BYD’s plug-in hybrid pickup has no American rival at any price — a dagger aimed squarely at the heart of the U.S. market. Chinese cars can’t be kept outside the U.S. forever, argues Clifford Winston, an economist and fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in transportation. He predicts Chinese vehicles — or the technology inside them — will find their way into the American market within years, because the center of innovation of the global auto market has moved to China. “Eventually, they’ll come here,” insisted Winston.
Look carefully, and you’ll see Chinese auto tech has already reached U.S. shores: Waymo’s Ojai robotaxi, powered by American software, is built in China. So are the Buick Envision and Lincoln Nautilus. China is increasingly where Western companies are going to learn how to make the EVs that the world will buy. “We see the Chinese as the main competitor,” said Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, in 2023, “not GM or Toyota.” Even as newcomers such as Tesla, Rivian, Slate and Telo charge into the market, it may already be too late for large swaths of the U.S. auto industry. “The question is, over all these decades [the Big Three] have had to get better: Why haven’t they?” asked Winston, noting automakers’ reliance on large, expensive SUVs and trucks during decades of protectionist policies. “Why are we hurting consumers, given they are never going to be better?” In some ways, the U.S. industry has slipped into reverse. To defend domestic profits on high-margin pickup trucks and luxury SUVs, the Big Three have largely stopped selling competitive offerings for mass-market buyers, while writing off $52 billion in EV investments after the Trump administration ended EV incentives. Yet globally, gasoline cars’ reign may have already ended. For the first time, gasoline-only cars were the minority of new car sales in the first half of 2026: 49 percent down from 73 percent in 2021. Most still have a gas tank — thanks to hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles — but the fastest-growing segment is battery-electrics, accounting for 17 percent of the global market. Most were made in China. “Divergence is the key to the story right now,” said Sean Tucker, managing editor of Kelley Blue Book at Cox Automotive. “The challenge is: How do you compete internationally and protect your turf domestically? It is an enormous expense in a world where demand in the U.S. is nothing like what it is outside.” In Mexico, at least, many people have moved on. For them, the future is made in China. “I’ll never return to gasoline,” Arnold Cruz, 34, a doctor who traded in his VW for a BYD, his first Chinese vehicle, said at a charging station in Mexico City. “I had my doubts. But honestly, it’s been great.” His friends, he added, weren’t quite ready for all-electric. They’ll be buying hybrids first. Here’s what I drove in Mexico, and what it means for the future of what you will drive.
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