33 comments

  • bantunes 3 hours ago

    Good to see someone with an actual plan to roll out affordable EVs. Too bad it's BYD, the knock-on effects on Tesla and VW Group will not be pretty. I mean, unless the US and EU tariff the hell out of imports. Australia doesn't care, since they don't car makers anymore after Holden's demise (right?).

    • pen2l 2 hours ago

      > I mean, unless the US and EU tariff the hell out of imports.

      That is what is happening. But I wonder if that'll result in animosity for the upper ruling class. Tariffs when it suits them, but never when it suits us down below.

      Many would love the BYD because all other EV's are completely out of their spending budget.

      • potato3732842 34 minutes ago

        Animosity for the upper ruling class is so 2011. It's the enablers they're gonna come for this time.

        (maybe, I can't predict the future)

    • Neonlicht 15 minutes ago

      The EU doesn't care if BYD opens factories in Europe.

    • Guthur 3 hours ago

      Holden was GM for quite some time anyway, Australia ceased having an independent car manufacturer a very long time ago.

      But Australia allow large international companies to steal all their gas at essentially 0% resource tax so it's not like they'll ever do anything to ensure their independence.

    • pantalaimon 2 hours ago

      > unless the US and EU tariff the hell out of imports

      This is the plan, the EU just enacted penal tariffs on Chinese EVs today

  • fvdessen 3 hours ago

    The latest batch of chinese EV looks really excellent, with exciting and practical vehicles at incredible prices. I’m afraid the whole European car industry is going to get nokiaed. Maybe not on our home market due to protectionism but abroad I don’t see why someone would buy a renault when you can buy this

    • yourusername 42 minutes ago

      The EU did it to theirselves. The manufacturers keep pushing 50k+ euro SUVs while ignoring customers that can only afford something like a seagull. The EU destroyed the domestic market by mandating more and more "safety" features so that you can't make a affordable car anymore.

    • lm28469 2 hours ago

      Renault makes the vast majority of its money in Europe anyways: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1129046/revenue-by-regio...

      Cheap EVs are good, I personally don't care if they're american, european or asian. Europe could do it instead of focusing on 40k+ euros gadget bloated piece of shit that nobody can afford

      • bb123 2 hours ago

        The Peugeot e-208 starts at £22k and you can pick up one thats less than 2 years old for about £10k. The idea that there aren't any affordable EVs hasn't been true for years.

        • arethuza an hour ago

          From what I can see the lowest cost 208 is petrol - which is ~£23K and the electric models start at ~£30K.

          https://offers.peugeot.co.uk/choose-your-peugeot/configure-2...

        • pantalaimon 2 hours ago

          When I search for it I find a starting price at 36,325 € - is it really that much cheaper in the UK?

        • flakeoil 2 hours ago

          Why would the EU introduce import tariffs then?

        • Hamuko 2 hours ago

          I'm seeing the e-208 start at £29950. The only one that even comes close to 22k is the petrol one at 23.7k.

    • CalRobert an hour ago

      Volkswagen got what they asked for and it will be their undoing. More lung disease and kindercrusher SUV's for all!

      • Neonlicht 11 minutes ago

        Ironically it was the Chinese market that saved the Germans in the 1990s.

      • fvdessen an hour ago

        It’s not just VW, there aren’t many companies and countries that are able to compete with China when it comes to manufacturing commodity products

        • CalRobert 20 minutes ago

          True, but vw’s kicking and screaming against electrification has only doomed them. I’m sure typewriter companies would welcome tariffs on computers too.

    • gokhan 2 hours ago

      EU car industry is toast as it's already being protected by tariffs starting today. This will hit other, relatively healthier, industries as China retalliates with its own tariffs.

      https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/eu-sla...

      • pantalaimon 2 hours ago

        If China enacts tariffs on European dairy and pork, that would actually be good for the environment.

        Those are also heavily subsidized in the EU to the point that they are usually cheaper than plant based alternatives

        • fvdessen an hour ago

          We’ll get farmer riots and extreme right governments who on top of being racist have extremely self destructive economic programs

  • IWeldMelons an hour ago

    I used to be sceptical about BYD until I had a ride in BYD SUV a month ago. Very, very comfortable car.

  • chris_wot 3 hours ago

    Are those prices in AUD?

    • edent 3 hours ago

      No. Incredibly confusing assumption of US hegemony.

      Looks like it should be about AUD$15,000.

      • aragilar 2 hours ago

        It looks like they used a value in AUD once in the article, with BRL, pesos and yuan being mentioned more times...

        • chris_wot 2 hours ago

          As an Australian, this article is less than useless to me. If they are reporting on the Australian market and giving prices in dollars, then they should be saying what currency they are referring to.

          • stevage an hour ago

            Yep. There was a time when USD and AUD were pretty similar so it didn't matter so much, but we're currently at $1.52 AUD to the $1 USD.

  • rgmerk 2 hours ago

    The Seagull is very cool, and I'm sure they'll sell plenty in Asia (and Europe if they get the chance).

    But very few people buy cars of this size in Australia. Kia is about the only manufacturer left offering them, and it's very much a niche car despite being the cheapest on the market.

    The new car market is dominated by pickups, just like the USA (though they're not quite as big as F150s).

    • averageRoyalty 2 hours ago

      > But very few people buy cars of this size in Australia. Kia is about the only manufacturer left offering them, and it's very much a niche car despite being the cheapest on the market.

      This doesn't appear to be true in my experience. Accent, Corolla hatchback, Polo, Golf, Yaris - these are all cars you'll see every day in any Australian city. And whilst tradies buy utes (we don't call them "pickups"), I doubt at least in the consumer vehicle market they dominate.

      What is your source of information?

      • ZeroGravitas 2 hours ago

        Also worth bearing in mind that EVs of an external size similar to an ICE car are often a class above in terms of internal space due to the packaging of the motors getting pushed out to the extremes of the vehicle.

      • StackRanker3000 2 hours ago

        Aren’t utes and pickups different (albeit similar) types of vehicle?

        Edit: Since someone downvoted me, I went to find the first source I could. I’d be more than happy to be challenged constructively if this isn’t true:

        > Utes are classified as a tub-back commercial vehicle based off a passenger car variant.

        > For the Americans reading this, yes the Ford Ranchero and Chevy El Camino are therefore utes and not pick-up trucks.

        > With no passenger car variant diesel 4x4s like the Ford Ranger, VW Amarok and Toyota Hilux are classified as pick-ups. These vehicles use separate chassis/body construction, commonly use leaf-sprung solid-axle rear-ends and have higher towing capacities than most passenger car-based utes.

        https://mightycarmods.com/blogs/news/utes-trucks-and-pick-up...

        • potato3732842 15 minutes ago

          There's a pretty continuous spectrum. Trying to draw a hard line is stupid. The same is true for AWD/4wd and wagon/SUV/crossover.

          I didn't downvote you

    • techbrovanguard 37 minutes ago

      i've seen a sharp increase in panzer tanks (f150s especially!) spreading like a plague throughout australian streets. can yanks keep their child slaughtering, pedestrian maiming, two tonne kill-boxes to themselves? every cunt with a disposable income has entered a nuclear arms race to prove they have the smallest cock while they pick up groceries.