Chris Larsen thinks California’s low-income drivers should have access to a car they can’t legally buy today.
During an interview on the podcast “On with Kara Swisher,” Larsen, the cofounder and executive chairman of Ripple, said that California should open its market to some Chinese-made electric cars. The sales, he said, should go to income-qualified buyers.
“The BYD Seagull, $10,000 car, fabulous car,” he said. “We should be letting that into California, at least for our low-income folks.”
Larsen’s proposal runs directly against where much of the US auto industry is pushing Washington policymakers. Last week, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing automakers and suppliers, wrote a public letter urging Congress to “enact a Chinese vehicle, software and hardware ban before adjourning this year and make this policy the law of the land.”
The group said Chinese automakers’ subsidized vehicles and connected technology posed economic and national-security concerns.
Larsen argued instead that some Chinese EVs could help solve one of America’s biggest problems on the road: affordability.
The average price for a new vehicle has remained above $50,000 since April, according to Cox Automotive data. Meanwhile, gas prices remain elevated amid ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
High gas prices are particularly pronounced in California, where an excise tax adds more than $0.60 per gallon. Larsen called it the “most regressive tax in the world that’s hurting the guy who can’t afford to live in Silicon Valley.”
“Let him buy a Chinese BYD Seagull,” he said. “But maybe it had to be income tested because we’re never going to make that stuff.”
Larsen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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