China EVs & More

Lei sits down with Henrik Fisker to discuss his thoughts on charging, LiDAR, solid-state batteries, AV, China, and more...

Lei starts out the show with a number of announcements from the week including Rivian's IPO and his EQS test drive.Lei & Tu talk about what they're looking ahead to at the LA & Guangzhou Auto shows. They then take a few moments to explain AVATR, Changan's new premium EV brand that both Huawei & CATL has invested in. Tu & Lei take a few minutes to review the automotive attendees of the China International Import Expo and then dive into October sales numbers and take a minute to debate what the low domestic Tesla Model 3 sales number means, if anything. Finally, Tu & Lei help introduce the HiPhi Z Digital GT and spend the rest of the show talking about what to expect for November & December sales numbers.

Lei declares that this is the 'Week of Big Bets!'Tu and Lei unpack various automakers' September sales numbers and the overall outlook of the China EV market. They take a close look at Tesla reconciling sales vs. capacity and where they go next.They then move onto NIO's move into Norway and how asset-heavy it seems to be. Tu and Lei close out the pod with a chat about Geely including Polestar's ambitious growth plans. 

Tu & Lei take the first few moments of the show to talk about VW's battery systems factory investment in Anhui Province and move on from there to also talk about NIO's announcement about their Iron Lithium hybrid battery.They then discuss the highs and (current) lows of China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle group and what they expect may result from the parent's debt struggles. They then move on to discuss how Faraday Future has gone from a startup on the brink to one that seems fairly well capitalized and close to getting their flagship product, the FF91 finally on the road.

This episode starts out with a brief detour with Tu describing his trip to the newly opened Universal Studios. Tu & Lei then move on to unpacking how the XPeng P5 introduction will affect the mass-market (<300K RMB), smart EV segment. The discussion then transitions to electric vehicle consolidation that although hopeful, isn't likely to happen in any significant way for quite a while. Tu & Lei then talk about Foxconn's bold moves with MIH & Foxconn's own EV brand - Foxtron. The pod is closed by updating everyone on the current China Evergrande situation. 

Tu & Lei spend the first part of this episode briefly touching on August sales numbers and spend a bit more time on their thoughts on Tesla's sales and their export strategy - is Tesla crazy like a fox?They then spend time discussing the products the re-branded Frankfurt Auto Show which was moved to Munich and is now called Internationale Automobil Ausstellung (IAA) Mobility because it now includes other forms of transport. The big announcements still came mostly from Germany's big three. Tu steps on his soapbox to explain that mobility does NOT mean more cars, whether they're EVs or not!Finally, Tu & Lei briefly touch on what's behind XPeng's unicorn and Ford's hiring of Doug Fields from Apple. 

Tu & Lei start the show off with a recap of XPeng Q2'21 earnings and the effect of NIO's accident on He Xiaopeng's discussion about their ADAS solution during the call. They also go into how the launch of the XPeng P5 should affect XPeng's strategy and sales volume.Tu & Lei briefly discuss the launch of Volkswagen's subscription services and then move on to a deep dive into China's state-owned enterprise (SOE)  premium 6 brands. Lei gives a quick history lesson on the 6 SOEs and how they've evolved till now.

Lei & Tu go through the week's major announcements about investments in the EV/AV space including with Cruise, Waymo, and Hesai. Tu also goes through the announced investments into EVs from the legacies and the implications from those announcements. Tu & Lei get into details about the struggles that Polestar and VW are having selling their EVs in China. ***We apologize for the technical challenges we had recording this episode.***

Lei and Tu go over August sales numbers for China's current Big 5 of NIO, Li Auto, XPeng, Neta, and Leap Motor. Tu & Lei then move over to Li Auto's Q2 earnings and how the EV makers are starting to broaden their product portfolios with some moving up-market and some down covering the 150K-500K RMB band or what's the 'meat' of China's passenger vehicle segment. They spend some time to go over what was or wasn't unveiled at the Chengdu Motor show with Lei giving a bit of a history lesson on how important Chengdu the city and the Motor show has been historically to China. Finally, Tu & Lei discuss the seemingly constant stream of new brands being established in the EV space and how they think it may affect the sector. 

In Episode 27, Tu & Lei take a few minutes to unpack the July sales numbers from the CPCA & CAAM and the roots of the NEV sales surge. Tu & Lei also spend a few minutes to discuss Tesla's surprising numbers for July. Lei summarizes the most significant news coming out of NIO's earnings calls including the confirmation of a mass-market brand as well as 3 new products scheduled for launch before the end of 2022. Finally, Tu and Lei summarize the policy announcements made regarding utilizing OTA to update autonomous driving features as well as the restrictions on data collection and sharing.