⚡Chinese cars, Mexican roads and American brands 🇺🇸

Happy Wednesday (yay - it’s hump day!). Welcome to Electric Avenue, we deliver electric news to you at a rate that requires liquid cooled cables. None of that passive cooling nonsense. 🔌

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Charging Station of the Week 🔌

• Trip report: Chinese cars, Mexican roads and American brands 🇺🇸

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

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Let's dive in!

Charging Station of the Week 🔌

It's funny that we end up with flagship fast-charging locations that look like petrol stations. 😄 

The key facts:

• 📍 Rechargery Market in Garner, NC by IONNA

• 🔌 6 x CCS1 & 4 x NACS 400kW chargers by Alpitronic

• 🛍️ Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology - drivers can grab what they need in an unmanned shop

• 💲$0.39 / kWh introductory pricing

Trip report: Chinese cars, Mexican roads and American brands 🇺🇸

Hey y’all, uncle Janek here! Two weeks ago I went on an extended weekend trip to Mexico City. Coming from the American car market, I was surprised to see the amount of Chinese-built gas and electric vehicles on the road there.

This all started right at the airport. The luggage hall and luggage carousels had large screens that were playing video ads for models of Chinese auto brands like BYD, MG, ZEEKR and others that I had never even heard of before.

Over the next days, while walking the streets of areas like Polanco, Roma Norte and Condesa I noticed small BYD electric hatchbacks and all kinds of Chinese vehicle models that were mostly foreign to me.

A little bit of background here: The US car market today is dominated by mostly American brands (Dodge/Ford/Chevy and their large pickup trucks and SUVs), German brands (sporty sedans and crossover SUV’s), Japanese brands (reliable cars in all segments) and the Korean “challenger brands” Hyundai, KIA and their premium brand Genesis.

There are many reasons why Chinese brands haven't made much inroads into the US market, but one of the main ones is tariffs. As far back as the first Trump administration, the US introduced significant tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles, especially electric ones. These tariffs were later maintained by the Biden administration, and even increased to a whopping 100% tariff on Chinese-built EVs in September 2024. Of course, the recent tariffs under the second Trump administration only escalate this.

In Mexico on the other hand, affordable Chinese-built vehicles were very much welcome in the past. Mexico has domestic assembly plants for lots of foreign car brands from Europe and the US, but it lacks a domestic car brand so domestic buyers put cost before brand loyalty in a lot of cases.

Along those lines, Mexico dropped tariffs on Chinese-built cars to 0% in 2020, which significantly changed its domestic auto market. By 2024, Chinese imports rose to 485,00 vehicles, meaning nearly one in three new cars sold in Mexico was built in China.

Mexico has re-introduced a 20% tariff on Chinese gas cars in October 2022 but kept tariffs on Chinese EVs at 0% to promote e-mobility in the country. Only recently, in October 2024 Mexico also re-introduced a 20% tariff on Chinese electric cars.

But back to my time in CDMX. In the first two days I was noticing the high visibility of Chinese brands in advertisements, vehicles on the road and fancy BYD and ZEEKR showrooms on main shopping streets.

But it wasn't until the third day, when I found myself in a Dodge Attitude on an Uber ride, that I realised there was more Chinese car technology around than meets the eye. I was curious to see where these small compact cars with American brands like Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford were developed. I thought it might be difficult for an automotive engineer driving a Dodge RAM pickup in Detroit to empathise with the user needs of an Uber driver in Mexico City who's just looking for an affordable small car like the Dodge Attitude.

A quick search revealed some interesting facts: Most of the entry-level cars with American badges in Mexico are now also designed and manufactured in China. Here’s a rundown of some examples:

Dodge Attitude (2025): This compact sedan is really a GAC Trumpchi Empow from China, rebadged as a Dodge. Its 1.5-liter turbo engine, 10.25-inch touchscreen, and driver-assist features were all engineered by GAC in China. Stellantis, Dodge’s parent company, adds some Dodge branding, but the core design doesn’t involve U.S. or Mexican engineering.

