Hating on Chinese EVs from MG, BYD, Leapmotor, Geely and Xpeng? You might be a car-racist | Opinion
Would you buy an electric vehicle from someone with a gun to your head? You’ll think I’m being overly dramatic, of course, but the suggestion that no-one should buy an EV from China because they recently engaged in some explosive sabre rattling by conducting live-fire exercises between us and New Zealand is exactly what some of my more passionately caracist (or car-racist, it’s hard to spell) readers are suggesting.
Throw in the fact that questions have been raised in Canberra about whether Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is or isn’t creating a security risk because he may or may not be driving a Chinese EV, and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that large parts of our community seem to have issues with our largest two-way trading partner.
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This should not be a surprise if you are old enough to have a memory. I can well recall a time when gnarled old men would shout “I’m not buying a Japanese car”, usually before shaking a fist at a passing cloud.
And later when when people thought it was uncool to buy Korean cars because of the impact such a thing would have on our (already spluttering) new-car industry. I’m sure someone, further back in history, suggested that they’d never buy German because of some unpleasantness in the 1940s.
I occasionally review Chinese EVs in a large newspaper, which also has a website where cranky people can comment, mainly about how much I suck, but also with things like this (following a recent Zeekr drive).
“With all the aggressive China posturing why are we promoting Chinese cars and not banning them or putting on lobster type tariffs. Weak our country is just weak!!”
“Why would anyone want a car from China. 3 warships cruising off Sydney. Complete contempt for other nations. War is pending.” Cheery! Thanks, Angry of Toorak.
Then there was the slightly more positive: “Chinese sailors have been trained not to shoot at Chinese made vehicles. One good reason to buy one of these cars I think.”
And my personal favourite: “Dont by China”.
I don’t need to share with you the many, many comments about how China will eventually take over all of our cars remotely and crash us into each other, as they’re basically all remote controlled car drones/spying devices, because Coalition Senator James Paterson gave that theory a far more credible airing last week when he demanded to know whether Mr Burke was driving a Chinese-made vehicle “despite warnings from security experts that Chinese connected electric vehicles (EVs) could be used for surveillance”.
Mr Paterson asked Labor’s Employment Minister, Murray Watt, if Mr Burke still drove a Chinese-made electric vehicle in a personal capacity. Mr Watt would not answer, mysteriously, other than to say the Home Affairs Minister “takes the position that he should not and does not discuss sensitive matters in any car”.
Mr Patterson replied: “Wouldn’t it be safer if he didn’t drive a potential listening device around?”
In January, the US Government announced that it would ban Chinese hardware and software in connected vehicles over security concerns.
You might also recall that Australia became the first country in the world to ban Huawei from its 5G rollout over similar concerns. Or that TikTok is theoretically banned in the US because it apparently pillages people’s information and sends it all to the Chinese Communist Party.
In other interesting news recently, Huawei and Dongfeng Group signed a co-operation agreement to build new mid-range and high-end EVS that will “generate a smarter travel experience than any other EVs”.
All of which raises the question, is it wise to shun Chinese technology, or a little bit pointless when the Chinese make so many of the smart devices in your home already? And the ones in your pocket.
I’m not going to profess an opinion, because I made a joke about Winnie the Pooh in print recently and there’s been a strange flickering of the screen on my smartphone ever since.
I will say that China’s live-fire drills did cause great human suffering, because several Virgin flights between Australia and New Zealand had to be diverted, which meant people having to spend more time than necessary on a Virgin flight.
