Tu & Lei start this week's discussion about the recent Volkswagen Group news including new China CEO-elect Ralf Brandstatter joining in mid-2022 and the challenges ahead for the organization. They then move onto November & 2021 EV sales numbers for China and the US and China's projected 2022 sales numbers. And put to bed whether we've reached the tipping point for EV adoption in China. The answer is a very confident - YES!They move onto the Ford Mustang Mach-E delays potentially causing the excitement and hence sales momentum from building. Tu notes that battery supply constraints could push battery prices up until supply/capacity has increased which may not happen until well into 2022.

Tu and Lei start the show with their thoughts on November sales. They also have a discussion of next year's predicted sales of up to 5M unit sales of NEVs and any constraints that could cause a hiccup to the continued growth.They move on to how Pony and Baidu/Apollo were the first in China to receive the licenses in Beijing to charge for their robotaxi rides. A big step forward for both companies in the race to be first/best but also a big step forward for the city of Beijing beating Shanghai to be first.Lei then unpacks Li Auto's Q3 earnings while discussing whether or not China's Big 3 (NIO, Li Auto, XPeng) would need to delist in the coming years due to the new rules for foreign companies listing in the US.The last topic Tu and Lei discuss is news about Factorial Energy's recent partnership announcements with Mercedes and Stellantis and a broader discussion on the state of solid-state battery development.

Tu & Lei spend most of this episode unpacking all of the launches and news that came out of the Guangzhou auto show. They discuss the new EV brand from Great Wall Motors - Salon and its concept, the Mecha Dragon.They also spend time discussing the:- XPeng G9- BYD Destroyer- Voyah EMPV (Dream)- Maxus MIFA 9- Buick GL8 Concept- Cadillac Lyriq- Ford EVOS- Lincoln Zephyr- BMW iX- Audi Q5 e-tron- Mercedes EQA & EQB- Toyota Corolla Cross- Nissan e-PowerThey close out the podcast with a discussion on XPeng's Q3 earnings and Q4 guidance, the Xiaomi EV, and the ID.3 battery leasing program that was just launched. 

Lei starts out the pod with how his trip to LA went along with his visit to the Rivian retails store in LA, he then moves onto the brands and product launches from the LA Auto show including the Chinese presence there. Tu and Lei discuss their 2,000th episode and their launch of China EVs & More MAX series with Henrik Fisker. Tu and Lei take a few moments to talk Foxconn’s MIH platform then Tu moves into XPeng’s domestic brand refresh and what he think it means for the company. They then take a few moments to chat about when you may see Chinese brands begin to invade US markets and how Vinfast, the Vietnamese car company is likely going to beat most of the Chinese brands on entering the US market.They wrap up the pod talking about Baidu Apollo’s aggressive expansion plans for China, Always move into the Spain and Portuguese markets, Vollkswagen’s continuous China woes, and a hearty congratulations to Lucid Motors for winning the Motor Trend Car of the Year.

Lei sits down with Henrik Fisker to discuss his thoughts on charging, LiDAR, solid-state batteries, AV, China, and more...

Lei starts out the show with a number of announcements from the week including Rivian's IPO and his EQS test drive.Lei & Tu talk about what they're looking ahead to at the LA & Guangzhou Auto shows. They then take a few moments to explain AVATR, Changan's new premium EV brand that both Huawei & CATL has invested in. Tu & Lei take a few minutes to review the automotive attendees of the China International Import Expo and then dive into October sales numbers and take a minute to debate what the low domestic Tesla Model 3 sales number means, if anything. Finally, Tu & Lei help introduce the HiPhi Z Digital GT and spend the rest of the show talking about what to expect for November & December sales numbers.

Lei declares that this is the 'Week of Big Bets!'Tu and Lei unpack various automakers' September sales numbers and the overall outlook of the China EV market. They take a close look at Tesla reconciling sales vs. capacity and where they go next.They then move onto NIO's move into Norway and how asset-heavy it seems to be. Tu and Lei close out the pod with a chat about Geely including Polestar's ambitious growth plans. 

Tu & Lei take the first few moments of the show to talk about VW's battery systems factory investment in Anhui Province and move on from there to also talk about NIO's announcement about their Iron Lithium hybrid battery.They then discuss the highs and (current) lows of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle group and what they expect may result from the parent's debt struggles. They then move on to discuss how Faraday Future has gone from a startup on the brink to one that seems fairly well capitalized and close to getting their flagship product, the FF91 finally on the road.

This episode starts out with a brief detour with Tu describing his trip to the newly opened Universal Studios. Tu & Lei then move on to unpacking how the XPeng P5 introduction will affect the mass-market (<300K RMB), smart EV segment. The discussion then transitions to electric vehicle consolidation that although hopeful, isn't likely to happen in any significant way for quite a while. Tu & Lei then talk about Foxconn's bold moves with MIH & Foxconn's own EV brand - Foxtron. The pod is closed by updating everyone on the current China Evergrande situation. 

Tu & Lei spend the first part of this episode briefly touching on August sales numbers and spend a bit more time on their thoughts on Tesla's sales and their export strategy - is Tesla crazy like a fox?They then spend time discussing the products the re-branded Frankfurt Auto Show which was moved to Munich and is now called Internationale Automobil Ausstellung (IAA) Mobility because it now includes other forms of transport. The big announcements still came mostly from Germany's big three. Tu steps on his soapbox to explain that mobility does NOT mean more cars, whether they're EVs or not!Finally, Tu & Lei briefly touch on what's behind XPeng's unicorn and Ford's hiring of Doug Fields from Apple.