Cars! Cars! Cars!

montyp165

Junior Member
The strongest privately run Chinese automakers are also the strongest Chinese automotive brands globally, so building off of that will go a long way in improving the overall competitiveness of Chinese auto manufacturing. At the very least among the SOEs FAW been smart in devoting the proper resources to building up Hongqi in the luxury vehicle market.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
I want it. Maybe someday. F**k the GR Corolla, GR86 and GR Supra.




A history of the Z. It gives you a perspective of how it altered how people view of Japanese cars.

 

broadsword

Brigadier
Germanic Engineering? Very Well, I'm impressed. After all, China learned a lot from them. But tables are turning.

Volkswagen selects China-based LEAD for European gigafactory battery manufacturing equipment

29 June 2022


Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. (LEAD) announced that it has been contracted by Volkswagen to supply battery manufacturing equipment for Salzgitter, accounting for more than 65% of the total equipment quantity for that 20 GWh gigafactory.




Volkswagen has announced it will invest €30 billion to build 6 battery factories in Europe. For the first 20GWh factory in Salzgitter, LEAD will provide Volkswagen with lithium battery equipment including calendering, roll baking, cell assembly line, electrolyte filling, cell baking, formation & aging, and the whole line logistics.


LEAD says it will become the core supplier for Volkswagen’s 240GWh gigafactory network in Europe by 2030.


As a world-class automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen has strict quality standards and requirements for suppliers. With high equipment quality and performance, LEAD won recognition and trust from Volkswagen, the company said. In addition to that, LEAD has become a core equipment supplier to several other European battery manufacturers.


LEAD has also built a mature European local supply chain and sealed strategic cooperation with core suppliers such as Siemens, ABB, and Festo.


With global impetus, the new energy industry has entered a period of rapid development. LEAD has so far established more than 10 subsidiaries around the world, playing an increasingly important role in the global market.
 

superdog

Junior Member
Any experiences and opinions on the latest Chery SUVs?


An interesting observation: Chinese cars available for export now are often not 1st-tier models in the Chinese market.

For example, BYD is not exporting the newest Tang and Han especially the current gen DM-i models, only older or lower-end models (last gen Tang and Atto 3, and even this got delayed).

Geely's best sedan and SUV (Xingrui/Xingyue L), newer Lynk&Co models (all models after 01) and Zeeker are not being exported.

GWM is more up to date with the Ora and H6 exports, though its flagship products under the TANK moniker are not available.

The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro you posted may be fairly competitive in AUS, SA or RUS, but in the Chinese market it ranked last in side-by-side comparison with other domestic SUV, and also did poorly in sales. In fact Chery as a whole is doing poorly in the home market due to relative lack of EV tech, conservative design and poor marketing, but it seems to do well overseas. Another Chinese carmaker in similar situation is MG/SAIC, big in overseas export but doing poorly in the mid to upper domestic market. SAIC's joint venture Wuling/Baojun has been doing very well but limited to low-end vehicles.

Of course these may change in a coupe years, after the long order backlog is cleared in the Chinese market, then we may see the "hotter" models getting overseas. The point is, people would be severely underestimating the progress of Chinese brands if they only judge from the current exported models.

In the next few years I'd predict an explosion in mid to higher end Chinese cars. For high end, BYD is coming with a premium brand later this year, Changan/Huawei/CATL already debuted the AVATR and the model 11 is a well built product. Not sure about Geely and GWM's plans but I don't doubt they have their ambitions. And of course NIO is already half way there with average sales price above Lexus, Audi and BMW. For mid-end there will be the BYD Seal, the Changan SL03, the Zeeker 01, the NIO et5, Xpeng P7, and bunch of new names (Hozon, IM, Leapmotor etc.). The middle market segment is gonna explode in China and a bit later a tectonic shift will also happen around the world. I suspect Japanese carmakers will be the primary victim in this shift (their German counterparts are a bit better prepared).
 
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