Tesla's refreshed Model Y has sparked massive demand in China with 50,000 orders on launch day, highlighting the country's evolving EV market where local brands now dominate. German luxury automakers faced declining sales in 2024, especially in China, while BYD surpassed Toyota in Japan's EV sales. The episode also covers regulatory challenges for autonomous trucks, rising customer satisfaction with dealerships, lithium price trends, and GM's collaboration with CATL on fast-charging LFP batteries for China. Additionally, it touches on innovative automotive tech showcased at CES and shifting consumer preferences in premium car segments.
Topics:tesla model y china launchchina car market trendsgerman luxury brand sales declinebyd ev sales in japanautonomous truck regulationscar dealership customer satisfactionlithium battery marketgm catl fast charging batteriespremium car sales in chinaautomotive technology innovations
- Tesla Model Y Juniper Off to Scorching Start - Aurora Challenges Regs For Autonomous Semis - Car Dealers Hit Record High Customer Satisfaction - German Lux Brands Dropped In 2024 - BYD Sells More EVs In Japan Than Toyota - Lithium Prices Stabilizing After Big Drop - No “Dancing in The Streets” With Yangwang U9 - China Car Market Still Smaller Than 2017 - GM to Use 6C LFP Batteries in China
"...but go check out the video on Car News China of a yangwang U nine owner dancing with his car in the middle of ..."
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Speaker 1: This is Outline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. The refreshed Tesla model why that
was introduced last Friday, is off to a scorching hot start in China. Car News China reports that the company
received fifty thousand orders on the first day alone. Two
trims are available at launch, a rear drive version that starts just under forty grand and a long range all wheel drive model that starts at just over forty one.
Thousand Deliveries are expected to start in March. You've likely
seen those reflective triangles or flares that semi drivers put on the road when they have to pull over for an issue. But they're required to do that by law,
and last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ruled that autonomous trucks must also follow that rule. However, there's
no driver on board to place those emergency devices is so self driving truck startup Aurora Innovation is challenging that decision with an appeal. The company wants an exemption that
would allow it to place flashing lights on trucks like emergency and construction vehicles use. But no matter how it
goes Aurora says the decision won't stop it from deploying its trucks this April. Franchise car dealers come under a
lot of criticism, but apparently not from the customers who are buying new cars. Cox Automotive's latest Car Buyer Journey
study says the customer satisfaction with car dealers set a record last year. It says seventy five percent of new
vehicle buyers were highly satisfied with their shopping experience at the dealership, up from seventy three percent and twenty twenty three, satisfaction with dealerships reached an all time high as well, of eighty one percent as prices came down an Inny improved car dealers also get criticized for being lousy at selling electric cars, but EV buyers gave them the highest rating, with eighty two percent saying they were satisfied, compared to
seventy five percent of gasoline powered vehicle buyers.
Speaker 2: On top of.
Speaker 1: That, sixteen percent of EV buyers completed their entire purchase online, a higher proportion than hybrid or gasoline powered buyers. But
it's a different story with used car buyers. Overall satisfaction
dipped slightly to sixty seven percent in twenty twenty four, down from sixty nine percent in twenty twenty three, primarily because of tight inventory and higher loan rates, which reached a twenty year peak. Cox Automotive says that dealers can
boost satisfaction with a balanced approach combining digital and in person interactions. Satisfaction levels were particularly among buyers who completed
most purchase steps online and engaged with dealerships for test drives in vehicle pickups.
Speaker 3: Knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day, That's what really matters. Bridge done to runs of quiet
tract tires confident control in wet conditions.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty four was a tough year for the German luxury brands Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Porsche all saw their sales go down. Last year, BMW sold about two
point four to five million vehicles, a drop of four percent.
Mercedes Benz was just behind BMW with just under two point four million sales, which was also a drop of four percent. Next came Audi, with a bit under one
point seven million vehicles sold in twenty twenty four. That
was down nearly twelve percent and in fact Audi was down in all major markets last year. China was especially
hard on the German luxury brands, where they were once looked to as aspirational brands and received large chunks of their profits, but that sentiment has now switched over to local brands. In Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and especially Porsche saw
their sales drop in China in twenty twenty four. Porsche
sold nearly three hundred and eleven thousand vehicles worldwide last year, which was down three percent, but in China its sales plunged twenty eight percent to under fifty seven thousand units.
