BMW Neue Klasse iX3, Denza Z9GT, Xpeng GX, Subaru Trailseeker and Rivian R2

Music

Thanks so much for joining us today.

On the 11th of February, 2026, it is Wednesday night once again.

Welcome to the EV show by Lucas Feed.

Very nice of you to join us.

It should be a good night tonight as always.

Love just to chat about in the EV space.

Let's welcome our guest as always.

Well, I should say for this evening, hello to Riz and also hello to Roland as well.

Hello, gentlemen. How are you both?

We'll start with Riz. How you been?

Yeah, going well.

Well, yeah, I think what I'll be February and so many things are already on, Tom.

I think it's going to keep yourself, Roland, all of our viewers and listeners

pretty, pretty excited.

This just keeps we'll go through some of it today.

Absolutely. As always, Roland, how are we doing from Zap YouTube channel?

Yeah, thanks. Apologies, Miss.

Last week, Mr.

Everyone, but back on board, looking forward to tonight's discussions.

Absolutely. Great to have you back as usual, Roland.

Let's say hello to our regulars as always.

You've joined us nice and early, early adoptives for this evening.

Hello to Zander, who has looked like he's got his Ato one allocation.

So that's good. Very exciting news.

Thank you, Zander, for sharing that with us.

Hello, also to Andrew. Hello to Scotty from Rainy Melbourne.

Hello to the IMAX. Excellent.

Hello to Lightning.

OK, hello to also to Mother.

Nice to be you guys and girls to join us and hello to

yes, the IMAX bit and warm in Northern Rivers, very warm in Sydney as well.

I can assure you I'm sure Roland can feel the same as well.

Hello, Steve from Central Coast.

Hello for the Burbs.

Hello, Quavehead. Very good indeed.

And Quavehead's picked up his Ato to this afternoon.

Congratulations as well.

OK, to see all these new cars rolling up to customers nice and early in 2026.

Excellent.

Good. Well, let's keep those comments coming, guys and girls.

And a shout out also to JD Music, Media Music, member for 42 months.

That's incredible. That's three and a half years going strong.

Thank you for supporting the channel in our live streams each week, of course.

Alrighty, gentlemen, lots to shout about, as we said, but we'll kick off with this one.

This was spotted by someone from Melbourne, I guess, Roland.

You, sorry, you tweeted or asked this post here this week.

Yes, Melbourne car spotters group, usually a place where people spot

supercars and hypercars, but BMWs next.

I don't even know how you say I'm going to butcher them a new class.

How do you say?

No, you're a class.

Yes, no, no, a class.

Yeah, there you go.

So it's obviously been spotted.

It's coming very, very soon.

I think that's the first time I've seen it spotted in flesh

from someone online posting it.

So yeah, just waiting for the comments to come in when

when people start looking at the front in proper lighting,

because I remember the current BMWs when they first showed the nose

or the front bumpers on the on the three and the four series.

The internet went wild.

So yeah.

Yes, all new design, all new platform, all new software, et cetera,

et cetera, it's going to be huge.

I reckon.

And yeah, looking forward to certainly looking at this one

and hopefully test driving it soon.

I'm sure Roland Riz are the same.

It does look pretty good.

New front design.

They've got these vertical kidneys now, I think they call it.

And yeah, boasting 802 kilometers WLTP.

That's huge, Riz, huge.

Well, the word on the street is the streets of Germany.

That is, that they've done a bit of a test on this car driving

not on Autobahn, but other driving that they've done around town.

And they've got over a thousand kilometers out of that.

What is it, 102 or 108 kilowatt hour battery?

108 kilowatt hour usable.

That's huge.

So it's it's it's it's big.

Yeah.

Hey, actually credit to BMW, the region breaking

that they have on their cars is probably the closest

to a Tesla that I've experienced.

Polestar Volvo is a little bit on the higher end

in terms of the weight regions.

BYD is a bit on the low end and no one pedal stop.

But yeah, BMW do that quite well.

I agree, Riz, I think of all the cars we've tested.

I reckon, yes, Tesla, obviously performance, all drive very good.

Zika seven X is very good.

Polestar four, very good.

And BMW, the X three, I X, sorry, I X I had recently.

That was phenomenal.

One pedal driving, very, very finely tuned suspension,

just beautiful braking dynamics as well.

So I'm I, you know, to say that BMW now has got even

an even better driving experience, the Noi class cars.

I'll be very interested to see how they go on the roads here

in Sydney and Melbourne and so on.

Yeah, very much looking forward to it.

And is this the one of the first sort of, let's say,

next generation electric cars from the German brands?

Who could be could be could be a whole stream of them

Riz and Roller like VW, maybe.

And, you know, yeah, I think that the Noi class is what they said

was the new platform that will underpin all their future models.

So they'll hopefully they'll milk it like what Volkswagen

did with all of their ice cars, you know, one platform

for like four or five different models for many years.

I've got the press release here, actually.

They reckon they're going to release like plenty,

like 40 new updated models between now and next year.

