
And because wages are lower as well. Manpower costs more in America than China by quite a bit. The article doesn’t scale prices to purchasing power. It’s not 5x as much anymore probably, but it’s a significant amount.
My guess is that manpower share is probably not that significant in the price of an EV.
Almost all costs come down to wages when you look at the economy of an entire country. The car factory pays wages and materials (grossly simplified to illustrate what I mean). The supplier they buy the materials from pays wages and raw materials. The place those raw materials come from pays wages and their own raw materials. And so on. At the end there’s some guy in a mine swinging a pickaxe who’s paid, you guessed it, a wage. (again, grossly simplified for illustration. Of course they use modern machinery, of course the supply chains are networks and not straight lines…).
So when you produce in a country with a vastly lower level of wages, everything gets cheaper. The car maker doesn’t only pay less in wages, they also pay less for steel sheets, cables, cloth and leather for seats, you name it, because those suppliers pay lower wages too.
Almost all costs come down to wages when you look at the economy of an entire country.
Yes. There is the matter of productivity somewhere in between, which is mainly linked to innovation and past capital expenses.
they also pay less for steel sheets, cables, cloth and leather for seats
Not really. These are already procured externally in a globalized world where manufacturing already left to low-wage places
My guess is that manpower share is probably not that significant in the price of an EV.
It’s not about wages being part of price.
It’s about wages being aspect of buyers.
Ni, its pretty much all machine and robot made.
I occasionally watch an American YouTuber married to a Chinese man, living in china, and they can’t afford a car (my observation, she claims they don’t need one). They have recently upgraded to a bigger electric scooter as their family car.
Most Chinese cities have extremely high registration fees which make car ownership impractical for most people. They also have great public transportation which tilts the calculus towards not needing a car if affordability is even remotely a concern.
And they are winning. China is expected to dominate 4 of the top 5 auto manufacturer by 2030
I assume you meant “dominate”
Got to love swipe texting
😂 surely
Wow they really are turning communist after all!
Seems like a missed opportunity by everybody else.
Sorry, option not recognized. Listen carefully as our options have recently changed (weekly). Please choose from the following available ones:
- Kidnap foreign leaders we don’t like and other threats to independent governments.
- Fund genocide.
- World wide inflation with this one simple trick (Strait of Hormuz).
- Look ma! No diapers (includes diapers).
- 1st amendment (billionaires only).
- Insider trading (WH friends & family only).
- All of the above (includes special bonuses and 1 meme coin!)
Subsidizing practical applications of clean energy seems like a moral good to me.
Are they attempting to control the market? Even if they are the solution is to produce a more competitive product, not sit on one’s hands or double down on ICE vehicles.
Are they attempting to control the market?
Absolutely!
A competitive product isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that they’re intentionally pricing the cars below cost, loosing money on every vehicle. Once there’s no real competition, they can leverage that market monopoly to to gain others, or simply increase prices well beyond what they naturally would be. Just like Amazon did with diapers and other markets.
That’s very nice of them to make stuff cheaper for me. If only my government wouldn’t tack on 100% tariffs.
It’s not. They aren’t doing it for charity.
It’s just like when Amazon sold diapers at a loss. Once all the competition is gone, and China has the global monopoly they want, they’ll use it to inflate prices even higher, or for leverage on other markets.I love that that story of Amazon selling diapers is the most salient example of what economists literally call “dumping”.
How could they?
For shame… Only American technology companies are allowed to do that.