Dodge Journey (2022–present): Another rebadged model, this one’s a GAC Trumpchi GS5, produced in China through a Stellantis-GAC partnership.

Chevrolet Captiva (2022–present): This SUV is a rebadged Baojun 530, made by SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture with General Motors in China.

Chevrolet Aveo: It’s Chevrolet’s top-selling model in Mexico, a rebadged SAIC-GM vehicle. In 2023, 74,000 of the 173,000 Chevrolets sold in Mexico were Chinese-built, with the Aveo leading the way.

Chevrolet Groove: This is a rebadged Baojun 510, also from SAIC-GM-Wuling.

Chevrolet S10 Max: A pickup that’s actually a Wuling model, built in China.

The pattern is clear: GM and Stellantis partner with Chinese firms like SAIC-GM-Wuling and GAC to bring affordable cars to Mexico. These models fill their lineups with budget-friendly sedans and SUVs that appeal to local buyers.

Here’s the interesting part: by selling these rebadged Chinese cars, American brands are introducing Mexican drivers to Chinese technology, design, and quality. This is making people more open to Chinese vehicles, whether they carry an American badge or come directly from brands like BYD or ZEEKR.

Chinese manufacturers are taking advantage of this. Brands like MG, BYD, and ZEEKR are setting up their own showrooms, building on this growing familiarity. This trend is especially significant for electric vehicles. A recent Bloomberg article noted that countries open to Chinese carmakers see faster EV adoption. For example, Thailand’s EV sales jumped nearly 280% in two years, driven by Chinese brands. Brazil saw over 500% growth in its EV market, largely due to affordable Chinese electric cars.

Mexico has been following a similar path. For years, it kept tariffs on Chinese EVs at 0% to encourage electric car use. Even with a new 20% tariff introduced in late 2024, the foundation for EV growth is strong. But there’s a challenge ahead: the Trump administration is pressuring Mexico to adopt the U.S.’s 100% tariffs on Chinese imports. Now, under pressure from Trumps new tariffs, Mexico seems to be willing to trade goodwill with the US government for potentially even higher tariffs on Chinese car imports, but negotiations are still ongoing. If Mexico agrees, this promising shift toward electric vehicles could face a major setback.

This raises a big question: should Mexico stay open to Chinese cars to support the shift to green energy, or lean toward protectionism to align with U.S. economic priorities?

3 Links 🔗

• Veni, Vidi, but no Vici📉: Korean electronics giant LG exits charger business amid weak demand and citing price pressures. This comes only 3 years after LG entered. (Link)

• Mercedes x TMH partner for Smart Charging⚡: Mercedes is about to launch its Next-Gen EV, the fully-electric CLA sedan, which is based on a new 800V battery architecture. To launch the next generation of energy services, the company partners now with The Mobility House, to implement both V1G and V2G services across Europe. (Link)

• Tesla goes gas station⛽: In its latest blog post, the Tesla Charging team announced the next evolution of Supercharger utilization optimization: Dynamic pricing! Tesla will pilot on-peak and off-peak pricing based on live Supercharger utilization at 10 sites in the US. Check out the full post on X for a history of Tesla’s charging price incentive evolution. (Tesla Charging Post on X)

Most-clicked link last week: Was the backlink to our previous story on ⚡ EV Trip Planning Masterclass 📖 

Meme of the Week 🤡

🤣🤣🤣

That's a wrap for this week! Let us know how you feel and leave some feedback (We read every single one of these 🙂 ):

Reader Review of the Week ✍️

Selected ⚡️ You didn’t bring the heat on ⚡🌊 Bridging the Atlantic: Insights into the EV Charging Landscapes 🇪🇺🇺🇸 and wrote:

“All for intelligent electrification, but not at the expense of democracy. Tesla will not be viable if Musk stays connected to the brand.”

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.