So lots to look forward to in this space.

Other stats I've got, yeah, 4.7 meters.

So kind of that mid-sized SUV, like I said, 800 Ks of range,

0 to 104.9.

That's pretty respectable and expecting 120 K for, I guess,

that price is not a surprise to BMW fans or owners.

That's kind of the benchmark, isn't it?

So put it into perspective and X3 and 50 or the ice X3

which was launched probably five years ago.

The current model that's out, they were going for like over 100 easy,

100, 110,000.

This is just the nice version.

So 120 for this is not bad.

Some say in Europe, it might be a little bit cheaper than the previous IX3,

not this particular model, but in general.

So we just don't know the full specs.

But, you know, I think it's in BMW's best interest to

sort of price it, price it sort of, you know, in a place where they can sell a few.

And as you said, these are made in Hungary as is the high voltage battery.

So yes, all European.

So yeah, we shall see how the Europeans and possibly the Japanese fare

against the Chinese in the EV space.

So lots to look forward to this year.

Let's take some comments.

Yes, Tassie Eves says that the BMW, Viva Teeth are gone.

Correct.

Got these different styles.

Grill now.

Yes.

And BMW design team is very brave.

Yes.

Well, you know, they have to be right.

It's cutting edge.

And what else have we got here?

Yeah.

How many years before we start seeing EVs with more range in their combustion counterparts?

That's a great question, Sydney.

Very good question.

Well, just just on that, did anyone see BYD's Z9?

What is it?

Sort of like a grand tour of sort of a Denza Z9.

They've released, well, they've released the specs for approval for the next version.

Hundred and two or 108 kilowatt hour.

Once again, I got confused with BMW's battery pack size over a thousand kilometers of range.

I think this is the one that Roland also posted.

Yes, Z9 GT looking pretty nice there.

Hundred and two kilowatt hours and one 22 kilowatt hour with CLTC, obviously,

take that with a pinch of salt, close to a thousand Ks, as Bruce said.

So yeah, could this be the year of the wagon, making wagons great again?

No, it's good.

I think, you know, what would you reckon, 800 WLTP if it's a thousand CLTC?

Well, if the BMW, I know it might be more efficient,

but if the BMW can do it in with the 108 kilowatt hour pack, get around 800 Ks.

Even if it's similar efficiency with this car, I know they're using the blade batteries.

And I think the higher energy density ones as well,

be what he's been a little bit sort of, you know, under the wraps of what's going on

with the new battery tech, some of it can do apparently over a megawatt of charging.

We'll have to see.

But yeah, like it could be the year of the wagon, Tom, as you say.

I was lucky enough to drive the Z9, the old one, the current Z9 GT.

Yeah, yeah. And where was it?

Forget where it was. Somewhere in China.

I think it might have been.

I've been seared in the testing ground out there a couple of years ago.

That was fabulous, fabulous car.

It's almost too quick.

I couldn't control around the traffic cones on the skid pan.

It's phenomenal.

I think you'd love it.

Triple mode, exactly.

It's got the crabwalk thing where you can spin the wheels and yeah,

it's quite an incredible piece of machinery.

So it's definitely geared towards the comfort.

I was the same in some back car park in Shenzhen last year.

But yeah, it's very, very comfort, sort of geared, sort of a vehicle.

And yeah, like, you know, this is obviously the next version.

And I think they're improving it every year.

It's crazy how fast things are moving.

Michael asks, yes, love to see the drag coefficient data.

I mean, you know, do we need to be efficient at this end of the market?

No, we just want to see it.

Well, what's the word for revs?

It's not really revenue.

I just want to see this thing go right like the clappers.

Yeah. And just back on the BMW,

Tassie even says this is popular in Europe.

So many orders.

They've had to put an extra shift to the factory.

Very true.

Yes, the Neue Classe will be very popular indeed.

A bit of talk in the chat about the Ato 1 and Ato 2.

That's good. Keep that coming.

See those orders being delivered soon.

Skip says, just bought a Zika 7X all-wheel drive.

Congratulations. Great car.

Drives very well.

One of the top driving vehicles, I think, in the country at the moment.

So well done. Good choice.

Yeah. And for the birds, Jim says, I saw a post on the Subaru

Australia GM's LinkedIn page a few years ago,

announcing the Trailseeker.

Yes, I saw this as well.

280 kilowatts, 0 to 100 in 4.4 with a 74.7 CATL battery.

Fantastic. So using Chinese tech, 10 to 80 percent in 30 minutes.

So fast charging as well, reasonably fast charging as well.

Yeah. Good to see a bit of a comeback, maybe, from the Japanese guys.

We'll see.

Hey, what?

So I saw this and maybe I know we haven't got enough show notes,

but Teotas announced at the end of this year in America,

they'll have the Highlander, which is like the Kluger, fully electric.

And fully electric.

It looks very much like some of the cars we might have seen at Guangzhou Auto Show.

But yeah, this is the Trailseeker.

Trailseeker, yeah.

