If you want to buy a new or used vehicle, you will likely be looking at GM, Ford, Chrysler, Tesla, Toyota and Honda, they dominate the market and most of us have one or more of their vehicles. However, the second biggest world’s economy is China and all those automakers are in China, but a different name leads the sales number.

In an article by Claire Fu and Rich Barbieri of the New York Times News Service. Chinese corporate giant BYD sold 3 million battery-powered cars. The total was made up of 1.6 million fully electric and another 1.4 million hybrids. BYD made $1.5 billion in the first half of last year.

According to the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Chinese automakers sold 9.4 million electric vehicles and hybrids up from 6.9 million in 2022. In 2024, the expectation is 11.5 million.

China rules the supply chain for battery powered cars – from the mining and processing of cobalt and other materials used in batteries, to the deployment of robots that make the vehicles. In total 1.5 million people are employed in the manufacturing process.

One of the reasons China is in the lead for adoption of electric vehicles is government support.

Tesla has a large presence in China and is expected to sell 1.8 million cars worldwide. During the year. Tesla lost some market share to rivals as they introduced new electric vehicles.

BYD is large in the US, but rarely sells in the US because of high protection tariffs. To sell more cars, they are targeting Europe by building a factory in Hungary.

BMW is investing $1.4 billion in a battery plant in Shenyang.

VW which counts China as its biggest sales market, is moving more of its supply chain and manufacturing to China.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most of us buy branded items and we think they are better. Sometimes the answer is not that simple. it could be high tariffs help direct us to lower tariff items. Government policies can help and hurt companies you invest in, do you know what the tariffs are for the companies you invest in?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.