Electric Vehicles
China’s EV Boom Masks Economic Pain for Major Auto Hubs
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China’s electric vehicle boom is yielding lopsided economic gains, with manufacturing hubs that rely on foreign carmakers falling behind cities home to hugely popular domestic brands led by BYD Co.
No city exhibits how quickly the tide can turn better than Guangzhou, where auto manufacturing accounts for about a quarter of economic output. The capital of Guangdong, China’s wealthiest province, was the country’s biggest car producer for five years running, buoyed by state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.’s joint ventures with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., as well as a Nissan Motor Co. plant.