How U.S. auto industry looks at beating the Chinese without becoming them

Detroit’s auto executives say their companies need to beat China’s automakers — but they also can't become them.

China's advancement into the global auto space has accelerated under a political and economic system with major costs: low-cost labor and high rates of automation, mining and refining pollution, a lack of defense of intellectual property rights , limited personal freedoms and privacy rights, and, in some cases, allegations of forced labor.