Kevin Williams: I went to China to test drive a dozen electric cars, and the Western car companies are running out

Observer.com

2024-05-16 08:17Posted on the official account of Shanghai Observer.com

[Text: Kevin Williams, Translation: Chen Jiarui]

Over the past few months, the rift between China and the United States has widened at an alarming rate. If ByteDance does not divest its U.S. operations, TikTok will be banned in the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said "nothing is impossible" in response to China's surge in exports of cheap clean energy. The U.S. Department of Commerce is further restricting chip exports to Huawei.

However, many critics still insist that China's advances in manufacturing capabilities, especially in the development and sale of electric vehicles, are not legitimate. Or rather, they argue, China's advances in manufacturing capacity are just a by-product of the government's deep-pocketed attempts to squeeze out other countries.

I've talked to automotive industry insiders, engineers, and academics. Many of them agree that China's industry is unsustainable and that the cars that China imposes on the public are low-cost spyware machines. Once the Chinese government hits the "death switch," these trams will murder American citizens.

In the view of these critics, if China had a truly open market, Chinese consumers would continue to buy Western cars in large quantities, and their car sales would not plummet.

It would be naïve to think that China has not affected the production of electric vehicles at all. But it would be a mistake to believe that the success of China's electric vehicle industry depends solely on the government forcing citizens to buy domestic products.

Image source: InsideEVs

I spent a week in China and attended the Beijing Auto Show, the largest automotive industry event in China. A few international journalists and I were invited by Geely Group to come to the scene. I drove a dozen cars, tried to sit more, and had a lot of important conversations. The real story is far more nuanced than the simple "us vs. them" story.

Many believe that China is fraudulently overinvesting in electric vehicles and desperately looking for space to dump inferior products. But this statement is false. These claims have nothing to do with Western automakers, and the fact is that the so-called "foreign automakers" are in a really bad situation.

Shanghai is hot, but quiet

I knew it was hot in Shanghai, but it wasn't until I stepped out of the terminal at Shanghai Pudong International Airport that I understood how hot it was on the Bund.

Shanghai is almost the same latitude as New Orleans. Similar to New Orleans, much of Shanghai is close to the water, and there are many wetlands, which makes it just as warm and humid. I was nervous, jet lag was still upside down, I was sweating profusely, my shirt was sticking to my back, but luckily I made it through customs and passport control.

I came to a new place that was both strange and familiar. Western brands like Peet's Coffee and KFC are everywhere in the terminal, and the queues of Chinese and international tourists are sipping iced coffee and tea lattes or munching on chicken sandwiches that taste much better than what I've eaten in the United States.

On the arrival and pick-up aisles at the airport, the first car I saw was a white Ford Explorer; It's like I didn't leave Ohio. The car is all too familiar, with the exception of the words "JMC Ford" on the rear hatch, which is exactly the same as the American Ford.

The moment I looked away from the explorer, I realized how different everything was here. The arrivals area is as busy as any airport in a cosmopolitan city, but the engine and exhaust sounds that are often heard in the United States and even Europe are not present here.

In the pick-up area, most of the cars are "new energy vehicles" with green plates, and the brands of the cars are also diverse, including BYD, Geely, and Western brands like Buick and Chevrolet. It's a spectacle: the electric car craze has swept the country, with crossovers, vans and sedans speeding between speed bumps while dodging pedestrians on their way to ride-hailing, taxi pick-up and bus stops, but barely making a sound.

Cars that I had read and reported about before that were only sold in China were finally seen with my own eyes. "Wow, that's the Velite 6; I've seen this kind of car on the Internet, and this car is everywhere in China. Or at least everywhere in the passenger pick-up zone. I said out loud. At that moment, I wondered, are these reports exaggerated? Is China's love for Western cars still strong?

Of course, it would be foolish to come to such a conclusion within five minutes of arriving in China, but the appearance of so many Buick cars has made me question the statement that "in the field of electric vehicles, Western brands are not cared for".

Right?

