Ethical questions regarding purchase

What is the question/s?

Added it to the topic. Thanks for the comment

If you don't buy it someone else will. It's only meaningful on a personal level.

It’s likely BYD use exploitative practices globally, but most vehicle manufacturers or parts manufacturers do in some form or another. In my country there are rules around human trafficking and forced labor which would impede BYD doing business here if these happened in their supply chain (for this country) so I didn’t need to factor this into my decision.

I used to work on a project trying to improve worker conditions in garment factories. Some of the things I saw means we should never buy any garments made overseas. I think it’s good to think about ethical decisions, but high profile manufacturers get all the attention when the everyday things we buy and consume are equally bad.

Surely it’s up to the Brazilian government to resolve these issue do they exist and not a car company? BYD cannot change the countries law and I doubt any country in the world can claim to have a moral high ground in a lot of things.

Love it. Slave Labour, combatative, unwelcoming brand.  But better interior trim so I’ll go with that 🤣

Do you think it's only BYD? So i've bought my electric car 9 months ago, there was few cars i was testing: \- Tesla Y - Juniper - neh, Elon Musk at that time, but also not the best quality and warranty opinions - i wouldn't be able to trust Tesla if something happens, are they cheating on warranty and quality? \- BMW i4 ... a model with 286 bhp (my Seal has 313 - practically the same irl), worse warranty and less features had a price of 30 000 EUR extra! So ... what's the deal here? - do they not cheat you if you overpay 30 000 EUR for a "similar" car? Worse warranty = less risk for producer, the cost is on the buyer. Is it fair? Really - do brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes look so fair? - or they earn huge amount of money on you? \- BYD ... ... so whatever! - just buy the best car that fits your needs, every company is doing their tricks.

I think they're combative, unwelcoming and whatnot. But the vehicles seem good. I ride a dolphin mini in a Uber ride these days and o can't stop thinking about it

Actually it was a third party construction company. Since then, they have signed a judicial deal to solve the issue and reimburse the government

I wanted to check if such ethical thing is valid work buying a byd

I would have let each vendor at each company know I'm not a buyer. I feel like they must know. That said, if every company does their tricks, then just buy what can be bought for the best price and suitability?

Do you trust your government to judge if byd efficiently doesn't do anything wrong ?

But that someone else should?

Your attention to the ethics of a corporate entity resonates with me. I pay attention to these matters. When I refer to _corporate entity_ I’m referring not only to businesses, but also to other collectives. Like many other Canadians whose livelihood and even national existence are being threatened by a former friend of over a hundred years, I struggle with how to adjust my purchasing away from those who attack us. Regarding businesses like BYD, I suggest you watch the award winning documentary “The Corporation”. https://youtu.be/6v8e7dUwq_Q?si=cUL6bngTZMLT2BB_ It outlines that a corporation is deemed to be a “person” in law, then analyzes corporate behaviour in terms of human psychopathology. It concludes that corporations meet the diagnostic criteria for being deemed psychopaths. If one accepts that, we decide which psychopaths we will engage with as few of us are likely to build our own cars, phones, tablets, computers, houses, etc. In the grand scheme of things, I think that, BYD having been outed for the behaviour of its contracted service, and having taken remedial that was satisfactory for civil authorities, is sufficient for me. I distinguish that from some who, when caught, double down on their psychological behaviour, including the _”deny, delay, depose”_ actions of some, including some heads of state.

When it comes to individual ethical decisions, which is what this thread is about, that is a pretty thin argument. Apply that to other ethical decisions. There is a wallet with a substantial amount of cash on the ground. Should one take it and pocket the cash? “_If I don’t, someone else will._” There is an attractive, obliviously very impaired person who is crying because their relationship just ended. They are willing to have sex with anyone. Should one exploit this vulnerable person? “_If I don’t, someone else will._” No. One ought to consider what one believes is the morally correct action and practice it, not consider what the worst reprobate would do and stoop to that level.

You see things as I see. It may be one purchase of a car worth 20,000 dollars but you inevitably contribute to the statistics of the brand sales of that year. It's important.

Technically then you need to look beyond media reporting, which will always favour the sensational. For example, do they have auditing of working conditions? Who does those audits - are they independent of both BYD and the factory? What’s tricky is traditional companies don’t release those reports, but might buy into certification systems that are just PR exercises.

I gave zero fucks.

That’s not your decision.

OP's decision on this one car has zero effect on anyone else, unlike your examples. That's the point of my statement. In order to make a difference OP would somehow need to make it a societal effort to not buy this brand (as well as a multitude of other brands which would not leave much left of anything to buy).

Can you convince every person that wants to buy it?

Well, should we make a societal effort to not buy BYDs?

All major car brands outsource their parts production or assembly in China or any other countries with low pricing/ labour issues, except maybe low volume exotic car brands. You can always donate the price difference between BYD and other brands you might buy, maybe it will help your conscience?

And I've done it. In regards to the BYD case, they've committed immigration fraud by signing a "technology transfer" deal with a company that's part of BYD, when they just got "low level" employees, which is a fraud, retaining their passports, with armed security on site, and poor working conditions. I've seen the court documents. They've recently signed a judicial deal which had then improve working conditions and the establishment of an committee with independent auditors and worker rights-specialized lawyers to ensure working conditions are according to the law. Otherwise they've kept quiet about it, with few press releases.

My examples have as much effect on someone else as OP’s decision making. In the BYD situation, as in the other examples, the harm has already been done. Does OP take an action out of self interest (buying) or take an action to intended to remediate the harm? In the wallet example the person has already experienced that loss of the money. Does the finder take an action out of self interest (keeping the lost money) or take an action to intended to remediate the harm such as seeking the owner? In the case of the person whose relationship has ended, they have already experienced that loss. Does other take an action out of self interest (having sex with the person) or take an action to intended to remediate the harm, such as protecting the person from exploitation and assisting them to find help dealing with their grief?

Good work. But to be fair comparison, we also need to know about every other manufacturer too.

The true question is: has BYD created harm that not buying their products is the correct option?

Why?

There is past harm and future harm. Loss of market due to consumers walking away can be powerful to reduce future harm. Worldwide EV sales are increased some 20% in 2025. Musk became involved politically with right-wing activities, giving comfort to AfD in Germany; giving his apparent Nazi salute; gleefully ending jobs, careers, and income of thousands of public servants through DOGE. His behaviour resulted in a lot of potential purchasers walking away from Tesla. That wasn’t some huge, orchestrated , international undertaking. It happened as tens of thousands of consumers made individual decisions. They didn’t say “I might as well, buy it because if I don’t, someone else will”. Musk withdrew from DOGE and politics. He hasn’t made a peep about supporting neo-fascists like AfD. I think he is probably afraid to wave his arm to wave good-bye.

how did you weigh ethics into the purchase? \-> not at all.