But you knew that.*
From SlashGear, April 21:
Competing with Chinese-made EVs has been the goal — and demise — of many an automaker from Europe to America and Japan. This includes Honda, which announced $15.8 billion in losses as a result of trying to keep up with China's cheap EVs. These losses were the result of a dramatic pivot in its EV strategy, which saw the automaker canceling its electric 0 Series vehicles and the EV it was developing with Sony.
With China's automakers releasing cheap EVs that boast looks, interiors, tech, and features to rival those from outside brands, automakers like Honda have started to struggle with sales in the country. Honda's sales in China dropped from 1.62 million units in 2020 to just 640,000 units in 2025, and annual production volume in the country may fall below 600,000 by the end of 2026.
In late February 2026, Honda CEO and President Toshihiro Mibe visited an auto parts manufacturer in China to see how the nation's automakers were making so many cars so quickly — and he left the factory with a sense of urgency. "We have no chance against this," Nikkei Asia reported him saying. According to the same report, Mibe later told Japanese parts suppliers that they "must act quickly" to gain some ground on their Chinese counterparts.Why are Chinese automakers so much faster?
....MUCH MORE
Honda shifts power back to car engineers to reignite innovation
Rise of Chinese rivals forces Japanese automaker to carry out drastic reforms
March 2026 - Electric Vehicles: "Honda warns of $15.7 billion charge on global EV downturn in shock announcement"
July 2024 - "Japanese carmakers ‘very scared’ by China’s rapid EV development"
March 2024 - This Will Be A Bloodbath: "Biden Set to Crack Down on Auto Emissions to Accelerate EV Sales"
Western Legacy Automakers Probably Won't Be Long-Term Survivors
Because their current business is being mandated and legislated out of existence the Western marques, barring some serious breakthroughs in small-scale hydrogen or methanol, will have to pivot to EV's.
And they won't be able to compete.
It almost appears that the gifting of the electric vehicle and solar industries to the Chinese was deliberate.
First up, from Electrical Engineering Times, December 6:
Experts See Rapid Rise of Chinese EV Makers...
And at Fortune, November 30:
Elon Musk suggests Tesla and 9 Chinese companies will be the top 10 carmakers
In 2011, Elon Musk ridiculed the quality of electric vehicles made by China’s BYD. Then he admitted this May that “their cars are highly competitive these days.” Now, the Tesla CEO is amping up his praise of Chinese EV makers.
“The Chinese car companies are extremely competitive,” Musk said at this week’s New York Times Dealbook conference. “China is super good at manufacturing, and the work ethic is incredible.”
He even went so far as to suggest that the top 10 automakers of the future might be mostly Chinese ones—although he still envisions Tesla sitting atop them all.
“There’s a lot of people out there who think that the top 10 car companies are going to be Tesla followed by nine Chinese car companies,” he said at the conference. “I think they might not be wrong.”
In the case of BYD, its manufacturing prowess had long impressed Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, who passed away this week. While Berkshire generally steers clear of the auto industry—it declined to invest in Tesla—Munger led an enormously successful investment in BYD. He called the carmaker’s founder and CEO Wang Chuanfu a “natural engineer,” adding that “the guy at BYD is better at actually making things than Elon is.”
‘Demolish the old legends’....