Yeah, in classic Subaru style, just going back to that.

Yeah, very rugged, very adventurous.

They've still got that eyeliner wheel arch thing here, guys.

See, this black rim around the wheel arch.

They love that, don't they?

The BZ4X and the Salterra and now the Trailseeker.

It's kind of like the signature move.

I don't know. I'm still divided about that.

Yeah, good to see them using Chinese batteries.

I think they'll keep the price down for sure.

Yeah, I agree.

I think the next gen could be all the bigger SUVs, right?

The Prados, Klugas, that's going to be coming soon, Oregon.

Yeah, and we did see some of us saw the the new X-Peng GX.

Oh, yes, not the G9.

The X-Peng GX has been teased.

That's what we can pull that up.

See, what does that remind us of?

Oh, yes.

Give us some suggestions, guys, in the comments.

Yes, what does that remind you of indeed?

There's a smaller version of this shape at the moment,

starting with a J.

Going for 369.9.

Yes, they're all like...

And there's an expensive petrol variant.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, so let us know what you guys think.

We won't say yet.

I'm sure you can guess by now.

Yeah, GX.

Yep, yep.

What are some of the specs here?

We should probably look it up.

What are we talking?

So, electric and plug-in.

So, I'm glad that X-Peng hasn't gone full plug-in into this one.

But these larger SUVs are definitely making a comeback.

Well, not a comeback.

They're actually coming to market with fully electric versions,

which is great.

Yeah, so here it is, the X-Peng GX.

Here, ERV is reset and BEVs, which is good.

What do we do?

5.3 metres, that's a big boy.

5.3 metres, 430 kilowatts,

level 4 assisted, ready assisted driving system.

It's pretty good.

And yes, similar Range Rover, of course,

that's what the article is saying here.

Even the back looks a bit like that.

And yes, as Cindy Evie says,

J-Coup Mini Range Rover, yes, it's the Evoca.

This is a bit bigger than the Evoca or the J-Coup.

Yeah, so yeah, lots to look forward to.

Six seats, the GX 222.

Mm-hmm.

Look at that weight, guys.

3.2 to 3.4 tonnes, big, big boy.

Yeah, CALB.

I'm not sure whether X-Peng is a CALB or CATL.

That's kind of a mix, maybe, of both.

I heard, and maybe I'm wrong,

but I heard there was some sort of a mini beef with CATL

and some other companies once upon a time.

So X-Peng and others were using multiple brands,

but I think that it's all sorted now.

So yeah, CALB is generally the supplier for X-Peng.

Okay, Ternary, NMC, yep, for the top spec, I'm sure.

Yeah.

Okay, seems to be the trend at the moment.

And then the EOV's got the 1.5-litre turbo charged, of course.

Yeah, all right, okay, I'm sure.

Look, I think we'll hopefully, hopefully,

we'll see this sometime in the future.

If not here, then maybe one of our trips,

guys, across to China to have a look.

Four Turing AI chips.

It's as if one is not enough in the G7.

Why have one working out of four chips?

An expected price range, 57 to 72,000 US,

which is pretty good value, honestly,

that amount of car, so we'll see.

We'll see what happens.

Yes, coming here from JD, wondering with all these larger SUVs

if Tesla will look for a new model.

Well, I mean, considering they did can the S and the X,

as we discussed last week, I'd be very surprised

if they did, what do you reckon, Jens?

I don't think they will.

I've heard, this is once again,

chatter from X that maybe they want to do something

with the cyber truck platform,

but I doubt it's going to have a steering wheel,

whatever it is.

There's only one car left that is to come,

a new model that is going to have a steering wheel

of some sort, and that's the Roadster.

Apart from that, which has been a very, very long time coming,

nearly 10 years now.

Well, it was supposed to be the 2020 Roadster,

I think when I first heard about it in 2019.

I don't know what else they can blame for the delays,

can't blame COVID anymore, can't blame supply chains,

I don't know.

Remember in the day back when Tesla had the referral programs?

If you had, I think it was 55 referrals,

you could be eligible for a Roadster 2020.

So I think there are a few influencers from the US

patiently waiting for their Roadster,

for whatever event you want.

Yes, a lot of chat about the Ato one I could see.

I think CarSource, our friends from CarSource bought one,

didn't they?

I think Matt actually bought one himself and reviewed it.

I haven't seen the video, but it looks like the review

isn't so good coming out of that channel.

Yeah, I think Matt and Jacob have,

it's been probably the biggest chatter around the week

for the EV community anyway.

Some are saying, watch the review and then decide,

others are saying, well, they love the car

that they've received.

But you know, I haven't seen their review yet,

but I think it's good, quite a lot of balanced discussion.

Mm, that's right.

Yeah, I like Matt and Jacob, good guys.

We've traveled with them as well in the past.

Yeah, fairly down to earth kind of guys.

So yeah, I mean, if they bought the car,

then if they reviewed it, then I think probably trust it.

Yeah, now we chatted about the 7X before,

so let's put this one up.

