AD #3945 – UK Backs Off EV Mandate; BYD Could Slash Prices Even More; The Fastest Charging EVs

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BYD READY TO RAMP UP CHINA EV PRICE WAR
Just when we thought the price war was starting to level off, it looks like BYD is getting ready to slash prices even further. A leaked document on social media shows the automaker demanding a 10% price cut from one of its suppliers. BYD already cut prices once this year, and if it cuts them again, it’s going to put enormous financial pressure on all automakers selling cars in China.

TESLA CUTS MY PRICE IN CHINA
But Tesla seems to be getting out ahead of BYD’s move. It cut the price of the Model Y in China by nearly $1,400 and is offering 0% loans for 5 years. The price of a Model Y RWD is now down to $33,000 in China, compared to $39,000 in the U.S.

CHERY & HUAWEI TRY TO SAVE LUXEED S7 WITH PRICE CUT
And Tesla isn’t the only one. Luxeed, a joint venture between Huawei and Chery, just cut the price of the S7, which has Porsche-ish styling, up to $4,000, because the car was a flop when it debuted. Prices now range from just under $32,000 up to $44,000, which sounds like quite a bargain because the S7 has some pretty impressive specs with 485 hp and 531 miles of range. Even so, it’s interesting that a car with lots of power, fantastic range and Porsche-ish styling isn’t selling very well.

JLR FACES COMPETITION FROM ITS PARTNER CHERY
Speaking of Chinese automakers, Jaguar Land Rover must be wondering why it formed a joint venture with Chery. The Chinese automaker is now moving into the U.K. market with gasoline and plug-in hybrid SUVs that are similar in size and profile to Land Rovers but at much lower prices and with higher levels of technology. Chery’s Jaecoo 7 SUV is about the same size as the Land Rover Evoque, but at $37,000, it’s more than $18,000 cheaper. And we bet that Land Rover isn’t very happy about having to compete against its own joint venture partner.

JAPANESE OEMs GETTING CLOBBERED IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
But it’s the Japanese automakers who are really losing out to the Chinese, especially in South East Asia. In markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, Japanese automakers are getting clobbered. The greater Asean region accounts for about 3.3 million new vehicles a year, and up to now the Japanese automakers had 75% market share. But that’s changing fast. In Thailand, Japanese automakers had 50% share pre-Covid, but that’s down to 35% today. Losing so much production is really going to hurt Japan’s manufacturing capability. Because as it loses scale, costs will only go up.

  

THE FASTEST CHARGING EVs
If you have some basic questions about EV charging speeds, Consumer Reports has put together a pretty detailed list of how many miles of range you can add per minute at a fast charger and how many miles of range per hour at a Level 2 charger. It would take a little long to go through everything here, so we’ll provide a link, but we do see a few interesting trends. Most newer EVs, except for maybe the Toyota and Subaru twins, are able to add 10-15 miles of range per minute at a fast charging station, under ideal conditions, while EVs that ride on older platforms add 5 miles or less. However, some of those older platform EVs do a better job at filling up the battery on a slower Level 2 charger, keeping pace with those newer EVs. So, if you mostly charge at home, it doesn’t matter if you have a Fiat 500e or a Lucid Air, you’re going to add about the same amount of range while charging.

VW & SAIC SIGN UP THROUGH 2040
Volkswagen is extending its Chinese joint venture partnership with SAIC until 2040. And the original team-up in 1984 was actually China’s first passenger car JV. By the end of the decade SAIC Volkswagen plans to introduce 18 new models, some of which will be developed for China on China-specific platforms and will include ICEs, PHEVs, range extended electrics and BEVs. One of those will be that new AUDI electric that was revealed at the beginning of the month. We’ve detailed a lot of VW’s struggles around software defined vehicles and self-driving tech, plus its sales slide in China, so a move like this makes sense. It also has similar platform and technology deals with Xpeng and Rivian.

VW EXITS CHINA PLANT ACCUSED OF FORCED LABOR
Speaking of VW in China, it’s exiting a region of the country where it jointly operates a plant and test track that were accused of using forced labor. Both assets will be sold to a state-owned development group.

UK BACKS OFF EV MANDATE
The UK is backing off an EV sales mandate because automakers won’t meet the targets. EVs must account for 22% of passenger car sales and 10% of van sales this year but automakers are below those marks even though they’ve offered $5 billion in incentives to EV buyers. Now the UK’s Business and Trade Secretary says its EV plan isn’t working as intended, so the government is planning to offer more support and will consult with automakers on making changes to the plan. The UK says it’s still committed to phasing out ICE sales in 2030 but changes could be made to how automakers are fined for missing targets. The Business Secretary’s comments were made just hours after Stellantis announced its closing a van factory in the UK because of the EV mandate and last week Ford also announced it will cut 800 jobs in the UK over the next three years.

HESAI LIDAR UNDER $200
Lidar could become as common as airbags. That’s according to the CEO of Hesai, the world’s largest lidar company based in China. Next year, It’s introducing a next-gen lidar system that will cost below $200 or half the price of its current model. Thanks to that price, it expects to deliver 1 million lidars in 2025. And Hesai already accounts for 37% of the global lidar market.

JLR INTROS NEW KIND OF SEAT FOAM
The foam used in car seats is meant to take a lot of abuse, but that also makes it difficult to recycle, so it tends to end up in landfills. However, JLR says it will be the first in the auto industry to introduce seat foam made with recycled content. Early next year JLR, materials company Dow and seat maker Adient will try to make a seat foam at scale that uses 20% recycled content for pre-production vehicles. Then the next step will be to increase that percentage as high as possible. The recycled seat foam is actually part of a bigger project between the three companies to cut the equivalent of 44 kilograms of CO2 from the entire manufacturing process of a car seat.

ASTON PROFITS LOWER, BUT RAISES MONEY FOR EVs
Aston Martin is struggling. It cut its guidance back in September because of supply-chain disruptions and weak demand in China. And now the automaker says it expects an EBIT profit between 270-280 million pounds this year, which is below analyst expectations and last year’s levels. But it’s not all bad news. Aston also said it raised 111 million pounds to help fund its electrification efforts. Earlier this year, Aston delayed the launch of its first EV until 2026. Aston says its latest fund raising will give it 500 million pounds in liquidity by the end of the year.

And with that we wrap up this show. Don’t forget because of the Thanksgiving holiday this is our last day of the week. We’ll see you right back here again on Monday December 2nd.