US auto industry is also heavily subsidised.

When we do, we call it “creating jobs and growing the economy “

When someone else does it, it’s cheating .

There was a lot of talk about how nobody would buy chinese cars in Australia too... they are everywhere.

People can get a chinese diesel dual cab 4x4 pickup for $37k Australian, the CHEAPEST Ford Raptor starts at $87k.

This same thing happens every couple of decades. In the 70s and into the 80s, no one wanted to buy a Japanese car - or virtually any Japanese products. They were considered inferior to their American-made counterparts (cars, but also electronics like radios and TVs). The inferiority of Japanese products was regular material for stand up comics and late night TV. The only reason, we were told, that anyone was buying their products was that they were dumping them on us at a loss. Now, Toyota isn’t synonymous with “cheap piece of crap import” but is considered a quality product that rivals American automakers. If you can tolerate a large dose of regular old establishment racism and want to flash back to how America saw the Japanese in the 80s, check out Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun. Or really about 70% of what was produced in the 80s, I guess, but that one is a keeper.

Fast forward a decade or two and they were saying the exact same thing about Korean cars. Same with Korean electronics in general - why buy Korean when you can buy Japanese?

Now it’s Chinese cars. I’m sure in the next decade or two it will be Vietnamese or Indian cars.

Yeah, unless they can buy a car for 15k. Principled boycotts of blood diamonds and child labor cocoa are more likely than someone making working wages willingly paying a 40% premium for a legacy GM shitcan.

Not that BYD is going to be selling a model 3 competitor at that price, but no one is selling a new Camry near that either. The 1st Gen civic was a basket case too, now it's a spaceship and that's without government-led IP raids...

While there are tensions with China, people still voted with their wallets in previous such “invasions”.

• Back in the 70s-80s, there was a lot of tension with Japan, arguing similar things, but the smaller, efficient, cheaper vehicles were compelling enough to practically destroy American car companies who were unable to produce similar. Actually, UAW reaction where Japanese branded vehicles at UAW plants were destroyed, w may have been the root of my former hatred of unions.
• when Korean manufacturers broke into the US market, the tensions weren’t as high but there was a lot of attacks against “inferior” products and plenty of bigotry. While Hyundai/Kia have had recent missteps, they’ve come on strong, grown like crazy, and now have a much better reputation for quality and support, while still holding a price advantage and compelling features