My main itinerary in China consisted of a visit to Geely's headquarters in Hangzhou and several roundtable meetings with executives from Geely's brands. We will then fly to Beijing for a one-day auto show, followed by a full day at the racetrack, test-driving a dozen different cars, including the latest models from all Geely Holding Group brands, except Volvo and Polestar.

Image source: InsideEVs

We drove from Shanghai, past the iconic Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and finally to Hangzhou, a drive of more than two hours. During this time, I spent in the back seat of Zeekr 009. I've driven this car on a track in the U.S. and I know it's fast and surprisingly gentle in corners, but that's not really what this car is for.

ZEEKR 009 belongs to the luxury utility vehicle (MPV) segment, which basically only exists in Asia, and can be said to have been perfected by China. Instead of Cadillac's Escalade or Lincoln's Navigator, private luxury car service companies use models such as the Buick GL8, Toyota Alfa, Denza D9, VOYAH Dreamer or Zeekr 009.

In this case, ZEEKR 009 gives people a feeling of being at home. The car wasn't cheap, and I estimated that the car I was riding in would cost more than $80,000. But compared with the latest Escalade or Navigator in the same price range, ZEEKR 009 is more comfortable and comprehensive. This is thanks to the interior ambience of the 009, with tiger stripe wood trim, full Alcantara, real metal finishes and glossy interiors, as well as first-class airline seats, which are both cool and give me a massage that will make me fall asleep before I know it.

In addition, the 009 has a relatively small distance from the steps to the ground, and there are electric sliding doors. It's fair to say that you can enjoy Rolls-Royce luxury with convenience at the same time, so I can fully understand why Chinese business people are so fond of it.

The visitor center at the company's headquarters showcases its latest models, some of which are high-end models from Zeekr and Lynk & Co, designed to compete with brands such as Acura or Audi.

Others, such as Geely's sub-brand Galaxy, are aimed at middle-income, value-conscious Chinese buyers, or rebranded their cars and sold them in places like Malaysia under the Proton brand.

Regardless of the price point, these cars are incredible. They are high-tech and have a good operating experience, which is something I have never experienced with European and American manufacturers.

For example, the Geely Galaxy E8, which is similar in size and price to the Honda Accord. But the E8 is an all-electric car that uses the same SEA architecture as some Polestar models, and its interior comes standard with a full-width 4K OLED display that is at the heart of all the car's functions. Admittedly, the E8's screen-only interface may cause a lot of concern, but these reviews are unfair to this screen.

Because when you use it, it's like you're looking at a TV screen or a high-quality gaming monitor. The screen interface has also been carefully designed and tweaked; Important details such as speed gears are at a glance, while heating, heating, air conditioning and stereo controls are also at your fingertips and won't be buried in a large number of menus. The screen itself is also very responsive, and like high-end smartphones, the input delay is very small.

Image source: InsideEVs

On the screen, the animation of the car sits above the ocean, overlooking the mountains; It's bright, it's wonderful, and it feels like the interior of the Geely Galaxy E8 is more like a remodeled living room than the front seat of a car.

I was impressed. But when I got to the auto show, I realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Beijing Auto Show was splendid

Thankfully, Beijing is more than 700 miles from Shanghai and Hangzhou, and is located inland with a relatively cool climate. Unfortunately, the traffic situation in Beijing is worse than in Shanghai. Despite leaving the hotel at 8:30 a.m., it took us an hour and a half to reach the new China International Exhibition Center, 14 kilometers away.

The auto show was crowded, in sharp contrast to the deserted media preview day of the American auto show. Everywhere I looked, there were people: influencers, Chinese media, international media. Obviously, auto shows are still very hot in China.

I later learned that there were more than 100 new model debuts and concept cars unveiled at the show. That's a far cry from the Detroit Auto Show last September, when only one all-new model was unveiled. The other two models are facelifts of the cars already on the market, and none of them are electric.

