Elon Musk once scoffed at the notion that BYD could compete with his company. Now, the automaker run by billionaire Wang Chuanfu is poised to be the new No. 1 in electric vehicles.
Funnily enough the TSLA stock is 800 billion and the BYD stock is 75 billion.
That's because Tesla is extremely overvalued, because Musk is a con man, who promises Tesla will lead AI for fully autonomous driving, and basically promises that when that happens, it's nearly infinite money. In reality they are currently #4 at best in AI for self driving.
I'm guessing BYD is valued more by criteria similar to VW and Toyota.
PS: Yes I know half of infinite is still infinite. But I hope you all understand what I mean. 😋
Until this year, most of the analysts weren't really including FSD in any of their projections. They were projecting Tesla maintaining the really high margins instead of high margins. Some are adding AI in now.
When the really high margins became high margins, things changed pretty rapidly.
Of course retail investors amd what actually happens is different, and it's hard to deny there must be some impact beyond what analysts are saying, but I don't think it's as much FSD as people think it is.
Edit: analysts weren't even including the energy business either, but thats about to change too.
There's a bit more to it than that. But yes EVs are subsidized in China.
I worked in a business where we had one product that was useful for automakers but especially useful for EVs. About 8 years ago the EVs in China were mostly cheap shitty BYDs.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the government changed a bunch of rules and regulations for new cars. Within a month design teams were being established at every major automaker in China focusing on EVs. It was a great year for us.
Key EV components, especially the materials to make batteries, started to come down in price.
Then the green plates started turning up. Every city has its own rules for car registration, some places like Shanghai, would auction new number plates each month resulting in a low supply and high demand. It was possible to buy a car cheaper than the number plate. Then if you register an EV you can get a green plate for almost nothing.
About 3 years ago the cities started requiring new taxis and busses to be EV. Places like shenzhen just converted everything to EV. Released licenses for training and testing self driving.
Charge stations started popping up everywhere. There's no way a shopping mall or new residential development could avoid having at least a large section for charging. My own home, converted an entire floor to charging parking stations in the underground car park.
Finally tesla set up Shanghai giga factory. I have no idea how they managed to make that deal but not long after they started shipping model 3s domestically they slashed the prices down to cheaper than a niceish BYD.
If you go to Shenzhen today about a third of cars are EV and you will see a dozen brands you've never heard of before (some are terrible cars, but most are reasonable quality and a handful are bullshit luxury)
As in tradition in China, the government will now let them go into a price war to push the manufacturers to find cheaper ways to make them. Many will go bust or give up.
As in tradition in China, the government will now let them go into a price war to push the manufacturers to find cheaper ways to make them. Many will go bust or give up.
Isn't that how a market economy is supposed to work, I mean normal textbook style? That's how capitalism was sold to me in my econ classes.
That's fantastic that the CCP is creating the infrastructure to switch over to EV. It STILL doesn't change the fact that they are intentionally dumping on the competition.
In the 10 years since, Musk has changed his tune from one of derision to one of respect, saying in May: "That was many years ago. Their cars are highly competitive these days."
This is something to keep in mind because he has kept the same car designs for a decade. BYD has continually updated their hardware and designs. Musk isn't leading Tesla; he's at the helm while it coasts along, losing the momentum needed to move into the future.
I want to see battery ranges of 400-450 miles for $25-30,000 before I’ll consider it. I have a PHEV and the range is inflated. It gets 2/3rds of what it claims. To get what it claims, I’d need to do 20 miles an hour everywhere. That’s obviously not happening. Tesla also has range issues and gets much less than claimed… to the point where they got in trouble for it.
@Kbobabob The economy that drives the world? Later this century the US will be driving Geely cars and shooting guns made of Bao Shan steel. Then, with the world economy in it's pocket , the PLA will start exporting Communism to those countries defaulting in their debt. Chinese 'capitalism' is a means to an end, as those getting rich on it will find out.