When China’s BYD recently overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla as the global leader in sales of electric vehicles, casual observers of the auto industry might have been surprised.

But what’s caught other carmakers around the world off-guard is something else about BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway: its low prices.

“No one can match BYD on price. Period,” Michael Dunne, CEO of Asia-focused car consultancy Dunne Insights, told the Financial Times. “Boardrooms in America, Europe, Korea and Japan are in a state of shock.”

BYD can keeps its costs low in part because it owns the entire supply chain of its EV batteries, from the raw materials to the finished battery packs. That matters because a battery accounts for about 40% of a new electric vehicle’s price.

  • teamevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    75·
    2 years ago

    Yeah but lots more Chinese stuff is cheap shiny trash. If there’s a way to lie and cut a corner they’ll ,do it…not that America would be any different but they dont make anything here anymore.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
      62·
      2 years ago

      That’s true but these cars aren’t. There are consumer protections in China. They just tend to be a lot less noticeable.

        • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          2 years ago

          Probably rubbish. There is no such thing as digital privacy in China.

        • _apokalipto_@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 years ago

          If you get the windows tinted nobody should be able to see you inside.

        • reddit_sux@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          They r very private, everything you do stays between you and government God.