Several automakers including Ford, Toyota, and Honda have warned against China’s vehicle production capabilities, suggesting that its automakers alone can cater to the vehicular demands of an entire country in a very short time. Toyota CEO Koji Sato stated that his company “will not survive” if a major internal transformation does not come about.
The product life cycle for a Chinese automaker, from designing a car to its engineering, research and development, and mass-scale production, is probably the fastest in the world right now. That is one reason why brands like BYD have been able to grow exponentially in China and are now setting their eyes on international markets.
That is one aspect that popular marques such as Honda, Toyota, and Ford fear, since they take double the time to pitch a new vehicle in the market. The worry isn’t just BYD but several other EV companies that have the resources, ideas, and production capacity to release a new model in less than two years, with cost efficiency that is hard for brands from other countries to match.
Honda has been struggling to maintain its market share in China, as sales declined for the fifth consecutive year in 2025. Recently, Honda CEO and President Toshihiro Mibe was astonished after visiting an auto supplier factory in Shanghai, as he was keen on knowing how domestic companies can produce multiple vehicle models in a short time.
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Mibe said after returning from China that there was no way Honda could match the speed of Chinese suppliers. Motor1 reported his comments:
“We have no chance against this.”
Addressing Honda’s suppliers to expedite supply, Mibe said:
“We must act quickly.”
Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, is also shaken by ‘China speed.’ The company’s CEO, Koji Sato, described it as a crisis. He said:
“Unless things change, we will not survive. I want everyone to acknowledge this sense of crisis.”
In October 2025, Ford CEO Jim Farley stated that China has enough production capacity to cater to the U.S. He said:
“They have enough [production] capacity in China with existing factories to serve the entire North American market, put us all out of business.”
