Chris Larsen believes low-income drivers in California should have access to a car can’t buy legally today.
During an interview on the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast, Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, said California should open its market to some Chinese-made electric cars. The sales, he said, should go to income-qualified buyers.
“The BYD seagullA $10,000 car, a fantastic car,” he said. “We should let that into California, at least for our low-income folks.”
Larsen’s proposal flies in the face of what much of the U.S. auto industry is pressuring policymakers in Washington to do. Last week, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing automakers and suppliers, wrote a note public letter urges Congress to “enact a Chinese vehicle, software and hardware ban before it is suspended this year and make this policy the law of the land.”
The group said Chinese automakers’ subsidized vehicles and connected technology pose economic and national security concerns.
Larsen instead argued that some Chinese EVs could help solve one of America’s largest problems on the road: affordability.
The average price for a new vehicle has remained above $50,000 since April, according to data from Cox Automotive. Meanwhile, gas prices remain high due to ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
High gas prices are especially pronounced in California, where an excise tax adds more than $0.60 per gallon. Larsen called it the “world’s most regressive tax that hurts the man who can’t afford to live in Silicon Valley.”
“Let him buy a Chinese BYD Seagull,” he said. “But maybe it had to be means-tested, because we’re never going to make that stuff.”
Larsen did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
