Detroit automakers like General Motors made a fortune selling cars to Chinese consumers after the Asian country opened its auto market to foreign firms in the 1980s. But the good times are over as Chinese firms have caught up with the foreign firms who once taught them the automotive trade. Top names like BYD, Geely and Great Wall are now making globally competitive products and many companies with tech backgrounds are entering the industry, too, including Li Auto, XPeng, Nio, Xiaomi, Huawei, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. Jeep’s joint venture already went bankrupt, and one industry analyst said he expects Ford and GM to withdraw from the country in the next five years along with other such as Hyundai, Kia and Nissan.

Chapters:
00:00 2:09: Why American automakers are failing in China
2:18 Chapter 1 A massive market
4:13 Chapter 2 Rise and fall
6:15 Chapter 3 How it happened
11:22 Chapter 4 High Productivity
14:27 Chapter 5 What’s next

Producer: Robert Ferris
Editor: Darren Geeter
Animation: Jason Reginato, Christina Locopo
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Editorial Support: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional footage: Getty Images, BYD, Polestar, Hyundai Motors
Additional sources: FactSet, Tesla, General Motors, Kiel Institute

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Why American Automakers Are Failing In China