In China, every domestic automaker has unveiled new electrified models, and the booth is packed with these new models. There are hundreds of models from dozens of brands in the showroom, most of which are as eye-catching as the Geely cars I saw the day before.

Regardless of price point, most brands of trams are equipped with an integrated vehicle interface that is responsive, aesthetically pleasing, and accessible. At the same time, the doors of these vehicles make a calm and powerful sound when they close, and the vehicles are made of soft materials in the right places according to their price point.

Image source: InsideEVs

Any moderately priced Chinese EV has a basic infotainment system that outperforms some cars that cost six figures.

There's a reason for that. Electric vehicles in China are now very good, and the country's urban infrastructure is very well-developed, so range or charging issues are no longer so important to the average consumer.

Aside from range and charging speed, we now have to think of other ways to attract consumers, said Zeekr representatives. The same challenges are faced by the entire Chinese automotive industry, so Chinese domestic brands, as well as some foreign brands, have established good relationships with Chinese technology companies, and the two are working together to explore new market opportunities.

Of course, there are many electric car brands in China, and there are simply too many to count. Some of these brands are the product of collaborations between Chinese automakers and tech companies.

Take Jiyue Automobile, for example, which is jointly built by Geely and Baidu. Baidu, often referred to as China's Google, has made a fully self-driving car on the road with its connected services and vision-only self-driving technology, but Tesla is still on the sidelines. There's also Zhiji Auto, a high-end brand created by SAIC and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance is a partnership between BAIC Group, Chery Automobile, AITO Automobile, and Changan Automobile, on the one hand, and mobile phone and technology giant Huawei. Huawei can help automakers design and sell cars, as well as add a full suite of solutions to their infotainment architectures, all based on Huawei's Harmony OS, which can also be used on their smartphones or other smart devices.

Image source: InsideEVs

And Xiaomi, a mobile phone manufacturer, has also joined the ranks of building cars, deciding to design and build its own cars. But unlike Apple, Xiaomi achieved its goal by launching a technologically advanced product, and for doing so, it made headlines around the world.

Regardless of the type, the models are hyper-connected, equipped with high-end processors and technology to appeal to discerning Chinese consumers.

I can see why so many people come to see Chinese domestic brands. There was always a long queue in front of the Ideal booth because people wanted to see the new big five-seater plug-in hybrid SUV unveiled at the auto show, the Ideal L6. Even its current mass-produced models, such as the Li L9 and Mega, have a large number of Chinese and international media lined up to experience and explore.

Changan Automobile unveiled the Qiyuan E07, a convertible coupe SUV about the size of the Ford Tiger, which can fold down the front seats and connect to the second row to form a bed, and the car has been attracting a lot of attention throughout the show. The queue in front of the Xiaomi SU7 show car lasted up to two hours, and some international reporters simply chose to give up.

However, Western brands have not enjoyed this treatment.

Western brands are not in demand in China

All the new car launches at this auto show were conducted in Chinese, and I didn't always have a translator or interpreter around me. When I can, I wander around and see what else I can learn in China.

The first thing I found was the Buick booth. Buick unveiled two concept cars, the Electra L and Electra LT, based on GM's Ultium platform. In addition, Buick also introduced the popular plug-in hybrid version of the GL8. It was the first day of the Beijing Auto Show, and it was not yet 10 a.m., and the two concept cars had just been unveiled that morning, but there were few visitors in front of the Buick booth. There is no other information about the two concept cars, and visitors seem lukewarm. Where have all the people gone?

The same goes for other Asian brands. Mazda's latest model, the EZ-6, the sister car of the Changan Deep Blue SL03, was also unveiled at the auto show, attracting some influential media and journalists to shoot a quick catwalk for their new car, but after that, most people's attention shifted elsewhere. The same goes for Toyota's bZ3x and bZ3c.

Will Sundin, a blogger on YouTube's "China Driven" channel, told me: "Here, the Chinese don't care about the so-called concept cars. They want something they can buy and drive away right away." As we walked and talked, he explained in detail why Western manufacturers have lost so much market share in China. Sandin blames part of the reason for the mediocre products of Western brands, the poor quality of their software and their inability to quickly transition to electric vehicle production.

