How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality(spectrum.ieee.org) |
How Olinia Turns Mexico's EV Ambition into Reality(spectrum.ieee.org) |
If this ploy works you'll see larger versions of this car hitting the roads which look suspiciously like Chinese BYD and SAIC EVs. All these will of course be exported North of the Border, courtesy of NAFTA.
I hope the government stops this attempt dead in its tracks before it starts to hurt our car industry.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/10/china-byd-c...
> I hope the government stops this attempt dead in its tracks before it starts to hurt our car industry.
There is literally nothing the US gov can do to stop this. On the contrary, their actions have accelerated this. Masterful gambit.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/seekin...
https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/electric-vehicl...
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-15/china-... | https://archive.today/CXhGr
The US killed its own auto industry by shielding it from Chinese competition and rolling back EV incentive policy, to protect its profits of large combustion SUVs and trucks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/magazine/electric-cars-am... | https://archive.today/sENe1
> “We’ve reached a genuinely existential moment,” Ezell told me. In a best-case scenario, Detroit manages to meet it by crafting a viable, long-term E.V. strategy while also servicing the still dependably lucrative existing market for ICE trucks. In the worst, it retreats onto what the economist Susan Helper calls a “shrinking island of ICE,” churning out outlandishly large trucks and not much else. At which point, the obsolescence of the mighty U.S. automobile industry — a sector once inextricably associated with American know-how and economic might — would be all but guaranteed. As Ford’s chief executive, Jim Farley, recently acknowledged in a statement that could apply to any member of the Big Three, “If we don’t put our chips on the right number and the right color, Ford could maybe not exist.”
The U.S. has already stated that none of these EVs can be exported to the continental U.S. NAFTA-be-damned. They may not even cross the border if some Congressmen have their way.
So it seems logical that the next Chinese ploy is to become a major shareholder in a so-called Mexican car manufacturer which is merely a front to export Chinese EVs to the U.S.
I predict we'll see large numbers of VinFast EVs (from Vietnam) being exported to the U.S. in the coming years. Vietnamese companies are mostly covertly owned and controlled by Chinese counterparts.
The Nano tried to be a household car but failed because a 6 person household (2 parents, 2 grandparents, 2 kids) would also need trunk space.
On the other hand, the Olina is trying to replace mototaxis and three-wheelers.
[1] https://elceo.com/investigaciones-especiales/olinia-el-vincu...
What other infrastructure do you have in mind?
Poor people need rail, busses, cars and the cheapest possible power. If the government does not provide the cartels are more then ready to do its job to placate the citizens.
It isn't meant to be a direct competitor of a Nissan Versa, Chevrolet Aveo, Nissan Frontier, or a Kia K3.
A better approach would have been adopting Malaysia's strategy of working on building a domestic battery platform [1], as the actual value add of an EV platform comes from the battery itself.
Also, the Olina Uno is very feature light (no AC, no air bags, little to no trunk space) despite costing around $8600 [2] despite Chinese, Indian [3], and Vietnamese [4] EV cars providing those features out of the box at the $7,000-9,000 pricepoint.
[0] - https://www.olinia.auto/
[1] - https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/electric-vehicl...
[2] - https://insideevs.com/news/798256/mexico-olinia-uno-ev-cheap...
[3] - https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/electric-vehicl...
[4] - https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/electric-vehicl...
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/07/16/mexicans-...
https://www.as-coa.org/articles/approval-tracker-mexicos-pre...
If lifting 8.3 million Mexican people out of poverty is "populism" then maybe we need more of that.
And I don't think the corruption claim is warranted. Her "Abrazos, no balazos" ("hugs, not guns") approach to dealing with gangs is taken as evidence of her being in cahoots with them but the data shows that it's clearly working. Homicides have dropped by almost half from a year ago! And other crimes have followed the same trajectory.
https://www.gob.mx/sspc/prensa/estrategia-nacional-de-seguri...
In Mazatlan for example the most common taxi is called a pulmonia and only has a windshield and top cover but is gaz powered. This seems like a slightly longer version of the 4 seater pulomnia. I could totally see this being a great upgrade for a taxi driver there.
That is mostly untrue. I have only seen those in Mazatlan and other turisti destinations.
I think Olina can successfully replace pulmonias, three-wheelers, and moto-taxis, but forcing a narrative that they can replace cars will only set the project up for failure.
I can't say if the US auto industry is beyond hope, extraordinary measures are possible if political change happens, but the odds of being able to import a Chinese EV will increase over time. China isn't going to stop building them, they will only continue to scale up.
I think I noticed used cars the most, and honestly I don't think the economics of a three-wheeler makes sense in Mexico in 2026 compared to a used Nissan sedan.
Now days we have to ask if political movements are committed to democracy even before we ask if the lean left or right.
For example, We already had a Universal Basic Healthcare called Seguro Popular. Which was destroyed in 2018 by this regime on a tantrum which left millions without coverage. We went from 9% uncovered to 26% uncovered. They are still trying to figure out how to fix that.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12639676/
The "Abrazos, no balazos" approach turned out to be the party colluding with organized crime to win elections.
If I can purchase a used Nissan Versa for around $9000 and an Olina Uno for around $8500 and loan terms are roughly comparable, the used Nissan Versa would probably be the smarter purchase.
If financing for the Olina Uno cannot compete with financing for a used sedan, then I would assume that mototaxi owners would probably upgrade to a used sedan instead.