We've got finally a five-star and cap rating guys

for the 7X, which is good.

I mean, I wouldn't expect otherwise really these days.

Like it's kind of almost the baseline

for a new EV, I would have thought,

five-star and cap rating.

There we go, pretty good scores as well.

Let's see.

Yeah, 91% adult occupant, 87% child occupant,

78% vulnerable road user and 78% safety assist,

which is great.

And of course, you know, and cap ratings change every year,

so it's something that's five-star in 2023,

you know, may not necessarily have the same standards

as they're, I suppose, accountable for this day and age.

So they do change the goalposts, which is good, you know,

things change, tech changes, safety goalposts change.

Okay, let's take some comments.

Yes, Sydney, the about the Ato one,

I haven't seen the reviews,

so I think maybe they should compare it

against other low-priced competitors.

Yeah, like the Kia Picanto.

I mean, look, I think there's a lot of smaller cars

smaller EVs coming to the market this year too,

you know, Gile X2, GSEI on UT.

Yeah, lots to look forward to.

But near Firefly, of course, do want to see that.

That'll be good.

Dong Feng Box.

It's a Honda Super 1.

Yep, yep, that limbs.

Well, apparently they reckon the,

interesting stuff I heard about Honda,

last year they sold 15,000 battery electric vehicles globally.

And it's not their financial statements

and things are just not looking good at the moment.

But if they bring that Super 1,

not saying it's going to sell very well,

because it's not a mid-sized SUV,

but hey, those K-Car fans, you know,

the Honda E that we were supposed to get,

but we never got.

That's right, let's put that up on the screen now.

Let's see, there we go.

It's all, where it resists appetite,

he loves these little K-Cars, there we go.

Honda Super 1, very cute.

Looks so good.

Looks good, doesn't it?

Looks like a little go-kart.

We need this and we, you know,

not that we're ever going to get the BYD Racco,

but that is, you know,

they're the sort of cars we need for inner cities.

What would they call the Racco, the Ato Zero, maybe?

Yeah, Ato Minus One.

Yeah, looks good, looks very cute.

Again, like, yeah, whether it comes or not.

I guess pricing is everything, right?

Yeah, you have to be pretty cheap to buy this car.

So it's a hard sell otherwise.

I can't see them selling these for $30,000,

as much as I'd like to.

I'm going to, yeah.

Yeah, isn't that just the Insta?

I think the Insta's actually had a price drop as well.

Yeah.

Needs to, given there's a lot of competition.

I don't know this car, the Super 1,

I'm not sure if it's dedicated electric,

if it's because the Insta is based on the Hyundai Casper,

ICE car in Korea, South Korea.

And also the Keeper Kanto as well, right?

Same platform as that.

Let's have a look.

Honda Super 1, yep, it is an electric car,

I'm just reading it now.

47 kilowatt front motor,

30 kilowatt hour battery range of 295.

That's pretty generous, unless it's really efficient.

I think it's going to be pretty narrow on the road,

so I sort of like to add a one.

I mean, that'll fit around the streets of Tokyo,

I don't know about the streets of Sydney.

Okay.

Yeah, Kia Pakanto EV1, yep, yep.

EV4, it's got a press car next month as well

for the Kiwi 4, so looking forward to testing that one.

Yeah, could be the Kia month for me for March,

lots of Kia's to test.

Let's move on a little bit, so check this out, guys.

Tesla Energy, Powerwall 3-phase,

3-phase Powerwall is coming soon to Germany,

so about time.

Took them long enough, I mean,

it's, you know, Powerwall 3 is obviously still single-phase,

you've got plenty of brands coming out of China,

so you get energy, 3-phase, so, yeah,

I guess Tesla's got to play catch up,

it's got to produce a 3-phase product for Asia, Australia,

Europe, it's good to see.

About time.

About time, will it be gold like this, though?

Don't know.

Is that a PlayStation 6?

Almost looks like my old Pentium with the...

Yeah, that's right, the Pentium one,

but I haven't heard that in a while.

Pentium, Michael says,

Honda will be Fiat 500e money, yeah, too much as well.

Too much.

Yeah, Gaffer says,

love a little round city EV,

not all cars are for long distance travel, very true,

not we don't necessarily need to go around Australia twice,

hauling a trailer behind us, that's right,

but good second car indeed, shopping, beat, et cetera,

correct, I don't think our MGS5 will ever

go on a long road trip, it just doesn't need to,

it's not built for purpose, so, yeah.

3-phase supplier needed, well, I don't know,

I'm sure, you think it'd be modular, right,

for the power or 3-phase, like SIG Energy,

1-phase, 3-phase, 1-phase, single phase.

Yes, Jono, I am too, looking forward to

the first person doing Lap of Australia

in Auto 1 based model, yes, that would be fabulous.

Who's volunteering, who's volunteering?

Yeah, of course, Sidney, he's still got his,

Mitsubishi, very good.

Sidney, I'm strong.

Very good, Riz, this is one for you,

any news when Chinese OEM charges are coming to Australia?