At the auto show, Chevrolet showcased the same pre-production prototype of the Explorer EV as the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. Both cars were locked down and the public could not see them in depth until the second day of the show, when a third car was unveiled.

In addition, the Explorer EV is still not on sale. In contrast, the Ideal L6 was already on sale before it was officially unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show. Li Auto said it has 40,000 orders for plug-in hybrids. But why hasn't the Chevrolet Explorer electric car gone on sale yet?

We walked around the International Exhibition Center again and finally returned to the Buick booth. I sat in the front seat of the Buick Micro Blue 6, a car that can be seen everywhere in Shanghai. Later, I learned from four on-site people that Weilan 6 was highly discounted and sold in large quantities to Chinese ride-hailing drivers.

The car is being sold in large quantities to ride-hailing drivers because it is cheap and readily available, not because it is attractive. This is not good for a brand that wants to keep its market share and increase the price of the deal.

After sitting behind the wheel of the Micro Blue 6 for five seconds, I understood why. Sandin sensed my disappointment.

He said, "It's kind of bad, isn't it?" "He's right, I can't ignore what I'm seeing. The Micro Blue 6 is like an electric version of the old Chevrolet Malibu.

Image source: Instagram

Compared to the Chinese mid-range electric vehicles I experienced that day, the Micro Blue 6 has a large gap in quality, interconnectivity and cost performance. In comparison with the full-width ultra-bright screen of Chinese electric vehicles, the small screen of the Micro Blue 6 and the gray plastic interior are frustrating.

The Buick Electra E4, based on GM's Autonom technology, seems to be a small step in the right direction, but overall, it is nowhere near the competition of other high-end Chinese brands. GM seems to understand this, as it cut the price of the Electra E4 in China twice before the price war began.

"Well, at least you Americans will get some new plug-in hybrids, like the new Buick GL8, won't you?" Sandin said.

"No, GM didn't actually launch plug-in hybrids in the U.S.," I told him. "There are only a few electric vehicles based on GM's Autonom platform, and the cars are not performing that well."

I was really embarrassed. I was in China at the time, trying to empathize with Western brands, believing that they were being kicked out of the Chinese market for political reasons or other reasons that were not their own. But this is not the case.

In fact, I feel like I'm back in the late '80s, when American manufacturers felt they could sell immature models to the public, and consumers were only okay with them. But now, I see what is happening in China, and Western manufacturers, especially American manufacturers, are not trying to change at all, to keep up with the trend.

Author and podcaster Ed Zitron said an interesting thing on his podcast Better Offline. Americans are close to apologizing for their preference for Big Tech, and the American ethos is always that some big man or a boisterous entrepreneur has a big idea for a gadget that no one cares about, and finally develops a product that doesn't work so well.

When the public rightfully ignores a bad or unpopular product, a new trend emerges in the tech world. That is blaming the customer for not being smart enough, rather than facing reality and admitting that what you make isn't that good. Just look at those AI Pins that are useless.

The same is true for the automotive industry. European and American automakers only want to sell the cars they make, not try to understand and meet the needs of the Chinese market. By contrast, Chinese automakers seem to be working harder to understand Chinese aspirations.

Chinese consumers want connected cars with big screens, and automakers have come up with a way to bring big screens into their cars, and it works well.

We will only complain, while China is advancing

The imminent TikTok ban in the United States appears to mirror China's relationship with its electric car exports. I'm also a TikTok user, and I understand how it works and agree with a lot of pertinent criticisms that the platform spreads a lot of misinformation and that endless scrolling of videos is not good for people's mental health, especially for teens who love the platform so much.

However, many reports about TikTok's ban refuse to acknowledge the fact that the platform executes very, very well. TikTok's algorithm is fantastic, and it can compile an almost endless amount of content that is fresh, positive, interesting, and exactly to your liking. I've seen TikTok's viral power create musicians like PinkPantheress and revive the careers of classic artists like Sophie Ellis-Bextor or Kate Bush and put them back on the charts.

