---
title: 'RIP Rimac'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Po4gJlbLdoE'
video_id: 'Po4gJlbLdoE'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 547
---

# RIP Rimac

> Source: [RIP Rimac](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Po4gJlbLdoE)

## Summary

The video analyzes how Chinese automakers outcompeted German brands like BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Porsche in the domestic market and are now expanding globally. It outlines a four-step playbook: selling at a loss to drive out competition, controlling the battery supply chain, outpacing rivals with rapid product launches, and turning exports into the primary growth engine. The narrator argues this is a coordinated, government-backed strategy that is already reshaping the global auto industry.

### Key Points

- **China's playbook: outspend, out-subsidize, then ban competition** [00:01] — China did not out-design German automakers; it outspent and out-subsidized them, then legally banned below-cost selling once it won. German sales collapsing in China is a symptom, not the disease.
- **Move 1: Sell at a loss until competitors quit** [01:07] — China ran a price war at unprecedented scale. By early 2026, profit margins across China's auto industry collapsed to 3.2% from 4.4%. 70% of car sales were losing money, and the industry burned ~$68 billion. Suppliers waited up to 300 days for payment.
- **Government intervention ends the price war** [01:46] — In February 2026, the government made selling below cost illegal and cut the EV purchase tax exemption from full to 50%. The price war ended by government decree, not market correction. Even winners like BYD saw net profit drop 17%.
- **Move 2: Lock up the battery supply chain** [02:29] — Chinese firms control ~70% of global battery production. CATL supplies Tesla, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and others. BYD is both the largest EV maker and battery producer. China made a new battery fire safety standard mandatory (2 hours protection) and placed export license requirements on eight core battery technologies.
- **Move 3: Outrun everyone with product density** [04:01] — In one month, 20 Chinese automakers each sold over 10,000 EVs, and 21 models crossed 21,000 sales. China launches more competitive EV models in a year than BMW's entire global lineup. Example: BYD Seagull sells for ~$10,000 in China, ~$25,000 in Europe, still cheapest EV on the continent.
- **Move 4: Turn the whole machine outward** [05:12] — China became the largest vehicle exporter, growing from 4.9 million exports in 2023 to 7.1 million in 2025. In June 2026, monthly exports hit a record, up 75% year-over-year. EVs made up more than half of exports. Domestic retail sales fell 24%, making exports the growth engine.
- **Buying factories abroad** [06:16] — BYD is in talks to take over idle Stellantis capacity in Europe. Geely is looking at Ford's old plant in Valencia, Spain. Another automaker eyes Renault's plant in Reims, France. This mirrors Japan and Korea's playbook but faster, with the battery supply chain already secured.
- **Tesla's dependence on China** [07:07] — Tesla's Shanghai factory is one of its largest, exporting most of its vehicles. Tesla relies on the Chinese battery supply chain and export license system, standing in the same line as BMW and Mercedes.
- **Takeaway: A coordinated, patient strategy** [07:34] — The real story is a government and industry running a four-move playbook with more patience and coordination than any single car company. Germany and America treated it as a temporary phase, but it's a finished chapter with factories being bought in Spain and France.

### Conclusion

China's four-step playbook—win at home, control supply chains, outpace rivals, and export aggressively—has decisively reshaped the global auto industry. The video warns that Western automakers must adapt quickly or risk being left behind.