We are talking, of course, BYD, X-Peng,

Zika, a whole raft of them need to come here, absolutely.

Well, the word on the street is they're coming,

we just, these things do take a little bit of time,

we've seen it with other different networks as well,

but I guess at the moment, BYD is making

the most amount of noise globally,

around that in Europe, even here,

there's been a bit of chatter, so yeah,

we'll hopefully, by the end of this year,

we will have at least one site out of any

of those brands somewhere, which it needs to happen,

we need OEMs to sort of take a bit of a charge

on rolling out the infrastructure.

Yeah, I mean, whether you like Tesla or not,

they've done the hard yards,

they're probably one of the most prevalent networks

at the moment, one of the most reliable, certainly.

So we need the others to step up,

yep, they want to sell cars,

and commit to Australia for sure.

So yeah, I mean, I think Zika have said that,

they're bringing the Zika power, which would be good.

We don't necessarily need the 1 megawatt, 1.5 megawatts,

just something, just something to show that they're serious,

just all you need to do is populate the East Coast,

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra,

just up and down the Princess Highway,

Hume Highway, Hume Freeway, Pacific Motorway,

give me, make a lot of people happy.

Yes, yes, James, we are so desperate for more EV,

fast chargers in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Yes, I can see Riz chuckling there, I'm sure he agrees.

Well, this is supposed to be the year, right?

It's supposed to be the state election.

So we should be knocking on doors of all of our MPs

and saying, hey, we don't have enough charge,

and they'll tell you to get F'd,

because that's not what we're about.

We're about building tunnels, sinking the state in debt.

And if you want an EV, we will tax you for it.

That's gonna ask us, Victoria,

have any money left Riz?

I mean, I'll have to check that, didn't I?

What's that?

Coin, Mulder?

Yeah, that's right, it's not,

people are obviously still buying electric cars,

but yeah, the infrastructure,

Tesla's done a lot of heavy lifting in Victoria

with charges around metropolitan areas

and along some of the more major routes,

they're still missing quite,

they've still got quite a few gaps

down towards Phillip Island.

I think the Great Ocean road path,

they've built a bit better now,

but yeah, we need just a lot more.

I know Melbourne to Sydney is all good,

but elsewhere, Gippsland,

it still needs a lot of improvement.

And without the government at least creating

some level of encouragement for private operators

to like the New South Wales government did

with their strategy a couple of years ago

and reaping the benefits now,

wish we could do the same,

but yeah, like I said,

it's a different player down here.

You're on your own.

Here's a good question from John.

Have you guys covered the Origin Energy EV Chargers?

They launched a new station in Torquay,

which I think on the Victorian surf coast,

I believe, 12 stalls uses SunGrow Chargers.

It is.

So Richard Laxton, our friend,

he did go out and check them out.

Apparently they're live,

but they're not showing on the Origin app,

but yeah, they're the big SunGrow Chargers.

They've got two different sets of speeds.

Yeah, cool.

If anyone has any picks for the next week's show,

that's your homework.

Give us some picks as you drive down that way.

Yes, and yes, Riz for Premier,

I'd vote for Riz.

I'm not a Victorian resident, but I'd vote for him.

Too much responsibility.

James says, yeah, Melbourne the city via the coast is rough.

Yes, it's not as good as the Hume, of course.

Yeah, I mean, I agree, corrupt, dropped bear.

Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra City, Brisbane,

there you go, five major cities on the East Coast,

South East Coast, that's better than High Speed Rail.

Just put decent charges along that road.

Don't talk about High Speed Rail.

That's from 10 to 11.

That's our next podcast.

Yeah, that's right.

I'm not touching that eye, but it's a whole new kettle of fish.

Yeah, okay Richard, yep, you can search for them in the act

and you have picks.

Well, send us those picks next week.

We'll have to have a look.

Yeah, correct, Pantheon's.

What other EV company besides Tesla has put in the Hyde Yacker

to build infrastructure for charging in Oz?

Yeah, that's very true.

That is fact.

When is the BYD Supercharging Network coming?

Yep, keen to see that as well.

Yeah, that's right.

So keep those comments coming guys.

And obviously, if you see anything during the week,

make sure you tag us on socials, me, Roland and Riz of course.

Check this out.

This is what I saw during the week guys.

This is an EV toll, electric vehicle takeoff landing,

vertical takeoff landing.

And this is in action.

This is in Kunshan, Jiangsu province in China.

Check this out.

How many propellers can you see taking off?

Well, it's the largest flying car.

Just taking flight for a test flight in China.

Can take up to 10 passengers apparently.

Start up Chinese company, AutoFlight.

I think this might be a hybrid from what I read.

So, yeah, obviously we saw the X-Peng's EV toll

or I did last year.

So yeah, the Chinese are suddenly steaming ahead,

so to speak.

Yeah.

What do you reckon guys?

Just a quick duck to the airport with this thing

or across town, stop the traffic.

Where are you going to park it?

Rift top everywhere.

Don't know.