TikTok isn't perfect, but it's much healthier than what Meta (formerly Facebook), Google, and Twitter have created, because the services provided by the latter are always flawed and of increasingly poor quality. Users are getting less and less, and the experience is getting worse and worse. On Reels, Facebook's short-form video section, content moderation is terrible, and it's not uncommon to see people dying on screen.

Some argue that U.S. automakers, tech companies and regulators boycott China only to protect the domestic market from unsafe products. It's not sincere, it's like a show, an implicit admission that they have no intention of doing better.

The United States does not want competition, but keeps competition out. Concerns about cybersecurity don't solve the problem: Compared to what China is launching now, the American automaker's product is terrible, with short battery life, poor workmanship, mediocre appearance, and not smart enough.

Western automakers and tech companies don't work deeply together to meet the needs of end users. They didn't lay out ahead and build a battery supply chain like China. They also don't seem to want to cater to China and any other market by constantly updating and building flexible product lines.

In China, a highly competitive market, even Tesla has not bothered to update its most important product, the Model Y. Instead, Tesla relies on profit-damaging gimmicks such as constant price cuts, trade-in subsidies, and interest-free loans to entice consumers to buy cars that are already outdated and uncompetitive.

Image source: InsideEVs

Tesla didn't even participate in the Beijing Auto Show. Elon Musk, who came to Beijing during the show only to pitch his plans for a Robotaxi transformation to government officials, appears to have given up on making cars in China.

After Volkswagen put its ID series models on the market, journalists and buyers were legitimately critical of its software interface, but Volkswagen was surprised. Nissan sells almost as many Sylphy gasoline vehicles in China as it does Tesla's Model Y. However, when it came time to electrify, it used the Sylphy's bodywork and paired it with an outdated Nissan Leaf's 38kWh battery pack. The car does not charge well, has a limited range, and is expensive.

GM also screwed up in China. Prior to the unveiling of the plug-in hybrid version at the Beijing Motor Show, the GL8 was one of the few commercial vehicles in the segment that did not have a plug-in capability. Green new energy vehicles and luxury commercial vehicles are both important parts of China's automotive market. Why haven't Western automakers noticed this? Why hasn't GM rolled out electric vehicles sooner?

So when does the blame shift from China's economic policies to the automakers' own behavior? How much does the claim that China is "unfairly" subsidizing the electric vehicle industry have to do with the fact that Western automakers have completely misjudged the Chinese market and failed to produce the products that Chinese consumers really want? Why would they be so arrogant to think that China would buy their Peugeot, Citroen, Chevrolet, and the facelifted Volkswagen and Buick forever? Why don't we subsidize electric vehicle manufacturing and the clean energy industry like China does?

In addition, while the Beijing Auto Show is impressive, there is also a hint of a desperate atmosphere. I visited some of the smaller, rush-to-grow brands that they didn't realize at first I was an international press; They mistakenly thought I was a potential dealer and tried to sign a contract with me to export cars outside of the United States.

Some influencers with nothing to do with the automotive industry have also gone live on Chinese social media to post about the unveiling of new cars, in an attempt to bring an audience uninterested in cars into the automotive sector. Models that were once banned at the China Auto Show are quietly back in the showroom, which shows how eager they are to get noticed and sold.

However, these issues are all secondary. If China can somehow address its overcapacity and acquiesce to all the demands of Europe and the United States on its EV industry, it will still have technologically advanced, well-made, and fun EVs. It can be said that China will become more efficient and powerful.

Even if Europe and the United States get their wish and suppress Chinese car imports, there may not be other better cars. This gives the impression that buyers in the market are forced to choose cars that are not performing well. This is naked protectionism, because all the executives of Western auto companies and those experts who are tough on China understand that Chinese electric and hybrid vehicles are more attractive than the products of European, Asian and American brands.

View original image 51K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•