China EVs & More

Tu and Lei start the podcast out with an update on the EU tariffs on Chinese EV makers, this time including Tesla. Some initial tariff rates were reduced but not substantially.  Tu moves the conversation over to the improvement in XPeng's earnings and the momentum they may have when launching the Mona M03. The discussion moves over to who the global players are in the autonomous vehicle space...

Tu and Lei open this podcast with a discussion of Polestar launching production of it's Polestar 3 in the US, South Carolina. They quickly shift the conversation over to XPeng's 10 year anniversary and discuss what they remember about XPeng over the last 10 years.  Lei and Tu then move to discuss the speed of change and product refreshes. The automotive space hasn't seen this freque...

Tu and Lei start the podcast out with a discussion on the China take rate on NEVs exceeding 50% in July for the first time.  The discussion then shifts to reports that the Biden administration is looking at restricting Chinese connected, intelligent driving technology for use on US roads including the ability to collect data on Americans. They project how these restrictions may or may not be mimic...

The podcast begins with a review of July sales by Lei and then they both transition into a discussion about the upcoming important product launches and why they are important to those Chinese brands.  They both transition the discussion over to the BYD partnership with Uber that was announced this week. They piggyback off this BYD discussion to also talk about the rumor that BYD will be entering t...

Tu and Lei begin the podcast talking about the US IPO announcements for Pony AI and WeRide, two Chinese autonomous vehicle (robotaxi) startups. This leads to a broader discussion about autonomous vehicles and regulation in the US and China.  Tu then moves on asking Lei what he knows about Windrose, the Chinese electric semi-truck manufacturer that plans to build semis in the US. Tu posits that thi...

Tu and Lei start out this podcast with a broad discussion about how virtually all the foreign legacy automakers are doing so poorly in China with Tu detailing Porsche's recent, severe challenges.  Tu and Lei then move onto Xiaomi's production license despite the overcapacity in China. Tu briefly explains how this could happen. Tu and Lei take a few minutes to discuss how business has evo...

Tu and Lei unpack who they think could be the winners and losers from the recently announced EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and how they may react to tariffs being considered in other markets.  Tu and Lei then look a bit forward to what they expect to see later this year as we get past summer and move towards the always exciting year-end sales dash including the impact some of the new veh...

Tu starts the podcast out talking about his experience at the MOVE London event where he hosted two panel discussions.  Lei then pivots to update everyone on the latest news about potential tariffs the Chinese govt are considering in retaliation for the EU tariffs on Chinese EVs.  Tu and Lei then take a few moments to digest and unpack what it all means.  They move onto the latest partnership anno...

Tu and Lei begin this podcast with a quick download of the EU tariffs, who was slapped with what and who the winners are. They also take a step back to discuss who currently exports the most to the EU and how the tariffs may affect their quantities.  They then move over to the rumored retaliation from the Chinese govt and who would feel free brunt of those retaliatory measures.  Lei then moves the...

Tu and Lei start out by discussing a provocative statement from Richard Yu, the Huawei executive in charge of their intelligent driving, who said in a much less kind way that Huawei's system would beat Tesla's FSD.  They then talk more broadly about the current systems out there from other Chinese EV makers and agree that FSD will have it's hands full in the China market and is NOT...

This podcast starts with a discussion on the NEV take rate hitting 52% and Tu points out that it's a massive number that is also getting help from the steep dropoff of ICE sales.  They also both take a few moments to discuss the softness in demand that Tesla is feeling and how its likely adding pressure for them to continue to cut prices in order to keep the factory running and keep factory u...

Tu and Lei start the podcast out by debating about the recent increased tariff announcements made by the Biden Administration and whether its all politics or if there is some real fear about the US Three not being able to compete.  They move that discussion over to BYD having its first global launch of a passenger vehicle outside of China. It turns into a broader discussion about their products, h...

First, Tu and Lei recorded this episode while driving from Beijing to Shenzhen in an XPeng G9 Performance. XPeng kindly lent it to them for the three day trip where they stopped into Zhengzhou & Changsha before hitting their final stop - Shenzhen. For most of the trip (>90% of the miles which were a total of ~1.5K), they used XPeng's intelligent driving system called X-NGP. The purpose...