I was actually thinking about it this week,

not about this particular thing,

but we've got these traffic choppers

that you often see on the big news sort of channels.

What's going to happen to them in the coming years?

Like, why do we need a traffic chopper

when we can have these drones flying around,

giving you, providing you live photo footage

of what's going on on the ground.

You don't need some person getting paid by some sponsor

to be saying what's happening on the roads.

When you can fly these drones up and get that live feed

and you know, but yeah,

maybe this is the future of traffic choppers.

It's so truer is, I remember like we were kids, right?

Watching the news, you've got some presenter

hanging out of the helicopter with a mic

and headphones going, yes, it's bumper to bumper

and blah, blah, blah, but you're right.

Like you've got like the winter Olympics

with the drones following the skiers now, right?

Surely you can have that,

watching the traffic on all the major arterials

and just reporting back on an app or something, right?

That'd be cool.

So you know what's going on.

You're so right.

What is the smoke coming out the back of the car?

I think that might be cosmetic

or just a bit of flair, literally.

Don't think it's emissions.

I don't think.

Yes.

Well, you know, you still call it a flying car,

I suppose, Evie told.

Not quite, you know, like a car, traditional.

Traditional car.

I mean, where's the wheels?

Yeah.

That's right.

And just on the subject of all things Chinese tech,

so just staying with this theme,

but I couldn't help myself.

I went down this, you know, robotic wormhole this week.

Go get some robots fighting monks

in some temple, Shaolin temple in China.

It's pretty cool.

OK, they're going to do backflips pretty soon.

I look, as you know, with social media,

you can't tell if it's AI anymore,

but we've got this phone recording in the corner.

So I guess that's some credibility, maybe.

This one, too. Watch this one.

Oh, no, I fell over. See that one?

In the corner.

Anyway.

That is possibly our future, we're looking at it, guys.

To pass a test, you got to start, you know, you fight just one,

then the next level, you got to fight three

and it just keeps going.

What's that game from when we were kids?

Streets of rage, right?

Just walk around or even Grand Theft Auto, just kill people.

Dear.

Well, that goes to show there's not much else to chat about

at the moment, just robots.

And this is anything else you want to bring up, guys,

in the audience as well, or Roland Riz.

Got to got some time.

Yeah, so.

So I guess we started with the BMW, the IX3 today,

and I got a call this morning from a large publication asking me

about, hey, what's going on with the luxury EV market?

How come there's not as many luxury EV models being sold

compared to more mainstream sort of electric models?

And I was thinking about this and sort of, you know, we've sort of

seen the stats of the type of people that are buying cars like the Zika 7X.

They're coming out of BMW, Audi's, Mercedes, those sort of luxury

sort of brands from their ICE vehicles into electric cars.

And at the same time, they're saving 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars.

Is that what is going to happen that we've got, you know, all these

mid level or mid priced models that are competing for the luxury market?

And unless we get new products like this IX3 Noya class,

those brands are a bit cooked.

I mean, where has the, you know, we talked about 8 percent uptake last month.

Where has the 8 percent come from from traditional cars?

Is it BMW? Is it Mercedes or is it the cheaper brands like Toyota,

Mazda, Honda? Where is it? Right? That's the question.

Yeah, those, those, you know, where are these, and I know, like, you know,

currently with the state of Tesla, there's a lot of owners that are

looking at their next cars.

And I know quite a few that have purchased cars like the Zika 7X.

As their next car or a selling summer waiting for the new G6,

they think it will do quite a lot, basically the same as what they wanted

out of any other car.

So, yeah, they're the new Chinese brands.

What I said, new in the last two or three years are really changing things up

of what's to be perceived luxury or premiumness

at price points that we just didn't think was possible a couple of years ago.

About two colleagues switch into a Zika 7X all drive,

one was driving a Porsche, one was driving a Mercedes.

So there you go.

I think a lot of the high-end cars are getting switching,

or owners of high-end cars are switching over, looking at the value

that like the Zika 7X expect G6 poses.

So I think they're very happy with it now, which is good.

Good question, though.

And I might actually pop this comment up here.

So James has, yeah, mentioned Tesla Semi and Rivian R2.

So good.

So that happened.

Yeah, so check this out.

So this is the Rivian R2 pictures of.

So this week, I think it was Rivian teased a couple of images out.

Apparently, they reckon they're not too far away.

I think that story, the car and driver has in the second row there,

the first image that was sort of the prototype that they sort of teased this week.

Bit of off-roading.

And yeah, I mean, it's quite a lot of excited people.

Well, I just hope Rivian makes it because it's still not looking good.

They look awesome.

But you're right.

It's they need to get them out there, for sure.

I've seen them in the US.

They're fabulous.

They look really good.

It's so different.

What are they asking here?

47 potentially, the R2 dual motor all drive.

Wow. So that's 47 US, of course, so more like 60, 70.

And there's also chatter this week.

Well, after the announcement, the Tesla won't make any more to less or X's.

All of a sudden, there's people saying, well, everybody's going to go buy Lucid's.

