China EVs & More

Tu and Lei speak with Dr. Alex Klose who led Aiways into 10 European markets over the last couple of years  ...during a pandemic! They ask Alex about the success factors for selling into the EU, who are Aiways customers, what their retail and charging strategy is, and much, much more. For those who want to understand what it takes to sell a Chinese EV in Europe, Tu and Lei talk to the guy that's doing it!

Lei starts off with a hammer, throwing all of the mindblowing numbers from China EV market from 2021. Tu & Lei marvel at how it really was an amazing year for EV adoption and growth. After the long discussion and unpacking of the statistics, Tu and Lei talk briefly discuss the history and catalysts that helped get the sector to where it is now. Inflection points like Tesla entering the market, NIO & XPeng launching, transitioning to Tesla then launching ShanghaiGiga and manufacturing vehicles locally. Tu moves onto how western media still tends to lump all of China EV Inc into the same bucket and argues that since the sector is market-driven, a more nuanced discussion needs to take place that includes, pricing segments, features, and positioning. Lei moves to discuss the media interview with current Volkswagen China CEO, Dr. Wollenstein, and his post-mortem on 2021. Lei and Tu then talk about the announcement of BYD and Nuro partnering to deliver autonomous delivery vehicles to be manufactured in California by BYD.They close out the pod discussing U Power, an electric vehicle platform developer looking to find partners that can develop top hats for their platform and takeaways from U Power's keynote.   

In 2022's first episode of the year, Tu & Lei start out the pod with their thoughts on the mobility announcements that came out of CES. Tu believes that the rest of the world has finally woken up to China EV Inc.Lei takes a few moments to opine on how the autonomous vehicle sector has really been pulled back into the spotlight and Tu adds that due to the dramatic reduction in costs of sensor HW, robotaxis could really become a 'thing' before 2025, or within the next 3 years. Winner in all of this - The chip companies: Mobileye (Intel), Nvidia, Qualcomm.Lei moves on to December sales numbers with a brief explanation of why historically December numbers in China always seem to spike in good years. Despite the chip & battery shortage, most EV and traditional automakers hit record sales numbers. Tu ends the pod by listing his predictions for 2022 while Lei spends a few moments debating the 'whys' and the 'hows.' They both take the final few minutes of the pod to discuss how the elimination of JV requirements for foreign automakers and the new possibilities that could shape 2022. 

Tu and Lei start the pod with a discussion about the Waymo & Zeekr partnership announcement. They move on to a discussion about the elimination of the previous requirement by the Chinese govt. of foreign automakers to have a JV partner to enter the Chinese market and implications on what could happen in 2022 and beyond. It basically opens the market up to all different types of mashups between foreign and local players.Lei discusses the overwhelming amount of news that's been generated over the course of 2021 and gives an example of all of the announcements for just the month of January 2021. Words that start with the letter 'S' played a strong role in the 2021 passenger vehicle market and Lei lists those terms which include: Shift, Software, Strategy, Speed, Smart, Sales, Service, Struggling, Small, and others.Tu introduces the three categories that EV companies should be placed in moving forward. - Traditional Legacies- EV first companies- Tech playersTu then summarizes his 12 most significant events of 2021 and Lei goes over his list. They then move on to a discussion on the battery supplier landscape. Lei closes out the episode by talking about what he expects to see in 2022. Tu will reveal his thoughts on 2022 are on in Episode 48. 

Tu and Lei start off this episode with a brief discussion on all of the news from NIO Day 2021 including their initial reaction to the ET5. Tu believes that the Tesla MIC Model 3 could have some serious competition between the NIO ET5 & the XPeng P5 in 2022. They then move on to the subscription services and AR/VR glasses that were announced at NIO Day and how it could enhance NIO's future offerings.They move onto CATL's dominance in the battery cell manufacturing sector and how its competitors could create opportunities for themselves to compete with CATL in the future. Finally, Lei & Tu talk about how Huawei has moved even closer to building their own EVs with the AITO M5 being built by Seres and close out the pod talking Haomo, the latest Chinese AV startup unicorn that was spun-off of Great Wall Motor and still has a very close relationship with. 

Tu and Lei start this pod with a discussion on CAAM numbers and outlook for BYD & Chery. They then take a look ahead to 2022 and how the OEMs will deal with the current battery constraints and how they may bleed into 2022. Tu & Lei then give a bit of background on Niutron and its CEO, founder of NIU, and his colorful past which then pushes them into a broader discussion about the technology companies who've announced plans to enter the EV space.Finally, Tu & Lei discuss the 9.98% stake that BAIC has in Daimler, how it got to that point and the significance of two Chinese OEMs owning almost 1/5 of one of Germany's most important companies. They close out the pod with a discussion on NIO Day 'Hello World' and speculate what you may see as part of NIO Day. 

Tu & Lei start this week's discussion about the recent Volkswagen Group news including new China CEO-elect Ralf Brandstatter joining in mid-2022 and the challenges ahead for the organization. They then move onto November & 2021 EV sales numbers for China and the US and China's projected 2022 sales numbers. And put to bed whether we've reached the tipping point for EV adoption in China. The answer is a very confident - YES!They move onto the Ford Mustang Mach-E delays potentially causing the excitement and hence sales momentum from building. Tu notes that battery supply constraints could push battery prices up until supply/capacity has increased which may not happen until well into 2022.

Tu and Lei start the show with their thoughts on November sales. They also have a discussion of next year's predicted sales of up to 5M unit sales of NEVs and any constraints that could cause a hiccup to the continued growth.They move on to how Pony and Baidu/Apollo were the first in China to receive the licenses in Beijing to charge for their robotaxi rides. A big step forward for both companies in the race to be first/best but also a big step forward for the city of Beijing beating Shanghai to be first.Lei then unpacks Li Auto's Q3 earnings while discussing whether or not China's Big 3 (NIO, Li Auto, XPeng) would need to delist in the coming years due to the new rules for foreign companies listing in the US.The last topic Tu and Lei discuss is news about Factorial Energy's recent partnership announcements with Mercedes and Stellantis and a broader discussion on the state of solid-state battery development.

Tu & Lei spend most of this episode unpacking all of the launches and news that came out of the Guangzhou auto show. They discuss the new EV brand from Great Wall Motors - Salon and its concept, the Mecha Dragon.They also spend time discussing the:- XPeng G9- BYD Destroyer- Voyah EMPV (Dream)- Maxus MIFA 9- Buick GL8 Concept- Cadillac Lyriq- Ford EVOS- Lincoln Zephyr- BMW iX- Audi Q5 e-tron- Mercedes EQA & EQB- Toyota Corolla Cross- Nissan e-PowerThey close out the podcast with a discussion on XPeng's Q3 earnings and Q4 guidance, the Xiaomi EV, and the ID.3 battery leasing program that was just launched. 

Lei starts out the pod with how his trip to LA went along with his visit to the Rivian retails store in LA, he then moves onto the brands and product launches from the LA Auto show including the Chinese presence there. Tu and Lei discuss their 2,000th episode and their launch of China EVs & More MAX series with Henrik Fisker. Tu and Lei take a few moments to talk Foxconn’s MIH platform then Tu moves into XPeng’s domestic brand refresh and what he think it means for the company. They then take a few moments to chat about when you may see Chinese brands begin to invade US markets and how Vinfast, the Vietnamese car company is likely going to beat most of the Chinese brands on entering the US market.They wrap up the pod talking about Baidu Apollo’s aggressive expansion plans for China, Always move into the Spain and Portuguese markets, Vollkswagen’s continuous China woes, and a hearty congratulations to Lucid Motors for winning the Motor Trend Car of the Year.