Waiting for Chinese cars

[dobbers]

Anyone else out there with an EV but looking to replace in 2024 waiting for the Chinese manufacturers to launch in the UK? So far we have Ora, Polestar and MG in the UK but only a matter of time we will get the likes of Great Wall, NIO and BYD and then a whole bunch of other brands.

What are folks thoughts on this?

dobbers

[Mr Gus]

Will they join (or avoid, like tesla have) being members of the auto trade association (orwhatever they are) affording greater protection to the consumer.

The disappearing company, spares supply etc is a thing that chinese companies generally DNGAF about, entry point should automatically be joining the trade body as bringing a brand involving this kind of item to the uk market in general, also a good selling point as to committal from the brand (unlike when mg got sold & dissapeared last time round leaving customers with cars up swannee river.

[ecogeorge]

Colleague has a Great Wall diesel pickup , warranty and parts supply has been an issue ............
George

[Mr Gus]

I suppose we could reflect on how the chinese manufactured buses sold for years are doing overall, after some digging, might give insight ?

[Mart]

Can I be a bit negative please? I have some concerns, but hopefully I will be wrong, jusy thought I'd mention them.

So .... nothing against the Chinese makers, nor their quality, which seems reasonable and good value for money. For example, the MG cars may look a bit 'cheap', but their prices are excellent, so that's not meant as a criticism.

But .... there are simply hundreds of Chinese EV manufacturers, and they are going for market share at the cost of profits / profitability at the moment. that makes sense in an expanding BEV market. But at some point things will have to shake out, and not all will survive. I suspect it will be similar to the early 1900's in the US, where 100's of tiny manufacturers collapsed, or were combined into General Motors, once Ford started to get the price of cars down, and the small (tiny) manufacturers could no longer compete.

Add to this the fact that the Chinese economy is suffering at the moment, so the great EV shakeout may be approaching. BYD is still marginally profitable per car, but some like Xpeng and NIO are losing a fortune. Doesn't mean we can pick winners and losers yet, but I suspect some sort of consolidation may happen by 2025ish ... ?

Of course, we could also see the Chinese give the European manufacturers an absolute kicking, if they don't get their act together fast. BYD produced more BEV's last year than the whole of German legacy auto put together, but maybe the EU will introduce some sort of protectionism, akin to the US and their Inflation Reduction Act.

I feel bad 'picking on' the Chinese like this, but just a little concerned that 'things' may happen soon. But hopefully, it'll all sort out well, and we will have more competitors and more (and cheaper) BEV choice.

[Mr Gus]

Mart, you are not picking on anyone, it's mere speculation based on what you see, read, learn + global economics.
No-one should have to apologise for that.

[Mart]

Mart, you are not picking on anyone, it's mere speculation based on what you see, read, learn + global economics.
No-one should have to apologise for that.

Thanks Gus. It's just that things are so positive at the moment, and the Chinese are building an incredible range of BEV's, from tiny and cheap models, right up to large luxury vehicles. So I don't want to appear to be a downer, and it would be easy to spread negativity about China in general, but I do think there are some big upheavals on the way, simply as the industry weeds out the winners and losers.

I've genuinely no idea what the World automotive industry will look like in 2030, and suspect it will have started to change significantly by 2025. Will be fun to watch, but perhaps painful to be a part of?

[dan_b]

Don't forget, a very large proportion of Tesla's fleet is made in China - does that count?

(my newest Model 3 is a Made in China example - it's noticeably better quality wise than the 2019 Made in California machine)

[Joeboy]

I am looking forward to seeing the model 2.

[Mr Gus]

Agreed, the US produced tesla's were CGAT builds, the lazy arsed workers & management allowing that degree of crap through was a massive problem.

Was very little pride in place on the factory floor, ..should have fired them & started over.