China EVs & More

Tu and Lei take the bulk of the pod talking about Volkswagen Group's investment in XPeng. They go over the why's, how's and what's and whether it ultimately makes sense for Volkswagen and what it should say about their situation in China. Lei believes it will go down in Chinese Automotive history as one of the most notable ever.  They also give a brief history on XPeng and how...

Lei gets right to it with his update that 13 ministries have combined to initiate measures to boost auto consumption as the economic growth is China has still gotten past its Zero COVID funk. Tu and Lei then take a few minutes to go over some economic data over the last few months.  Tu and Lei then move the discussion over to whether Audi can turn it around even after the announced partnership wit...

The pod begins with the announcement that China EVs & More (CEM) had gotten it's 25K download - Congratulations to us! Tu moves the discussion over to the rumors about Audi kicking the tires on an SAIC EV platform in order to try and catch up with Tesla and the other China EV Inc. and a broader discussion about how Audi got here.  Tu points back to when he said every automaker is going th...

The pod starts with a review of June sales with Tesla and BYD dominating the market while many other brands breaking sales records including Tesla and BYD. Tu points out for the EV purists that BYD beat Tesla for sales of BEVs in China for June. He also points out that breaking sales records are fine but the real test is whether monthly & quarterly sales are growing faster than the market.  Le...

Lei kicks off this episode with his experience going to a Beijing Guoan game - Beijing’s professional soccer team.  Tu then talks about the pollution blanketing MI with the smog coming from Canada and how it reminds him of his time living in China.  Onto a detailed discussion about the XPeng G6 which just began delivery this week. Tu and Lei agree about how important this vehicle is for XPeng and...

In this episode, Lei broadcasts for the first time in Beijing and Lei talks about his immediate thoughts about being back while Tu reflects on some of his experiences driving in Beijing and China.  Tu and Lei then shift the discussion over to the China NEV purchase tax exemptions and the announcement that they’d be extended but capped while also being reduced over time. Both Tu and Lei expected th...

Lei starts the podcast a deeper dive into the NIO price cuts and a bit of commentary on the quick after effects. Tu poses a few questions to Lei about whether the ¥30K cut was enough to build positive momentum.  Tu thinks that the price cut will offer a temporary positive push but that NIO still needs to reconcile its product and business strategy to ensure that the gains are longer term. Tu moves...

Tu and Lei discuss the recent policy announcements in China to encourage the purchase of an NEV in the lower tier cities. This includes forecasts for higher numbers of PHEVs sold in the coming months.  Tu moves the conversation onto the NIO ET5 Touring that’s aimed squarely at the Zeekr 001 customers. Lei and Tu agree that folks should be looking out for Zeekr sales numbers getting a boost in the...

Tu & Lei have a chat with James Hind, Founder and CEO of carwow. 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...

Tu and Lei talk May EV sales and Lei calls the top group BATL BYD, GAC AION, Tesla, Li Auto are clearly the front runners consistently outperforming the rest of their competitors, specifically NIO. Tu and Lei also anticipate Li Auto to continue their strong sales with Tu spotlighting Zeekr to be potentially a future sales leader once the Zeekr X ramps.  Elon, Tesla and China - The discussion moves...

Tu starts this podcast off with his thoughts on the latest reorg of Volkwagen Group's Cariad software group wondering why they installed another 'car' guy to run Cariad when Blume had a real opportunity to catalyze real change at the division. He then compares and contrasts that with the recent hire of Mike Abbot by GM to run their software team. After Tu's take, Lei spends a f...

Tu and Lei recap all of the big, 'watershed' moments of the last few weeks with the latest being VW rumored to be in talks with Huawei about a potential partnership in China.  The convo then moves onto the latest news about Tesla and a larger conversation about what's next for them besides the Cybertruck, where will it happen and how much will it cost? If Model 2, how will it do now...

Tu and Lei start the pod with a brief discussion about April sales the surprises and the disappointments.  Lei then moves the conversation to Jim Farley outlining Ford’s updated strategy for the China market with exports being a primary business priority and exiting certain segments in the market.  After closing out the April sales, Tu talks about the last week and a half of his return to China in...

