Why a small China-made EV has global auto execs and politicians on edge

LIVONIA, Mich. – A small electric vehicle is having a big impact on the global automotive industry.

It's not the EV itself that's making waves but its price — and its potential to disrupt domestic auto industries around the world.

The China-built BYD Seagull, a small all-electric hatchback, starts at just 69,800 yuan (or less than $10,000), and reportedly banks a profit for the increasingly influential Chinese automaker.

Thatlatter point — EV profits where U.S. automakers have mostly failed to turn any — combined with the expansion of Chinese automakers into Europe, Latin America and elsewhere has automotive executives and politicians, from Detroit and Texas to Germany and Japan, on edge.

The Seagull could be a "clarion call for the rest of the auto industry," said Terry Woychowski, a former General Motors executive who now serves as president of automotive at engineering consulting firm Caresoft Global. "It's a significant event."

Though the Seagull isn't yet sold on U.S. soil, BYD is expanding its vehicles globally, and some believe it's only a matter of time before more China-made vehicles arrive in the U.S.

There's fear among global automakers that Chinese rivals like the Warren Buffett-backed BYD could flood their markets, undercutting domestic production and vehicle prices to the detriment of their own auto industries.

"The introduction of cheap Chinese autos — which are so inexpensive because they are backed with the power and funding of the Chinese government — to the American market could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector," the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a U.S. manufacturing advocacy group, said in a report last month.

BYD sold 1.57 million battery EVs last year, up from just