I’ve xiaohongshu’ed too close to the sun now i’m getting used Baojun Kiwi listings this one is way too pricy tho, and the comments are letting the guy know (48,000 rmb so like 7k USD, which feels pricy)

You probably all know by now that i’m low key obsessed with with the (Nio) Firefly. For 2026, the car has refreshed suspension and some OTA software updates that have it a bump in power and added…. ….the ability to cast your nintendo switch directly to the car. Pretty nifty!

trying not to frame this in too gatekeep-y a way, but it's *really* weird, as someone who's tinkered with cars my whole life and never really had much interest in racing games, to come across car enthusiasts whose engagement with the hobby is entirely through video games.

This is a form of psychosis. These people will burn the world if they have their way.

I legitimately thought this was AI. (Honda hybrid sedan prototype)

idk man it just feels like we gave rich people all the money and they didn't do anything with it I think fundamentally that's why China's kicking our teeth in

That’s not untrue, but lots of the cars that the U.S. automakers want to compete with China in, are also made in places that have low labor costs. Most of Ford and GM’s cheaper cars and EVs are made in Mexico.

I understand that, but the american automakers have made it very clear that they would rather not be in that niche. why not let someone else have it?

it’s old (racist) people. that’s the section.

idk what the “existential threat” chinese cars pose to American car companies especially since there’s so little desire for them to make the types of vehicles that people expect from Chinese car brands: smaller and cheaper electrified cars and crossovers

Two police officers from Gratis, Ohio, an all-white town per the US census, showed up at a majority Latinx public school in Cincinnati—50 miles away—to search for kids for ICE, disguised as a “wellness check.”

off the wall idea: offering the Fiat Grande Panda in EV, Hybrid, and ICE form wouldn’t be a terrible idea for the US and Canadian market

Black people saw the largest decline in financial stability for nearly every category compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new Federal Reserve survey.

i cannot emphasize enough that nothing of radical importance can occur on any of these platforms. the second you start treating them like some sort of global town hall for changing hearts and minds you’ve lost the plot

am i crazy or have vibes shifted so hard in media and reporting in past month no one i know in the industry is having a good time

as i said weeks ago, there are a lot of high level decisions and conversations that are now no longer being held with the US’s political or business input. i don’t think bringing a gaggle of businessmen will impress china. they already have plenty of smart people there already.

i think it’s anyone’s game as to whether or not Chinese cars will ever come to the United States

you can literally see where the power steering starts and stops working let’s hope the new PS motor fixes it

cars are so spacious without steering columns

has anyone noticed that the comments on most videos now are incredibly racist was watching a black lady on tiktok talk about being careful on New Zealand beaches becuase the currents can be dangerous and people have drowned the comments are full of people telling her to go back to her country

being annoying on Bluesky or Twitter isn’t praxis

I wonder how much easier life and EV adoption would be if there were federal programs or mandates to install NEMA 14-50 outlets outside or in garages especially in places where I live (the midwest) where parking is plentiful

just learned you could at one time get the Buick Lacrosse with a 1.3L three cylinder turbo engine (in China) i must drive one

I won a piece of furniture in an auction, but it was too big to fit in my Fiat 500. I rented a car, and was given a 2025 Chevy Trailblazer LT AWD, and….this doesn’t feel like a lot of car for the money. has china ruined me?

A lot of your Nissan Altima memes are rooted in misogynoir and I don’t really think they’re funny

i haven’t played video games in a long while, but I’ve always loved Gran Turismo’s insistence on adding strange or obscure cars in its game — like a diesel Mazda Demio sometimes Forza Horizon’s car list feels like fanservice for people on reddit

didn’t forget about this thing: 1. Ordered a new power steering motor that will go in likely this weekend. 2. the traction battery needs a refresh. I’ve got a code that says “replace battery”. It’s definitely right, this thing will go from purple (one bar) to green, at idle, in 45 seconds.

"Ford, GM, and RAM trucks are the best selling things in the U.S. market! They clearly love their trucks!" Ok. Now let's look at how poorly (by comparison) full sized trucks that aren't by those brands do in our market let's think plz

oh. ok. cool.

i think automakers do a lot of myth making (marketing) and a lot of y’all really believe it unquestionably

what a cutie

at the beijing airport, I noticed that this BYD had its exact usable capacity stated clearly on the door. perhaps like the obsession with batteries and not causing fires has spread to airport vehicles? interesting.

other vehicle manufacturers make EVs. arguably, companies like BYD, Geely et al do more to get people into EVs since they make ones that people who aren’t well-to-do in the “first world” can afford

how much did this fucking cost???

okay i guess.

The racist dog whistles posted on XHS are distinctly right wing American, and identical to what you’d see on twitter or IG reels. It does not feel authentic to what i’ve experienced as Chinese anti-blackness.

There’s a lot of racist shit on Xiaohongshu and I know for damn sure that it’s not Chinese people posting it

i think i’m finally un-jet lagged?

we have no high speed trains, and no willpower to create them. spirit and frontier are kind of all we got. spirit folding is bad news.

I think a lot of folks at some of these big outlets do not know enough about cars to confidently say why Chinese EVs are dominating the global market and why Western ones from legacy are ignored. I am seeing so many bad takes on this site from people who work at big institutions!

some of you think i like every chinese car and that isn’t true. Here’s one I didn’t like: the Ji Yue 01. It felt like there were a lot concessions made to get the Baidu Level 2-3 self driving tech in there. The car is kind of loud with a mediocre interior. Also the ADAS stuff didn’t feel special.

I bet "the Detroit CEOs should have simply pivoted to Chinese-style EVs" goes crazy hard if you've never watched Wall Street analysts roll their eyes at the latest automaker effort to build new businesses because it's easier on them if legacy businesses don't even pretend they will ever change

just because a corporation spent a whole bunch of money on an EV doesn’t mean it was any good. you can spend a lot of money on vehicle development, but spend money on the wrong things and end up with a bad car i think blaming consumer tastes for bad product is a cop out

If the internet can be trusted, Xiaomi "Only" spent about $2 billion USD to develop the SU7 sedan. (I don't think this counts building its factories, tho)

What would life look like if these big ass companies spent more money on development and research instead of stock buybacks? $6 billion would pay for like a couple new model line developments, even in the USA. And yet… idk these companies made their bed and now they have to lie in it.

I think there are a lot of things to rightfully critique China’s car industry and its products for. I think there are also a lot of unknowns that these car brands have when it comes to long term reliability but a lot of you all don’t have enough information to say the things you do. that’s unfair.

you can’t sit in one chinese car and then claim to know the whole industry and country That’s not fair. Is a mitsubishi mirage repressive of the entire Japanese car industry? Is it the best Japan has to offer? Is it something Japanese people buy en masse? No? okay then.

i think there’s an overemphasis on subsidies or state incentives when talking about Chinese cars and thus the tech itself is overlooked especially since western brands operating in china got some of the same subsidies. where’d the money go?

I was fortunate to be filming the Beijing Auto Show once again with the one and only @gaytonausa.bsky.social of InsideEVs and I thought I'd share a few thoughts on what I've seen. A thread.

I probably won’t write about the Nio Firefly again (dynamically, at least) but I got 10 minutes with the 2026 car with updated suspension and more power and Nio has fixed my complaint with the suspension (slightly unresolved ride) This is now my favorite car I’ve ever driven in China.