## Transcript

did not out-design BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen, it outspent them, out-subsidized them, and then legally banned itself from doing it again once the job was finished. Every headline this year, it seems like it's all about
German sales collapsing in China, but that is the symptom, not the disease. After days of research, I'm going to break down the exact four-play playbook market away from BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Porsche, and why that
same playbook is already loading onto container ships headed for the rest of 2 mil by the end of the year, and let's go. Hey guys, real quick, the giveaway for the Shelby and Supra in the $100,000 has ended, and well, the winners are
being picked right now. But, we're coming back bigger and better and first comment because, like Rocky who won the GT-R, like Greg who won the 100K, you can sign up to be notified and get 100 free entries once it goes live.
So, click the link down below, go put in your email, and I can't wait to show you what we have cooking. All right, back to the show. All right, and the first move was sell at a loss until everyone else quits. That is pretty much the oldest
trick in the book, except China ran it at a scale nobody has ever attempted before. By early 2026, profit margins across China's entire auto industry had across China's entire auto industry had collapsed to 3.2% down from 4.4% just 1
year earlier. Roughly 70% of all the car sales in the country were losing money. Collectively, the industry burned through around $68 billion keeping prices low enough to starve out the competition, and part suppliers were
waiting up to 300 days just to get paid. [music] At one point, more than half of losing money because manufacturers kept pushing factory prices below what dealers needed just to break even. That is not innovation. No amount of
engineering explains selling a car for less than the metal in the costs, and once the foreign brands were bleeding enough and the weakest domestic players no free market has ever done voluntarily. It banned itself from
continuing. In February 26, the government made selling vehicles below cost illegal nationwide effective immediately. It also cut the electric vehicle purchase tax exemption in half from a full exemption down to 50%. The
price war did not end because the market corrected itself. It ended because the government called time right on schedule right after it won. Even winners felt steady growth and still watched its own net profit drop 17% because the entire
industry was competing on price instead of margin. Okay, and then move two, they locked up the battery supply chain. Now, the second move was never really aimed at cars. It was aimed at the part sitting inside every single electric car
on Earth. One company, CATL, supplies Tesla, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and dozens of other automakers worldwide. And Chinese firms control somewhere around 70% of global battery production. BYD does not even need to buy from
anyone else. It is simultaneously the largest electric vehicle maker on the battery producer. Both companies have where 5 minutes on a charger add somewhere between two and 300 miles of
range. Fast enough that people who cover this industry for a living have started saying it makes gasoline irrelevant. Go back to December 2025, China quietly made a new battery fire safety standard mandatory requiring 2 hours of
protection instead of the old 5-minute warning window. Because almost everyone on the planet sources Chinese battery cells, that standard effectively became the global standard overnight, whether any other government voted on it or not.
Then just to make sure nobody else could close the gap, China placed export license requirements on eight core battery technologies in the middle of 2025, which means foreign automakers cannot legally get their hands on the
technology already sitting inside their own vehicles. This is like owning the only flour mill in town and then personally deciding what kind of bread allowed to bake, including the one trying to compete with you. BMW and
Mercedes are paying money into the same supply chain that is quietly writing the rulebook for the entire electric future. Then, number three. They outran everybody. Yes, the third move does not have one big dramatic headline. It's
just relentlessness. In a single recent month, 20 different Chinese auto makers each posted more than 10,000 electric vehicle sales, and 21 separate models individually crossed 21,000 sales. That is a level of product density that no
single legacy brand can match one platform at a time. A 100-year-old car company plans a platform on 5-to-7-year cycles and treats that as fast. China, competitive electric models launching in a single year than BMW's entire global
lineup. You cannot out-plan a company who treats last year's best seller like it's already obsolete. Take the BYD Seagull, a small electric hatchback that sells domestically in China for around $10,000. The exported version, lightly
reworked for European roads and regulations, still lists for around $25,000 over there, and it is still one of the cheapest new electric cars that you can buy on the entire continent. Nobody in Munich or Wolfsburg is
building anything close to that price for that range. Now, move four. Turn the whole machine outward. This is the move that answers [music] the only question that actually really matters. What happens after China wins at home? China
become the single largest vehicle exporter on the planet, growing from roughly 4.9 million exported vehicles in 2023 to 7.1 million in 2025.
Then, 2026 happened, and the growth curve went vertical. In June of 2026, vehicles in a single month for the first time ever, up 75% from the year before.
For the first half of the year, total exports hit just over 5 million vehicles, up 65% year over year. Electric vehicles made up more than half of the everything shipped out that month for the first a time ever, meaning every
second car leaving China right now is electric. In the same stretch, domestic retail sales inside China fell almost 24%. Exports are not a bonus anymore. They are the entire growth engine. Now accounting for more than a third of
everything built in the country, up from a fifth of it just 1 year earlier. BYD alone exported over 170,000 vehicles in that single month, and overseas sales now make up more than 40% of its total volume. And they are not just filling
shipping containers anymore. They are buying the finish line outright. BYD is in talks to take over idle Stellantis factory capacity in Europe. Geely is looking at Ford's old assembly line in Valencia, Spain. Another Chinese
automaker is already eyeing Renault's plant in Reims, France. That is the exact same playbook Japan and Korea ran decades ago to go from cheap imports to owning driveways all around the world. The difference is China is running it
faster, and it is running it with the entire battery supply chain already sitting in its own pocket before the first ship even leaves a port. Now, we got to talk about a little honorable mention because Tesla's own supply chain
factory in Shanghai is one of its largest and most important plants on Earth, responsible for the majority of the vehicles Tesla exports to the rest Chinese battery supply chain and the same Chinese export license system as
every single one of its domestic competitors. The company that was supposed to be the one American brand immune to all this is standing in the exact same line as BMW and Mercedes, waiting on the same government to say
yes. So, here's what the takeaway is. Uh this was never really about a story about BMW ugly grills or overpriced heated seats, that was just the part everyone could actually see. The real story is a
government and an industry that ran on four move playbook with more patience and more coordination than any single car company on the planet. Win the home market by any means necessary. Lock up the raw materials so nobody else can
even build around you. Outrun everyone on speed once the field is empty. Then turn every factory outward the moment the home fight is basically won. Germany, America, and everyone else has spent the last decade treating this as a
temporary phase that could correct itself on its own. It's not a phase. It is a finished chapter and the next one already has factories being bought in Spain and France to prove it. The only real
playbook works outside of China. It already does. The only question left is everybody else by the time it is finished. So let me know your thoughts. And by the way, if you live in Europe or in Mexico or in Canada, how many Chinese
manufactured vehicles are you seeing on the roads compared to a year ago? I'd comments down below. Like, subscribe so we can hit two mil by the end of the winthisidealcars.com to get entered to win your dream car plus cash. Check out
Brad Danger. This is Ideal and promise me one thing. Keep living the ideal me one thing. Keep living the ideal lifestyle.