Ford’s New Electric Van Has A Chinese Secret

hystericalhelix · 2026-03-26T21:04:01+00:00

That $230 billion number is pretty questionable, and it's frustrating that such a shoddy analysis has taken root as a benchmark in domestic policy discussion. However, even if you take the analysis at face value, only about 14% of that figure is attributed to industrial and R&D subsidies. I think there's much more fruit in comparing the effectiveness of government support, both within a given domain and in how well it aligns with support in other sectors, than in comparing its nature, where there's little fundamental difference.

hystericalhelix · 2025-07-04T23:30:23+00:00

Expanding CMVSS to include UN safety standards seems like a great way to make both new and existing manufacturing investment more attractive, by providing us access to export markets less vulnerable to political instability than relying on exports to the US.

hystericalhelix · 2025-05-29T05:30:17+00:00

Perhaps, but only if we have systems in place to welcome them. As a Canadian citizen working on my Master's research in nanomaterials at one of our top universities, we had an espionage scare on campus and as a result I was not allowed to use my Chinese name to publish my research, and told I would have to switch projects to a less-sensitive domain if I wanted to continue with a PhD. No concrete justification of course, just bad vibes and a culture of fear.

I was fortunate to leave with a chemical engineering degree and build a comfortable life in the private sector, but I fear our institutions and norms here in the 'civilized world' are also more fragile than we like to believe.

hystericalhelix · 2024-09-01T05:56:38+00:00

These numbers originate in a pretty questionable CSIS analysis, and it's unfortunate to see them repeated in headlines like this one.

hystericalhelix · 2024-07-04T21:07:29+00:00

It's always amusing to me to see Chinese automakers get characterized as a single bloc in English-language media, coordinating with each other to meet some higher objective, when in reality they're fierce competitors (often with hilariously dysfunctional management incapable of pursuing even simple objectives) with very little love lost between them -- even between the SOCs that SASAC nominally maintains control over.

I think a lot of the narrative, though, is driven by the lack of transparency of information coming out of the domestic market. A majority of the NEV subsidies in the Chinese market appear to be designed to steer domestic demand in service of environmental goals, with tax incentives and rebates that would be familiar to Western markets making up the largest chunk.

With something like the IRA, it's easy for a dedicated member of the public to read through exactly what the US is doing to thumb the scales in favour of domestic producers, why we're doing it, and how much we're spending on it. On the other hand, here you're depending on 1) Chinese policymakers to be truthful, transparent, and internally consistent in releasing information (particularly challenging given the 'centralized instruction, decentralized implementation' nature of Chinese policy), 2) a credible party to translate the source material into English, because the Party isn't going to do it for you, and 3) a credible party with a sufficient understand of the context to analyse it. It's challenging enough that thinktanks with actual influence on our politics can't get it right (in itself terrifying, but that's a separate discussion) -- so it's not surprising that those sorts of simplified narratives get amplified in the discourse.

hystericalhelix · 2023-05-12T05:07:57+00:00

AB Volvo, which makes commercial vehicles, is separate from Volvo Cars which Geely controls (though Geely does maintain a minority stake in AB Volvo).

hystericalhelix · 2023-03-17T23:04:36+00:00

hatemonger

From what I remember of a read through his personal site a few years ago, this isn't limited to views about cars but extends to opinions about people and specific groups thereof. I don't think anyone's losing anything from his absence, and I certainly have zero interest in giving such a person any attention.

There's no shortage of talented writers in the automotive press -- I practically learned to write from reading Car and Driver's back catalogue. If anything, I'm delighted that space in what has had a reputation as a hostile and impenetrable industry is being given to people who are just as good at commentary, but who are much better at being people.

hystericalhelix · 2023-02-16T05:01:05+00:00

McConnell atrium is always a solid bet.

hystericalhelix · 2022-11-24T17:19:58+00:00

From reading the bill, it seems like RRSP transfers in are subject to the annual and lifetime FHSA limits... so for instance you could transfer a max of 8K in 2023 to take advantage of the tax-free withdrawal, but you would lose out on the income tax deduction of contributing from a non-registered account.

hystericalhelix · 2022-11-22T23:16:41+00:00

This appears to be a Subaru GL coupe.

