Episode #103 - Hesai’s IPO, Introducing the Li Auto L7, Tesla #1 in CA

Tu and Lei begin this week’s pod with a discussion and what led up to Hesai’s recent IPO and capital raise of $190M. Tu speculates that there are likely companies that have traditionally been suppliers to the OEMs that, due to the current disruption will look to move upmarket to compete directly with the OEMs.

The discussion moves over to the launch of the 5-seat Li Auto L7 and what the prospects are for the vehicle and company. Both Tu and Lei seem to be bullish on Li for now due to their entirely (very similar looking) revamped lineup.

Reflecting on the market results for 2022, Tu tries to quantify how much market share the legacies have lost in China over just the last few years with Ford Motor’s by far being the most unsettling. Tu goes as far as to state that Geely and BYD are poised to overtake their foreign legacy competitors in sales volume very soon.

Lei moves into a review of the January sales numbers and how it seems the price cuts from Tesla worked as their January sales rebounded but other normal and Lei highlights a few EV companies that saw dramatic drops in sales in the CNY shortened January.

Tu closes the pod with news that Tesla overtook Toyota to take the #1 spot in vehicle sales in California in 2022.