alt Hacker NewsFrom the Netherlands - German neighbors from the other side..
Chinese cars can be superior on paper, cheaper to buy or operate. The factors on a consumer mind is
1. If something is wrong(modern cars are like beta software), will I get the support and service?
2. Will the car company exist in 5/8/10 years after my purchase? Resale value, parts for future maintenance etc.
The Chinese brands IMO are not there yet. A few years ago, Nio was very cool and tempting.. now they are winding down in Europe. There are plenty of reviews online where people struggle with service on their Chinese cars. Plus, it doesn’t help that they are dozens of brands(BYD, Xpeng, Zeekr, Cherry, Nio etc) instead of the confidence a brand like VW would instill(in the sense that your independent mechanic would know what to do if it’s VW).
Perhaps if the Chinese brands stand the test of time in a few years, we would trust them like Hyundai/Kia of today.
Replies
1. they are building their service network, they are taking over EU factories so they can produce cars here, it is not really anything new, it is Japan/Korea story all over, just instead of ICE it is PHEV/BEV
2. that's why you choose decades old company like BYD, Cherry (Omoda, Jaecoo) or Geely (with their sub-brands Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Volvo), I would refrain from companies like Xpeng or Nio which doesn't have strong company behind them, actually I would not be so sure either that Tesla car brand will still exist in 10 years (at least outside US)
I sure have bigger trust in future of big Chinese companies than those EU companies like VW with very uncertain future, they survived Japanese/Korean ICE invasion with big losses (my mother has Toyota, my father has like 3rd or 4th Japanese car, I think in last 30 years he had only one European brand car, because EU brands just can't compete), I am not so sure these legacy EU brands will all survive Chinese PHEV/BEV invasion, if they will survive they will be most likely acquired by Chinese like Volvo anyway.
> The Chinese brands IMO are not there yet.
Thanks for keeping the lights on for my neighbors for a few more years. However, I think BYD is there, and if weren't for the EU's Chinese EV Important tax, you could almost buy 2 BYDs (one for driving and one for spare parts /s) for the price of an equivalent VW.
I am not a car journalist and therefore have only seen 10s and not 100s/1000s of cars, but for my limited sample size: 100% of German(and most American and Japanese) car software is offensively bad. No idea whats so hard about getting at least the performance of a 10 year old iPad in a car.
Also: If you want "German Quality", the closest you will get is by buying a Japanese/Korean car. If money is of no concern, the Mercedes EQS might be an OK option, but they lost their stand out feature by no longer selling (giving up on?) Level 3 self-driving.