China EVs & More

The pod starts with a brief update on the UAW & US Three situation but moves quickly over to a brief disussion about Li Auto's openly stated and ambitious goals of selling 3M vehicles in China by 2028. Tu then pushes the chat to Porsche and the struggles they may beginning to see in the China market, a market they've only seen growth in since entering in 2001. Tu and Lei move the discussion over to Great Wall Motor's Haomo.ai announcing a very inexpensive ADAS system that starts at less than ¥10K and how LiDAR and overall sensor pricing for ADAS systems will quickly move into commodity territory as Chinese providers continue to try to compete on price. Tu brings up how GM has offered to unionize its US battery facilities as a carrot in the ongoing UAW negotiations and they both talk about how the LG & BYD partnership could be used to skirt the Inflation Reduction Act restrictions. The podcast ends with Tu talking about his trip to SF and and both of them talking about WM's bankruptcy filing. 

Tu and Lei begin the podcast with a brief discussion about the double holiday being celebrated in China - National Day & Mid-Autumn Festival.Lei then transitions the discussion to September sales and it wasn't very pretty for many EV companies. Tu reminds everyone that new vehicles were just launched by some brands and that those sales vehicles sales wouldn't be reflected until Q4'23.Tu and Lei key in on XPeng and NIO to disuss their particular situations and move onto a few other surprise EV companies whose sales numbers stood out including BYD's continuous solid monthly numbers.Tu and Lei turn their attention to the US market, the current UAW situation and the low take rate that has created more EV inventory than expected for US automakers. Tu and Lei end the podcast with a discussion on the recent Cruise accident in SF and US EV startup INDI EV's bankruptcy that further complicates Foxconn's entry into the EV contract manufacturing space.

BYD surpasses Ford to become the 4th best-selling automotive brand. Misconceptions about foreign legacies entering China market. Challenges for automakers in software development. Tesla to sell vehicles online in China. Leading figures in 2024. Competition and strategies in Chinese automotive market.

Tu and Lei begin with a discussion about all the recent moves made by XPeng and whether it moves the needle for them or not. They turn their attention to August sales, specifically the top of the leaderboard which sits Li Auto, XPeng and NIO, the three US publicly traded Chinese EV companies who also happen to get the most attention by western media. The conversation moves over to the significance and reasoning behind BYD's acquisition of Jabil's Singaporean operations which includes two factories in China. Lei then looks back at his visits to Li Auto and NIO retail locations to compare and contrast the atmospheres and highlights the 'no pressure' environment of the NIO Houses, which could be a reason they are revamping their sales teams and tactics. The pod ends with a discussion about the appropriate number of NIO swapping stations in the EU and how to determine that appropriate number. 

Tu and Lei start this podcast out with a brief discussion about the Chengdu Motor show. Both comment on the trend towards plug-in hybrids and MPVs which includes the Li Auto MEGA that was announced that week. Tu and Lei then have a broader discussion about how hybrids weren't being focused on until Li Auto's success and now there are EREVs being launched by BYD's Yangwang, JAC, GAC, Geely and others. Tu briefly talks about WeRide's ambitions to IPO in the US and the current status of their application and then moeves onto the announcement that BYD is looking to partner with a Korean company to build battery cells in South Korea.This week's pod ends with Tu talking about the potential for EVs in the Indian market and a discussion about what they are looking forward to when they both head to Munich for IAA Mobility. 

The podcast starts with Lei being a bit nostalgic about leaving Beijing after visiting for the last 2 months. It quickly moves to a discussion about XPeng earnings with Lei summarizing the earnings call and Tu giving his readout on what it all means. This discussion evolves into a broader discussion about the price war and overalll economy that continues to struggle in China with both Tu and Lei having spoken recently with friends living in China and how they feel everything that’s going on there. Lei starts his discussion about his trip to NEO Park with a brief history lesson of how it came about and what all the acronyms and codenames mean when talking about the park. Lei also talks about the largest NIO House being open inside NEO Park. Tu and Lei then move onto a story about how BYD had shared a supply of chips to NIO during the chip crisis to keep them from shutting down their factory. Tu summarizes that in the tech sector things like that happening aren’t that unusual. Tu and Lei pivot to a brief conversation about the Fang Cheng Bao brand from BYD and who its likely competitors are. Tu closes out the pod with details about his visit to Our Next Energy for a technology update. 

Tu & Lei had such a great response from their MAX episode with Founder of carwow James Hind it ONLY made sense to sit down and chat with Philipp who's running the show for carwow in Germany. carwow is an online marketplace for buying and selling new and used cars and started in the UK but have since launched in Germany in 2016 and Spain in 2018. For those of you outside of Europe that aren’t yet familiar with carwow - in 2022, there were over 109 million visits to carwow sites with over £5B worth of cars bought and sold on the carwow platform. But not only does carwow make it easier for buyers and sellers to transact, it has the largest automotive YouTube channel in the world providing some of the most compelling and entertaining automotive content on the interwebs. The carwow YouTube channel which was launched in 2014 has over 2.6 billion views from it’s more than 8.2 million subscribers and growing. Philip takes us through his career progression, how carwow works in Germany, tells us how Germans shop for cars, and most importantly he gives 🇨🇳 EV Inc some advice for entering the ultra-competitive German market. With IAA Mobility Munich being held this week, there wasn't a more appropriate time post this conversation Tu & Lei have with Philipp - Enjoy!