And I'm like, I don't know who's got, I know S and X's weren't cheap cars.

But if Lucid could not sell in a competitive market,

people are not really saying, I wanted a Tesla, but now I want to Lucid.

I don't know if that's happening.

No, I can't see that either.

Lucid is just like next level expensive.

But they do look good once again.

Here's the Tesla Semi.

I'll say semi, because that's how they say it over there.

Asking two ninety thousand US dollars for his five hundred mile electric semi.

There you go.

Is that considered crazy expensive in the world of trucks?

I think it's about 30, 30 percent more, 40 percent more

compared to an American truck market, like something that will give them

you know, a couple of hundred miles of range, but

they've got a couple of variants, I think, standard range, long range.

Yeah, so back in 2017, asking 150 for 300 mile range.

That was, I mean, that was so almost 10 years ago now.

Yeah, 180 for the 500.

So now it's two ninety, but, you know, inflation and so on.

Yeah, sorry, the Tesla Semi pricing now is two sixty for the standard range

and three hundred K for the long range.

Yeah.

Here we go.

Rolling your question, Carp, C-A-R-B, which is, I assume, their regulatory body.

Their data shows average cost of a zero emission.

Class A truck was four hundred thirty five thousand US dollars in twenty twenty four.

So that is quite a lot cheaper.

There you go.

But yes, Michael, I agree.

So it's a lot more than what they said.

But I mean, you can argue the factors.

I mean, the Cybertruck, when they first announced it,

it was five thousand US when they broke the window, right?

And it's not that it's a lot more now.

And I guess, you know, if you think about what did I see the other day?

Good friend, Matt Campbell and the right car.

His review on the Audi RS3.

One hundred and four thousand dollars before on roads, before any packages,

before anything like literally, you get you literally get four wheels,

an old engine that they haven't changed.

One hundred and four grand for a hatchback, like what is going on?

And you get VW software, too, as well.

That's right.

That's thrown in for free.

Yeah, I don't know. It's a lot of money, isn't it? A lot of coin.

Yeah, the value is just, yeah, I mean, I don't see it personally,

but some people might.

Got Audi fans out there.

Well, yeah, and then, you know, Audi needs, obviously, in China,

as we've sort of shown as well, Tom, that they've got their own brand with AUDI.

I don't think that's having as much of a success as they would have liked.

And their PPE platform, which came from the Macan, Portion Macan,

that hasn't done that well either.

So, yeah, I guess this is where the Chinese brands,

especially those that are sort of playing in that luxury space, including Denza,

you know, we're going to get, they've got the B5 and the B8, the plug-in hybrid,

off-roading sort of equivalents at the moment.

But the Z9, the D9, a couple of other electric variants.

They also announced this week or last week,

the Function Bow, which the B5 and the B8 are based on.

They've got the Thai series, the Thai 7,

which is basically very, in some ways, rivian look alike, a bit boxy as well.

That's been the best-selling Function Bow model since it launched in September.

Off-roading plug-in hybrid, there's a fully electric version now

that's about to be approved for sale.

And if that comes to Australia, that would be incredible.

Like, really off-roading has all the tech that you'd expect.

And fully electric, so maybe 2026, 2027 are the years for this off-roading boxier type of,

yes, not the most aerodynamic, but at least they're fully electric.

And that's the game that we're going to be playing in.

Cherry with the iCar or Jet Tour, some of those brands as well.

Bring your boxy, chimney-looking lookalikes.

People just want to drive them on the road.

Yeah, I mean, we're starting to see them at the motor shows in China.

Shanghai and Guangzhou have them last year.

So, yeah, I think they're on their way.

So just to fill the spots in those different market segments.

Now, this might actually get Roland interested.

BYD Ato III, all-wheel drive version approved.

Well, that's...

Riz, walk us through your article here.

Yeah, so, you know, there's a few more articles that have come up,

and they're starting to talk about this e-platform, or super, what was it?

EVO?

Evo, EVO.

That was covering that in early 2024 when the C-Line 7 came out,

and then it died and nobody heard anything.

So, apparently, this is the resurgence of the EVO platform in Australia.

230 kilowatts on the rear-wheel drive,

330 on the all-wheel drive, potentially up to 150 kilowatts.

But I think there's probably, oh, sorry,

150 kilowatts on the current model in front-wheel drive.

But, yeah, we expect much, much faster charging.

I hope they've improved on the interior side of things

to make it a little less glossy and a bit more conventional,

which I think they have.

And, yeah, not a lot more information is available.

Yes, the interior is, let's see, it's an acquired taste.

Let's put it politely.

I'd be sad if they lost the guitar strings on the side,

but, you know, that's all right, we're going to move with the times.

But, yeah, 230 kilowatt on the rear is far more respectable for the Ato III,

and 330 kilowatt all-wheel drive is no slouch at all, which is good.

They have to improve the battery and the charging speed.

88 kilowatt for that car is not very good.

But if it's the same size, same price, all-wheel drive,

variant, I think it will.

