If you asked the typical European or American about BYD a couple of years ago, only the biggest petrol-head or an astute follower of Warren Buffett’s portfolio could have given you a confident answer on what the company does.
It’s taken a brutal price war with Elon Musk and an ascension to the top of the Chinese car pyramid to change that. Now that it’s left competitors in a “state of shock,” BYD has become hard to ignore.
However, as BYD fights a declining share price, Europe’s automakers have a few reasons to be optimistic that they will fare better in a battle on home soil.
Mmmmmm. That doesn’t sound healthy. CCP spy shit in every car shipped over. Great.
Eh VW spies on me in my Seat Leon, and my mom used to work with chinese master students, I am sure that both VW and the CCP have files on me.
VW peobably have quite a bit och recordings of me singing in my car…
We already know that every car manufacturer collects data on us in newer vehicles especially. Data would go to China instead of western governments and unregulated companies. Honestly, not sure the usage is any different.
Except the CCP is less trustworthy than Trump.
But the CCP is farther away from your typical European than their own government and more local car companies.
I would rather someone with less direct influence over me have data on me if I had to choose.
But who is an authoritarian with expansionist tendencies, and who is content to be a helpful freedom-loving European ?
May not fly in the EU. Their data protection laws have actual teeth.
LOL. You think the CCP gives a damn? They make up their own rules.
Well no, of course they don’t. But this company’s options will be a) don’t do that in Euro autos or b) don’t do business in the EU. Which do you think they’ll pick?
Let’s meet back here in ten years and discuss what weird tracking implementation was discovered too late.
I’ve got news for you: unless you’re driving a decade-old car, your car is already collecting tons of information on you and sending it to the company.
My car is a 2009 model. I doubt it’s sending anything to anyone.
Never going to get a newer car?
Who the fuck can afford that?
Well… I mean lots of people do but not me.
And ‘new’? I don’t think new straight-off-the-lot is very good value anyway due to depreciation. I’d much rather have a used car in good shape that’s had the bugs ironed out of it than play the shiny-shiny game. Fuck Veblen goods.
A hundred years can pass but a 2020 car is still newer than your current car. Chances are that the company that makes that car is still willing to collect data from the vehicle if they think they can make more money off of that data than it costs to keep it connected.
Yup. I agree.
Never heard of microchips or telecom infrastructure eh?
Only the chips they pumped into me with the covid jab. (JK)
All modern cars are privacy nightmares. But putting spyware in their export cars world be a very dumb move by the Chinese because there’s no way they wouldn’t get caught.
Our family, out of economic practicality and a lack of desire to show off, still has ‘dumb’ cars with the fanciest feature being the electronic key fob and the damned engine management system which goes on the fritz every couple months.
I hear what you’re saying but I’m not entirely convinced they wouldn’t try something.