I was surprised China is #2 car market for Japan after US. US sales for 2024 were around 4 million units and for china well above 3 million. That 3 million will slowly go to 0 with no electric cars in sight for japanese car makers and China racing away with EV. Japanese car industry is in shakier ground than I imagined. I thought with US market it was mostly okay.
Not surprised
China is a lost cause for Japan and most foreign automakers if you ask me, with the heavy promotion of Chinese EVs there
China has strong anti-Japanese sentiment and toxic nationalism is heavily promoted there by the government
If most companies can stop depending on China, that’s good honestly
China won’t have to blackmail companies or countries
For example, I still remember the THAAD issue
South Korea wanted to install an advanced anti-ballistic missile system from the U.S. in order to defend itself against North Korean missiles
China saw this as a threat and started promoting the boycott of South Korean goods and travel to South Korea. Absolute bullshit
The Chinese government has frankly outdone itself in its use of strategic policy decisions to encourage onshore vehicle manufacturing from foreign corporations.
This has allowed China to rapidly upgrade its technological know how and master the skills needed to make a modern automobile.
You can easily trace back the early clumsy attempts by domestic manufacturers to wholly copy foreign models and compare it with their products today. There’s several generations worth of difference. The past two decades has allowed China to catch up to the west, at least in terms of automobile manufacturing.
They’ve now invested heavily into EVs, which are world class. They’re so good and so popular that both the US and EU raised tariffs and trade barriers to protect their own manufacturers…
3 comments
I was surprised China is #2 car market for Japan after US. US sales for 2024 were around 4 million units and for china well above 3 million. That 3 million will slowly go to 0 with no electric cars in sight for japanese car makers and China racing away with EV. Japanese car industry is in shakier ground than I imagined. I thought with US market it was mostly okay.
Not surprised
China is a lost cause for Japan and most foreign automakers if you ask me, with the heavy promotion of Chinese EVs there
China has strong anti-Japanese sentiment and toxic nationalism is heavily promoted there by the government
If most companies can stop depending on China, that’s good honestly
China won’t have to blackmail companies or countries
For example, I still remember the THAAD issue
South Korea wanted to install an advanced anti-ballistic missile system from the U.S. in order to defend itself against North Korean missiles
China saw this as a threat and started promoting the boycott of South Korean goods and travel to South Korea. Absolute bullshit
The Chinese government has frankly outdone itself in its use of strategic policy decisions to encourage onshore vehicle manufacturing from foreign corporations.
This has allowed China to rapidly upgrade its technological know how and master the skills needed to make a modern automobile.
You can easily trace back the early clumsy attempts by domestic manufacturers to wholly copy foreign models and compare it with their products today. There’s several generations worth of difference. The past two decades has allowed China to catch up to the west, at least in terms of automobile manufacturing.
They’ve now invested heavily into EVs, which are world class. They’re so good and so popular that both the US and EU raised tariffs and trade barriers to protect their own manufacturers…