Americans Are Going to Revolt If Trump Doesn’t Let BYD Sell Here, The Cars Are Too Good

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

• BYD, backed early by Warren Buffett, surpassed Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) in 2024 revenue with $109 billion, largely driven by dominance in China and expanding sales in emerging markets.
• BYD’s claimed five-minute EV charging technology, if proven viable, represents a major industry breakthrough and could significantly challenge Tesla and other automakers globally.
• While U.S. tariffs currently shield Tesla domestically, BYD’s rapid innovation and growing global reach pose a serious competitive threat in international markets.
• Volatility has returned to the markets, and investors are spooked. If you’re feeling uneasy, speak with a financial advisor today to learn whether you’re ahead, or behind on your retirement dreams. It’s completely free, and only takes a minute. You can get started with this quick quiz.

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Transcript:

[00:00:04] Doug McIntyre: So some big news this week, BYD, which is the large Chinese EV company that Warren Buffett was a very early investor,

[00:00:13] Lee Jackson: Very early, very smart too.

[00:00:16] Doug McIntyre: My suspicion is that he made a, he always makes a fortune on things, but I think he made a fortune on this as well. Their total revenue at about a hundred billion dollars for 2024 passed Teslas by,

[00:00:30] Lee Jackson: It’s 109 billion and you’re absolutely correct.

[00:00:33] Lee Jackson: And they moved ahead the first time ever.

[00:00:36] Doug McIntyre: Now, people who are critics of that math will say, well, they also make these plugin hybrid. So, it’s not apples to apples, but the headline in the Wall Street Journal of the Financial Times is still, BYD has moved ahead of Tesla.

[00:00:55] Doug McIntyre: Now, BYD is a fascinating company. Most of its sales are in China, but China is the world’s largest EV market. It has started to move into what I would describe as the secondary car market. So, they’re starting to sell cars in places like Africa.

[00:01:14] Lee Jackson: In South America, Yeah. Australia as well, right?

[00:01:17] Doug McIntyre: Yeah. They can’t break into the United States or Europe yet because of tariffs. We’ve got a hundred percent tariffs on Chinese EVs right now. But I gotta tell you something, American consumers are not going to put up with being kept out of a market of really awesome EVs that are half the price of the EVs you can buy in the United States right now.

[00:01:42] Lee Jackson: Yeah.

[00:01:42] Doug McIntyre: That can’t last forever.

[00:01:44] Lee Jackson: Well, and again, the buying public for EVs is what, x amount, 10, 15% of total buyers, whatever the number is. But I mean, they also announced, when they announced those really blockbuster earnings for last year in 109 billion, they announced that they have charging capability that they can charge how fast?

[00:02:05] Lee Jackson: Five minutes?

[00:02:07] Doug McIntyre: That is the single biggest game changer. I’m assuming it’s true. If it’s true. Yeah. Since ev, since EVs went onto the road, the biggest objection is I can put gas in my car in five minutes.

[00:02:21] Doug McIntyre: An EV 20 minute, depending on the wattage of your charger and all that sort of thing. Right. five minutes, revolutionizes.

[00:02:32] Doug McIntyre: The industry, and they also apparently have a self-driving, capacity. This car reviewers say is as good as, Tesla’s full self-driving mode, right? If they’ve got cars that they charge 50% less than Tesla does, they’ve got full self-driving and they’ve got a five minute charger, I don’t know that I’d want to be Tesla going head to head with them.

[00:03:02] Lee Jackson: Well, certainly not in any of the place where, they’re going head to head marketing against them. No. And you would have to think that the Chinese Communist Party encourages loyal Chinese citizens to buy BYD over Tesla. But, Tesla’s like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). It’s a brand name that the Chinese really like.

[00:03:25] Lee Jackson: They really, I mean that I, I think that, rhymes with affluent in Mandarin. And so that’ll be interesting. That’ll be interesting to see. But boy, if, you could charge an EV in five or 10 minutes, that’s one of the things in, and of itself that could change the industry.

[00:03:43] Doug McIntyre: Well, so let’s break this down a little bit more.

[00:03:46] Doug McIntyre: They can’t hurt Tesla with this in the United States because of the tariffs.

[00:03:50] Lee Jackson: No. And they’ll never be here.

[00:03:52] Doug McIntyre: The problem is, that if you’re a US car company and you’re doing business in China, the problem is you don’t have a five minute charger and BYD does.

[00:04:04] Lee Jackson: Amen.

[00:04:05] Doug McIntyre: So when you come right down to it, the threat right now for Tesla and the US car companies, or the Japanese car companies or the German car companies or the South Korean car companies that have EVs, is they have just come up, with it’s magic.

[00:04:21] Doug McIntyre: They’ve come up with something that’s magic. This is four to five times faster than the charging times under the best circumstances.

[00:04:28] Lee Jackson: Yeah, absolutely. and the thing is, when you get, and you know what that’ll force Musk to do, it’ll force Musk, and of course the big three and anybody else who makes Nevie, it’ll force them to get a five minute charger.

[00:04:43] Lee Jackson: And that ain’t gonna be cheap

[00:04:45] Doug McIntyre: If they can Yeah. The question is, okay, look, if I’m Tesla or I’m Ford and I have a five minute charger, I’d have it on the market now. Yeah, true. Because it’s such a game changer. So I think when you look at that, they don’t have one, and I haven’t heard anything in the car industry that says they’re close,

[00:05:06] Lee Jackson: Nor have I.

[00:05:07] Lee Jackson: And you would’ve thought that, when that BYD, info hit the tape, you would’ve thought, well, if they do have something that’s similar to that, they would’ve been, their PR people would’ve been saying, Hey guys, let’s go out and tell ’em that we’re close.

[00:05:20] Doug McIntyre: They would be all over it.

[00:05:21] Lee Jackson: Yep. Be all over it.

[00:05:22] Lee Jackson: Yep. Well, I think it’ll prove to be an interesting game changer. It’s kind of like the Chinese AI. It’s, it’s yet to be proven if it’s gonna be as good, but boy, here we go.

[00:05:36] Doug McIntyre: Here we go again.

[00:05:37] Lee Jackson: Yep. Here we go again.

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