Why the big car companies are losing China | Business Beyond

Oh no poor Volkswagen having to sell their cars at cheaper prices 😢

The game changer here is having a government minister that actually knows something about what he’s the minister for. We haven’t had that in the west for a long time.

In Brazil, BYD and GWM are selling more and more with their more technological and cheaper models than conventional automakers.

Talked to taxi drivers in China a couple of days ago, and they said the cost of operation between gas and EV is day and night difference in costs. Charging is much cheaper by more than 90% compared to traditional fuel cars and you don't have to worry about maintenance. You'd have to be a fool to not switch.

It's extraordinarily difficult for big, established companies to ditch their old systems and technologies because nearly all of management in the company is tied to the success of those old systems and technologies. VW is clearly trapped in the "innovator's dilemma".

Being "surprised" is a sign of poor leadership with poor vision. Company culture can be turned around quickly if you have a leader who is not stuck in paradigm paralysis. It also takes someone who is willing to stand up to pressure and attempted influence from other entities and industries.

Remember Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and Blackberry, the same will happen with a lot of car manufacturers.

My co-worker who is Indian Canadian was talking about a new technology China was applying for patent. He said people in Canada just close their eyes and hoping China will collapse. Haters can hate.

1970th and 80th, no Japanese or U.S. car maker wanted to enter Chinese market, VW agreed to come only with extremely old model and had almost monopoly of the market, made boat-load of money over the years with those old models.

Not just the Germans, but most Western Automakers were warned that the more they delay in investing into R&D, the more expensive it'll be to remain competitive. Toyota and Mazda are the most infamous anti-ev players and they compromised themselves. The incompetence of executives shouldn't be defended and bailed out, like the bankers of 2008. The excuse was that there would never be any market demand for electric vehicles, or hybrids +15 years ago. That's why they all try to manipulate and lobby law makers, they're fundamentally anti-demicratic in our societies, only wanting to sell us what's most profitable for them - diesel premium SUVs. But the writing and legislation was on the wall for over a decade and now they're frantic, not just because of Tesla but because BYD and other Chinese brand have mass-adoptable/affordable EVs that Tesla isn't bothered to make...

this show interviewed a wrong guy, as a developer in one of top Chinese EV company, I would say the foundational reason why China can build better car software system is we hiring tons of top software engineer from Chinese IT companies(Tencent, Alibaba, bytedance), smart phone companies(xiaomi, Huawei), our develop priority is equal and even higher than mechanical development. in addition, we follow the same quality standard and logic of software development process in IT companies which is more efficient and user-friendly, but most of traditional vehicle development dominant by engineer guys, the product is quite engineer logic and functional priority, it is usable but not easy to use.

In China, a BYD electric car, similar to Corolla, only cost $12k USD, with lifetime warranty. It cost 4 cents usd per kWh. Which mean only $4 usd to fully charge a Tesla model 3.

Great documentary. I'm an expat who's been living in China for over 8 years now. It's amazing how back in 2015, VW taxis ruled. And these days, every time I take a Didi (Chinese Uber), it's always an electric car. Yes, mostly BYDs. There are so many electric cars here. It's like the future has already arrived.

I asked a friend who just came to canada recently why EV is so popular in China. He said there are 2 main reasons: First, the infrastructure. You will see a EV charging station every corner and every gas station. The other is warranty. Car has 1million km warranty. If that’s true, it solves the one big fear that most ppl have on EV…the battery!

It's not just government support. China graduates more engineers every year than there are engineers in the US. Germany knows better than everyone what that means

The price of electricity in China is very cheap, and it only costs 20 euros to drive 1000 kilometers a month!😂

When Nio started to sell its luxury and high quality SUV in 2018, Tesla wasn't producing in China yet. Tesla didn't help to improve China's EV supply chain, instead, it brought competition to the Chinese market, this really help the development of Chinese EV.

I was in China during June and July last summer, mainly traveling between Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. I have counted almost every parking lot I visited and eV is about 10% of total. Chinese government is encouraging consumers to buy eVs, especially in capital cities. Traditional cars are hard to get registration in the cities aforementioned but eVs are much much easier.

Very insightful. Thank you for sharing

just subscribed your channel, great job with telling the history of the car industry. Thank you very much.