$4000 E car from Red China selling like hotcakes

[marka-ee]

Saw a nice article on the $4000-$5000 electric cars selling very well in china, very popular with first time car buyers in the countryside.
Folks, that's what many people in the western world pay for an electric bike!
Now I'm sure it does not fit into the nanny state safety standards of the US. But neither do Motorcycles.
You can bet the western car companies marketing will do everything possible to keep these away from western buyers. I think it's sad. The land of the free.
Red China also has some very nice electric cars around the $10,000 range as well.

https://electrek.co/2020/08/20/gm-mini-electric-car-price-orders/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/teslas-nemesis-in-china-is-a-tiny-dollar5000-electric-car-from-gm/ar-BB19r1yS

 

[Stealth_Chopper]

Commie propaganda

 

[marka-ee]

Propaganda? How? I think these types of EV would sell well. City type of car for basic transportation. It has a small 15 Kw battery but fine for getting to work or a shopping run. The price is amazing if you ask me.

 

[pullin-gs]

Commie propaganda

......in the mean time this product (and 10 million other "commie propaganda" items that Americans CHOOSE to buy) is handing China their global economic dominance over USA.

 

[Dauntless]

You missed the Porsche and Lambo electric knockoffs posted in another thread.

In the U.S. the NEV market isn't exactly hot, but I say that's because the offerings are the GEM, etc. Plus I think the 25mph limit is unrealistically low. You look at the roads they're allowed to drive on and it gets hard to go far from your home.

 

[marka-ee]

You missed the Porsche and Lambo electric knockoffs posted in another thread.

In the U.S. the NEV market isn't exactly hot, but I say that's because the offerings are the GEM, etc. Plus I think the 25mph limit is unrealistically low. You look at the roads they're allowed to drive on and it gets hard to go far from your home.

Apparently it has a top speed of 62mph and a max range of 75 miles. ( not at that speed obviously ).
The GEM sold 50,000 copies from 1998 to 2014. This China car sold that many in 6 mo. Anyhow, I'm impressed and the $10,000 EV cars from China look more a threat to the US market than this little car.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-10/cheap-electric-vehicles-in-china-bring-green-transportation-to-the-masses

$10000 car :

 

[Dauntless]

If it's going above NEV speed we're back to needing crumple zones, collapsible steering columns, if it weighs enough even airbags.

I will say I have a different vision of a gateway electric. The family gets something cheap driven close to home. The teens can be trusted to not race it. Maybe too small for the daily driver but comfortable enough on short trips. For a small expenditure the family gets acclimated to the electric world and indeed we get to 5-10% of mileage driven being in an electric car.

And with that the market for all electrics improves.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Kingwoo-New-Arrival-Feel-Your-Heart_60476009098.html

Or even less cozy but at a lower price. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-Quality-4-Wheel-Electric-Car_60751308268.html

 

[Hillhater]

I have lost count of all the small EV offerings that have come and gone for various reasons,.. Gem, Sparrow, Aptera, etc,..
... but generally lack of sales seems to be the common factor...
..not enough people want them !

 

[markz]

Anyone over 6' tall will be a very tight fit in that car.

Same thing as the Acura Integra's circa ~2000 vintage is what my friend had that I sat in.

 

[Dauntless]

Any number of cars over my lifetime had that size problem. I remember my friend getting engaged and his fiancee decided she'd run get a car so there'd be no need for his approval. She got one he could not drive, even being a passenger was a bad thing.

The Aptera lacked driveability at speed. The lack of sales was due to high price, low utility. Are you one of the people who make fun of the Yugo? Or do you recognize it's considered a success up to the point Yugoslavia has sanctions placed on them and U.N. forces bombed the factory back to the stone age? Very low price, of some use at least.

So maybe a cheap electric pickup truck, lots of people would like having one of those around.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-quality-electric-pickup-truck-factory_60769826443.html

 

[marka-ee]

I have lost count of all the small EV offerings that have come and gone for various reasons,.. Gem, Sparrow, Aptera, etc,..
... but generally lack of sales seems to be the common factor...
..not enough people want them !

But they do want them. The China $4000 one sold 50,000 in 6 months. The Gem,Sparrow,Aptera : were they priced right? Do they look like a golf cart or a normal car ?
If an American firm made that $4000 car would it cost $4k still, or maybe $15,000 which is a non starter. Do you sense a pattern?
Anyhow things should get interesting in the global EV market.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The car show above is a partnership with either Ford of GM - I forget which. GM, I think...

 

[Dauntless]

GM. In the first post article.

In dollar volume the Tesla is probably bigger, but if you can buy 20 of these for the price of one Tesla I can see how you could move them. I wonder how many of these you could wear out in the lifetime of one Tesla.

If you could sell this cheap you could sell a lot of them. But it wouldn't be cheap, would it? There are plenty of people who do settle for what they can afford, as long as it's workable.