That's exactly why I don't think this should be framed as “Chinese cars collect data, therefore Chinese cars are uniquely dangerous.”
American connected cars collect huge amounts of user and vehicle data too, and the auto industry has already faced serious criticism over how that data is collected, shared and monetized.
If the concern is that a foreign government could gain access to sensitive vehicle data, that's a legitimate national-security question. Regulate it.
But then create actual rules: what data a car may collect, where it can be stored, who can access it, what can leave the country, what remote functions manufacturers are allowed to have, and what software and hardware must be independently audited.
Apply strong privacy rules to American manufacturers too.
Otherwise we end up treating corporate collection of Americans' data as normal when an American company does it, while describing data collection itself as espionage when the badge happens to be Chinese.
The solution is strong cybersecurity and privacy regulation, not pretending that American connected cars don't collect data.
A lot of you will look back on this market the same way you look back on the 2019 market, realising that you had someone choreographing their every move, but you truly believe it MUST crash
My guy, you must be new here!
What you state is not rocket science, these companies hire some of the smartest people on the planet. They already know all of this. The banning of Chinese EV's are largely to protect the manufacturing base (or what's left of it). These are largely blue collar workers that vote against their own good.
The US is by far the strongest car market in the world, and generates enormous amounts of Cash Flow. I see this as very similar to the Agriculture market, where the tax payer money is being used to heavily subsidize the American farmer to keep the voting block happy. (The US could literally pay the soy bean farmer to not grow their crops, and that would be cheaper than the amount of money currently being spent on the subsidies)