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Tiktaalikyesterday at 9:27 PM2 repliesview on HN

The explanation that I'm finding more and more compelling is that this is because there's actual competition in China, whereas in the west conglomerates have been able to carve up the market into fiefdoms and feast, with increasing amounts of cash that they can funnel into dividends and buybacks.

From the NA vehicle POV it doesn't look healthy. Stocks of the major auto makers have done well this year, while product gets more and more expensive and limited. Barely seems possible to buy anything but a F150like anymore.


Replies

phatfishyesterday at 10:45 PM

Western corporations optimise for share price. The way to do that is by pulling strings at the government level to block your competitors and by getting nice tax breaks; not by having the best product for the consumer.

China and Chinese companies still want to shake off the "China means bad quality" image, so they actually want to make a great product at a good price for the consumer. To-the-moon share price growth doesn't happen by giving your customers a good deal.

Also the CCP doesn't want corporations forgetting who calls the shots, so there is some internal pressure keeping things less "frothy" than Western markets (where most governments are running scared of the big global corps).

thesmtsolver2yesterday at 9:45 PM

Outside of EVs and more broadly China rates near the bottom for market freedom

https://gfmag.com/data/economic-freedom-by-country/

If the broader market is rigged, investors don’t rush in for just one segment.

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