America Risks Missing China’s EV Revolution

In July 1958 Toyota launched its first car for sale in America, the Toyopet Crown. A combination of its weird name (a toy pet?), a ride so uncomfortable at anything over 60 miles per hour that passengers feared the vehicle might break apart, and a steering wheel with the fatal design flaw that a food tray couldn’t be hung from it at drive-in restaurants without sounding the horn, condemned the Crown to American sales oblivion. In 1960, it was withdrawn from sale. Toyota returned with the Corona in 1965 and hasn’t looked back.Once they figured it out, Japanese manufacturers turned the American auto industry on its head. The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 drove car buyers toward more fuel-efficient, well-built and competitively priced Japanese imports. In 1980, they comprised 21% of American sales, while Chrysler teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, and GM made its first annual loss for 60 years. Panic ensued. Japanese cars were banned (or smashed with sledgehammers) at union events. The Reagan administration pressed Japan to agree to “Voluntary Export Restraints,” imposing a quota on the number of cars they could sell here.Prices went up as the cars people wanted became scarcer. America became Japan’s most profitable market, and Detroit increased its prices too, costing domestic consumers billions of dollars a year. In the end, American automakers survived that turbulent period not by relying on tariffs and quotas, but by adopting Japanese manufacturing methods, vastly improving their management, production and quality control processes. As a result, the cars we drive today are much more reliable, and while Japanese cars remain very popular, most of those sold in America are built in this country too now — a win for American (and Canadian and Mexican) workers.In 2026, the biggest and most disruptive force in the auto industry feels like what we experienced 45 years ago. This time it’s coming from Communist China, and it’s happening all around the world. China has been the world’s largest auto exporter since 2023, selling 7.1 million vehicles overseas in 2025 (a figure that it had already matched for 2026 by the end of August.) Market share has been growing dramatically in a number of key markets. In May this year, for the first time, more Chinese cars were sold in Europe than Japanese ones; in Australia, they now comprise almost a third of the total market — up by almost three-quarters year to date; and in Israel they are at an astonishing 46% in recent months.Their popularity stems mainly from some pretty Japanese-like attributes: Good quality at a good price, at a time when they can meet the market where it wants to go. In the 1970s that was drivers looking for cars with better MPG, now, as we experience another oil shock due to the Iran war, the momentum in many markets is clearly towards electric vehicles.At a recent electric vehicle charging event in Birmingham, England, I had the opportunity to check out a few of these cars. I was shown an Aion V — an SUV with a very nice interior including a climate-controlled storage box to keep your bottled water cold or your cup of soup hot — that I was told leases for approximately half the monthly cost of the similarly sized Tesla Model Y next to it on the show floor.These are cars that consumers seem to want, but in America they won’t get that opportunity. Due to a combination of tariffs, import bans and a pending bipartisan law, soon no car company with even just 15% of Chinese ownership will be permitted to operate in America. That restriction doesn’t only apply to imported cars, but it will also stop any Chinese carmaker from building local American factories and hiring local American workers.Ostensibly, this is due to security concerns. Cars now collect reams of data and are dependent on software that could theoretically be manipulated by a malign actor to cause chaos on the road. Other countries share similar worries, but have taken a more nuanced response, principally by ensuring that Chinese cars cannot be used by military personnel or brought onto military bases. That’s how Israel — not usually known for being lax on security matters — has permitted these cars to comprise almost half of its market.But in America, the door is firmly shut. Perhaps in time the present domestic policy toward China will in time prove to have been wise and justified. Nevertheless, while the rest of the world adjusts to the new standards that Chinese manufacturers are setting and customers are demanding, it will take particularly adept and strategic leadership in Detroit to keep up. Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, has described this situation as the 1980s Japan fight “on steroids.” Detroit’s big three risk going into this battle outside of their home market with one hand tied behind their back.

America Risks Missing China’s EV Revolution

America Risks Missing China’s EV Revolution

More from the New York Sun

October 7 Hostage Fears Another Attack From Gaza

‘My Hero’ Jack Smith Gets Rock-Star Welcome at Anti-Trump Concert With Springsteen and Foo Fighters

Apple’s Latest iPhone Is a Pro Forma Upgrade

Britain’s Conservatives Display Their Own Bayeux Tapestry

John Kennedy Says He May Run for President

‘You Saved the Spirit of the World’: Netanyahu Hails Indian Pilot Who Thwarted Hijacking Aimed at Ben Gurion Airport

Count on AI To End Up Calling the Shots If Assisted Suicide Is Legalized in America

In the GOP’s Impending Midterm Deluge, These Two Senate Candidates Deserve To Be Spared

More from the New York Sun

October 7 Hostage Fears Another Attack From Gaza

‘My Hero’ Jack Smith Gets Rock-Star Welcome at Anti-Trump Concert With Springsteen and Foo Fighters

Apple’s Latest iPhone Is a Pro Forma Upgrade

Britain’s Conservatives Display Their Own Bayeux Tapestry

John Kennedy Says He May Run for President

‘You Saved the Spirit of the World’: Netanyahu Hails Indian Pilot Who Thwarted Hijacking Aimed at Ben Gurion Airport

Count on AI To End Up Calling the Shots If Assisted Suicide Is Legalized in America

In the GOP’s Impending Midterm Deluge, These Two Senate Candidates Deserve To Be Spared