All of the German luxury brands have started or are about to launch their next gen evs, which could be the reason for a great year or the reason that twenty twenty five will provide the same outcome as twenty twenty four. Speaking of sales, last week, we told you
that BYD sold about two thousand, two hundred EV in Japan last year, But now all the sales figures for Japan are coming out and BYD actually out sold Toyota with EV's in its home market for the first time.
According to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, Toyota only sold just over two thousand evs in the country last year, a drop of thirty percent. In fact, total b EV
sales were down thirty three percent to just under sixty thousand units, and BYD has a good chance to keep its lead over Toyota this year as well. It already
has three evs on sale in Japan and it's going to launch a fourth in twenty twenty five. Japanese automakers
should be worried about foreign auto makers swooping in to dominate the EV market. In addition to BYD, Tesla has
been in the country for a decade, and brands like Hyundai are about to launch their own low cost evs in Japan as well. Lithium prices are expected to stabilize
this year. Prices of the metal plunged eighty six percent
since its peak in November twenty twenty two because there was too much supply caused by the EV sales slowdown in most of the world, but thanks to strong EV sales in China, analysts expect lithium prices to recover this year.
There was a surplus of one hundred and fifty thousand tons of lithium carbonate last year, but that's expected to decrease the eighty thousand tons this year. However, analysts also
say that any gains could be capped if lithium mines that were closed when there was too much supply open back up. We've highlighted some of the wild capabilities of
BYD's disust suspension system, but owners are learning the hard way that it matters how you use those capabilities. We
can't show it to you here, but go check out the video on Car News China of a yangwang U nine owner dancing with his car in the middle of a stream. Of course, the gyrating car draws a crowd,
which blocked traffic. It also drew the attention of police,
and the owner reportedly received a ticket for his actions.
But after some of the videos that surfaced after Tesla launched its autopilot and FSD features, it's not too surprising to see owners abuse the technology that comes in their cars.
We've got the official sales numbers for the Chinese market last year and they tell an interesting story. Automakers sold
twenty two point eight nine million passenger vehicles, up five and a half percent from the year before, and yet there's still a million cars lower than they were in twenty seventeen, meaning the overall market really hasn't grown in seven years. Chinese brands captured sixty percent market share, up
nine percentage points from twenty twenty three, as foreign brands continue to lose sales and share. The top five automakers
in China by retail sales were byd Gli, FAWVW, Changan, and Cherry. Sales of Nev's hit ten point eight nine million,
up forty one percent, and they captured over forty seven percent market share, though in the second half of the year that was running at over fifty percent. Exports jumped
twenty five percent, hitting four point eight million vehicles, but that growth slowed considerably in the fourth quarter as various countries around the world started putting terrace on Chinese cars, especially evs. And here's another thing to keep an eye on.
Sales of premium cars fell twenty percent in China as flashy displays of wealth are becoming increasingly unpopular. Speaking of China,
SEICGM teamed up with CATL to develop a fast charging LFP battery. Later this year, they'll start making packs that
can get two hundred and seventeen miles of range in ten minutes of charging. That's three hundred and fifty kilometers
in only five minutes. It can get one hundred and
twenty four miles or two hundred kilometers of range if you want to get more technical. This is what they
refer to in China as a six C battery, which basically means it can be charged and discharged at a much higher current rate. GM is going to use the
sell to pack LFP batteries in its Ultium EV sold in China, which will have a nine hundred volt electrical system, although it will be hard to find a charger at first that can charge at that rate. Though GM has
seen its sales plummet in China, it hasn't given up on the Chinese market. It plans to introduce twelve new
models over the next two years, including evs, plug in hybrids, and e revs. You know, we ran across some pretty
cool technology at CES last week, so check out the we posted because in some cases, autoline is the only place you're going to find it. That's a wrap for
this show. Thanks for tuning in.
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