This episode is a complete download from Tu & Lei re: 2023 Shanghai Auto show. It's also Lei unpacking his experience returning to China after 39 months away.  There was so much to unpack, it took them over an hour! This is a for certain not to miss episode!

Lei kicks off the pod with his feelings on heading back to China after more than 3 years away. Tu then talks a bit about how much China has changed in that short amount of time.  Lei moves the discussion over to his trip to the New York auto show and highlights the RAM EV truck that was unveiled. Tu comments on the massive size of the battery pack for the RAM.  This gets them into a discussion abo...

The pod begins with Tu recalling the ordering process for OEMs to suppliers and Lei and Tu discussing the impact of the emissions standard update in July on the pricing and sales of ICE vehicles, specifically those that do not meet the new emissions requirements.  Tu and Lei then move the conversation over to BYD and their export ambitions, recent earnings and overall outlook as they expand furthe...

In this MAX episode, Lei has a sit down with Tom Fennimore, CFO of Luminar Technologies.  Luminar is a US technology company that specializes in developing LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. It was founded in 2012 by a then 17-year old Austin Russell and went public on the NASDAQ via a SPAC deal on December 3, 2020.  For those unfamiliar - LiDAR is an acronym of "light detection and ranging” or &...

The podcast begins with a brief discussion on Ford's accounting of EVs for China and China operations in general.  They move their discussion to XPeng's earnings report and take some time to unpack what their troubles were in 2022 and what they're doing to address them now.  Lei then summarizes Geely Holdings and their numerous brands and how they all fit together some of the histor...

Tu and Lei start out the pod with a discussion on the latest price cuts that take the current price war deeper into the hole.  They then talk about the VW unveil of the ID.2all and how it may not be that competitive if it was to enter the Chinese market, which currently it’s not set to do. Lei puts the focus on Skoda and their shrinking sales in the China market and how they are doing in other reg...

In this MAX episode, Lei sits down with Marco Kollmeier, former Executive at Benteler, an Austrian tier 1 supplier that makes it’s bones providing components and modules for the automotive industry, in the areas of chassis, body, engine and exhaust systems as well as future technologies such as system solutions for electric vehicles.  A couple of years ago, Benteler’s EV Systems business unit that...

Tu and Lei begin the discussion about the brutal price war that's currently going on in the China automotive sector including where the foreign automakers, SOEs (state owned enterprises) and startups all fit in and how they think it'll affect everyone long-term. They both also discuss the annual Two Sessions meeting that the Chinese govt has each year and try to read between the lines wi...

The podcast starts with Tu and Lei having a long discussion about their takeaways from Tesla's Investor Day. For Tu it was all about the ambitious numbers that stood out. Lei thought it was notable that Tom Zhu came out to present.  Lei then moves the conversation over to his attending Luminar Day and they both reflect on how important the China market is for Luminar if they're to hit on...

Tu and Lei talk about the recently announced Leadership change at Ford China and Tu takes a few minutes to give a brief history of Ford China, where he worked briefly in the early 2010s. Lei then shifts the conversation over to letting us know what he learned from the Mercedes Benz digital strategy and OS update in Sunnyvale, CA. This evolves into a broader discussion about Merc's global roll...

In this latest MAX episode, Lei catches up with Silvio Angori, CEO & MD Pininfarina SPA who took over at Pininfarina in 2016. For many in the automotive sector, Pininfarina is the epitome of automotive design. Originally established in Turin, Italy in 1930, Pininfarina was a coachbuilder who built cars for companies like Fiat, Rolls Royce and Cadillac.  Pininfarina over the years has branched...

Lei gets right to it by starting the pod out talking about the HUGE Ford + CATL deal, first giving some background and then unpacking what it all means for Ford, CATL and others.  Tu prompts Lei to give a download about Geely's new brand - Galaxy (?) and Tu wonders how or more appropriately where it'll fit in their portfolio. Tesla becomes the next topic of discussion, specifically Tesla...