As long as Chinese brands continue to do stuff like this they'll never be taken seriously.Meanwhile, what will happen to the production version of the car when you go balls out on the Nurburgring:
View attachment 9746
Gigantic brake calipers just to house those absolutely miniscule brake pads. This is like the automotive equivalent to stuffing your bra or your underwear to make your "bulges" look bigger.
BYD is one of the few Chinese companies that I can see doing a good job with building aspirational products. Their regular commuter cars seem to be insanely popular as well.The SU7 Ultra laptime was a publicity stunt using a heavily modified car. The actual car won't come close to that level of performance. Xiaomi is a smartphone brand and they are building cars with smartphone philosophy (maximizing specs) which won't translate well to durable goods like cars.
The BYD Yangyang U9 hyper car on the other hand is a much more serious contender. It did a time of 7:17 with almost fully stock specs and also reached 390km/h top speed. I would be really surprised if the production version of the Ultra can match the U9.
We could argue that China was too big of an opportunity to ignore but accepting the terms that Non Chinese manufacturers need partner up with Chinese manufacturers was pure out insane. By doing so well-established manufacturers gave up their trade secrets how to setup production lines, all the blueprints and their know-how to Chinese government for exactly what? For unhuman human labor so they could profit in manufacturing? It was bait by Chinese government to so their auto industry could take a shortcut and they succeeded. Fortunately for worldwide established manufacturers, Chinese manufactures are cannibalizing each other in the home market and by the time they are done over 75% of their brands will be extinguished. All of this buys some more time for non Chinese manufacturers to adjust and be ready to trade blows with BYD and whomever survives and becomes a giant in China.
It is true, but China is no charity either. Prices will increase, same as electricity prices increase with more BEVs on the road.Whether you like it or not, the rise of Chinese car brands revealed the inconvenient truth about the car industry. Legacy manufacturers have been fleecing customers world wide with little consideration for affordability, often using emissions and crash compliance as excuses. New cars are no longer affordable and consumers are fed up with it.
True. The same happened with Japanese and Korean brands before. Once they get rid of the low quality stereotype and establish their reputation they raise prices.It is true, but China is no charity either. Prices will increase, same as electricity prices increase with more BEVs on the road.