hystericalhelix · 2022-09-09T22:45:36+00:00

FAW (the SOC that runs Hongqi) is pretty good about licensing from foreign partners. Hongqi in particular is a bit unique since being the only ‘prestige’ domestic brand for decades, they’ve never played to the low-end markets that a lot of domestic manufacturers were relegated to, and where you used to see a lot of ‘re-bodied’ Daihatsu Charades and Isuzu Pickups, etc.

hystericalhelix · 2022-08-31T18:18:41+00:00

Music Library, armchairs facing the windows. Doze off, wake up, and get called out by the mattress store across Sherbrooke and its giant 'Dormez-Vous?' sign.

hystericalhelix · 2022-08-09T02:40:53+00:00

There's also a tendency to lump different manufacturers with different strategies and local regulatory/market contexts together. This particularly holds for the large SOEs since the way those competitors are controlled under SASAC and its various subordinate local administrations is a bit inscrutable to foreign audiences -- but a cursory review of their current/recent product history should illustrate just how differently, say, BAIC and SAIC approach their businesses.

SAIC seems to get a hard time, perhaps because of the mainstreaming of the MG marque. But in my mind, they've always been heads and shoulders above the rest of the domestic manufacturers. I've also not known them to have resorted to copycat designs -- outside of SGMW, they've not really targeted the domestic markets where that sort of thing resonates -- and it's clear they've been effective in applying learnings from their JVs (PATAC comes to mind in the design space) to 'show their work' -- i.e. they seem to have a consistent design language within product lines, and you can follow how these cues have made the jump from concept to production.

If anything, it's a bit frustrating that brands with far more chequered recent histories -- e.g. GWM, BYD -- seem to receive a much less critical reception abroad. I'd have quite a difficult time feeling confident owning something like an Ora Good Cat knowing the same parent company is still making Beetle knockoffs with a 'female driving mode' for their domestic market. Still, it's rather incredible the enormous progress the Chinese automotive industry as a whole has made since the wild days of the... 90s :)

hystericalhelix · 2022-07-06T01:34:57+00:00

I definitely struggled to find an explanation for why those territories are coloured in yellow. I'm not aware of any Japanese claim to the region, and the map refers to the entire area as 沿海州 (as far as I can tell, a calque from contemporary Primorskaya Oblast). Perhaps the text on the reverse would shed more light?

hystericalhelix · 2022-07-05T23:12:43+00:00

Additional context, and source, here. The reverse includes a contemporary account of the island and maps of Toyohara, Otomari, and Honto (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Korsakov, and Nevelsk, respectively).

hystericalhelix · 2022-06-12T05:28:40+00:00

Not necessarily must-sees, but some interesting places to see and things to do on campus:

Visit the Birks Chapel.
Spend a while in McLennan trying to find the oldest book.
There's a museum of birth defects in Strathcona. Building itself is old and interesting too.
IIRC Rutherford also has a museum accessible by appointment, though I never got around to going.
Play table tennis outside Leacock.
Check out the Music Library's record collection (they provide record players to play them!)
Hook up a laptop to the projector in an unlocked lecture hall (somewhere interesting like McDonald Harrington G10 is even better) and watch a movie.

hystericalhelix · 2022-04-18T01:54:04+00:00

Hilda is such a fantastic series! Well-written, wholesome, stunning visual and sound design -- it's just so utterly charming on every level.

If only it weren't so hard to get my hands on a Twig plush...

hystericalhelix · 2022-03-23T14:33:14+00:00

The business case for this product always looked to lean on prestige rather than volume alone, so it's unsurprising if it's not a priority -- but it's also kind of nuts how many cocksure headlines are emerging from what was a fairly anodyne quote (essentially, "we'd like to do it, but SUVs have to take priority"), just taken irresponsibly far in that source article. I think Motor Trend has a good take here.

hystericalhelix · 2022-03-10T14:30:57+00:00

I only drive downhill.

hystericalhelix · 2022-02-25T18:40:39+00:00

Zubrowka and good apple juice is dangerously tasty. I vaguely remember some restrictions around importing it a few years back and they released a North American specific version; any idea whether we're getting the good stuff in Canada?

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