Tu and Lei spend the first few minutes of the show recapping their overall feelings about Auto Beijing 2024 (the show) and how it was a bit different from Auto Shanghai 2023.  They both reflect on what the legacy automakers revealed at the show and how the legacies presence in Beijing this year was much different than what it was for 2023 in Shanghai. There's a pulse.  Tu talks about when he...

Tu starts off the podcast with an update on what he's been up to the last few days including visiting Jiyue and getting a sneak peek of the Jiyue 07 and attending the launch event for the Zeekr 009 Grand, a 4 seat executive MPV. Tu also had a chance to get a close look at the Xiaomi SU7 in the flesh. That transitions into a full discussion about Xiaomi and what they need to do to build on the...

Tu and Lei kick this podcast off by going over March sales numbers and move into discussing some of the recent incentives that have been offered by EV brands in order to keep sales momentum going.  The detail some of the challenges that contibute to the ongoing price war and how Tesla has fated during a price war they initiated. They then contrast that with Xiaomi's sales momentum since launc...

This podcast begins by dissecting the Reuters article about the Tesla Model 2 being cancelled as a passenger vehicle. The conversation moves over to Tesla sales in China, predictions about total sales for 2024 and what Tesla could do to boost sales in 2024. They pivot over to a quick discussion about Porsche's struggles in China and what it'll take to turn its sales around in the China m...

Tu and Lei get right to the Xiaomi SU7 launch. They talk about Lei Jun's showmanship and the popularity of the Xiaomi brand in China which all helped to build excitement for this product launch. After an extended discussion about ALL THINGS Xiaomi SU7, they move the conversation over to Lei's trip to the NYC Auto show. Lei talks a bit about the World Car of the Year awards and who ultima...

Li Auto adjusting their Q1 sales guidance downward was the first topic of discussion in this week's podcast. Of the three WeiXiaoLi triplets, Li Auto has been the darling of Wall Street but their sales have very suddenly hit a wall  Tu then gives a short lesson on master production schedules, ordering parts and lead times and how any sudden change in that schedule can complicate things and le...

Lei headed over to Germany for Porsche's Annual Press Conference so much of the podcast was dedicated to what Lei learned about during his visit and led to a broader discussion about Volkswagen Group and what Tu thought about VW Group's annual press conference and how important Porsche is to Volkswagen Group's global goals.  After a detailed discussion on Germany's largest auto...

Tu and Lei start this podcast out with going over the latest news on the tariff situation on Chinese EVs in the US and EU with the EU now also seeming to lean towards increasing protectionism.  Lei then moves the discussion over to the R2 launch from Rivian, the follow up to their R1 and emphasizes the affordability factor with the R2. This turns into a broader discusision about Rivian and what it...

Lei begins this podcast with a brief explanation of the effects of the Lunar New Year on passenger vehicle sales traditionally.  Tu points out BYD's social media campaign about how 'electric is cheaper than gas' after they'd cut prices of their already low priced vehicles, so much so that they are cheaper than ICE vehicles from Volkswagen and some of the other foreign automaker...

Tu begins the podcast talking about how the price war still has legs and will likely last through the end of this year into 2025. BYD has been leading the way with price cuts on their more popular vehicles daring their competitors to do the same.  Tu then talks about the Buick Electra E5 EV that has just gone on sale for ~$23K and wonders out loud why they can't sell that in the US for a simi...

Tu and Lei start out the podcast by wishing each other 'Happy New Year' and discuss a bit about the holiday and their traditions and how it's celebrated by their families. Lei then moves over to discuss the Chinese Opinions on NEV trade cooperation and both of them add their opinions about how the language and roll out of the opinion piece should be interpreted.  Tu then spends a fe...

Tu and Lei start the podcast out with some of their family traditions for Lunar New Year.  They then move onto unpacking January sales numbers and emphasizing the MoM comparisons not that important due to Lunar New Year being in January last year.  Tu anticipates what we should see in March and beyond depending on how panicked the OEMs will be coming out of the New Year break, likely around late F...