And it can tow.

It can tow, yep, yep.

It'll be very attractive, I think, guys, yeah.

So hopefully we'll see that next year, maybe.

Hopefully this year.

This year, okay.

So if that does happen, yeah, it's in the approvals now,

so it's a couple of months away.

And, yeah, fingers crossed, we do get something like that in hopefully Q3, early Q3.

That would be a good timing.

And if it has the faster charging, hopefully no supercharger issues.

Hopefully not.

I mean, the newer 2024 ones can charge the superchargers, right?

So hopefully that'll be the same.

Some say that it's based on the 800 volt architecture.

And if it is, I don't know what that does to add superchargers.

But, yeah, so that's, I don't know if it's really going to help boost that or three sales.

It is starting to look a little bit dated, like one of the first versions

of the vehicles from the outside.

But then again, BYD can attract a lot of people into the showrooms with the Ato1,

we've seen the Ato2, and a couple of other plug-in models like the Sea Lion 5

that they've just launched.

Maybe people walk in and say, hey, I can get a fully electric car for not much more.

And also, BYD Ato3 still made the top 10 last month, right?

You know, monthly sales.

So it's still going okay.

I think so, yeah.

Yeah.

So, I'm like, you're right, it's looking a bit dated, but it is now a four-year-old car, right?

Well, I'm sorry, the 2022 is when it first came.

There's been an update, I think 2024.

But, yes, due for like an engine, a performance spec update, powertrain update.

That's what I want to say.

Oh, I've been called an interior snob.

Wow, that's a new insult.

Thanks, Latin.

Oh, sorry.

No, look, I did say the guitar strings, it's unique.

Very much so.

It's a love-hate thing.

Like the Ioniq.

Oh, yeah, that's the exterior.

That, oh, I didn't put a picture of that, but actually there was a Hyundai Motorsport event

at the track, I think yesterday or the day before.

And the Ioniq 6N was racing around there.

Oh, nice.

Yes, Michael reminded me.

Yes, the C-Line 8 is also out and about, isn't it?

The 7-seater plug-in hybrid.

Any signs of the refreshed 2026 dolphin?

Well, if you see it, let us know.

And, Rhys, you were talking about the FCB's rugged look, so let's pop this up here.

So there we go.

Function about tie 7.

Full bev.

And we will drive, all will drive.

Yeah, all available.

And you can see just that the stats that Kani Shana has compiled.

In January, 17,000 units of tie 7 were sold.

Function powers a brand sold just over 21,000, 21 and a half thousand.

So how popular are these boxy looking SUVs and them having an electric version as well?

Pretty cool.

It's like the La Boo Boo of the FCB lineup, isn't it?

But it's very much like the Defender, isn't it?

Like that boxy shape, what is it known for?

We'll keep an eye on that one.

Johnson's MG Full Refresh also revealed in the UK, the rounded one.

Good.

Yes.

And the standard one, the MG4, the less rounded, the rear wheel drive,

that has an interior, as John says, inspired by the S5.

So which is a good thing, because the MG4 was quite a new unique car a couple of years ago,

but the interior will get our interior snob to talk about that.

That it did have cup holders that were far too low, and the gear island had like just that,

they could have gone to, you know, shifted that gear lever onto as a stork or something else,

but they fixed that in this.

Yes.

Well, yeah, I didn't like the MG4 interior.

There I go.

I am a snob, but the S5 is certainly a lot nicer looking.

So yes, MG are learning from the previous iterations, but yeah, good to see.

I'd like to see the MG4 as well.

I know it's front wheel drive, but yeah, good to have another option as well.

In the chat, I've seen quite a lot of discussion on the B5 and the B8.

So there's a lot of, it seems to be quite a bit of interest from our, you know,

viewers and listeners on the denser products, the off-roading side, which, you know,

I guess if we want to win quite a few for the mainstream buyers out there,

we need more off-road, at least looking cars anyway.

Yes.

You know what you need?

You need a Land Cruiser and a Land Cruiser Prada alternative.

That's well-priced.

That's what you need and you'll win the entire market eventually.

So what's China's answer?

What's X-Pen's answer?

Forget about, you know, any of that.

We go straight to the Range Rover.

X-Pen GX, Range Rover, JQ, Range Rover, Cherry iCar Defender,

VYD or Feng Cheng Bao Defender.

Yep.

It's happening slowly.

Yeah.

We're going from Rounder to Boxy.

Boxy's like the new Rounder now.

It's the new LaBubu.

It's taking over square cars.

They're back making square cars.

One efficiency.

Oh, I just want to like destroy things and push.

Drive over things.

You can do it.

No worry.

Exactly.

Yeah.

We'll keep an eye on this, the U7.

I don't think it's export marketing at this stage.

We'll keep an eye on it.

So what happened this week?

There was a VYU7 spotted in California, somewhere in the U.S.

And, you know, the rumors on Chinese social media were around,

oh, it's going.

We're finally, we're allowed to enter the U.S. and it's happening.

And then late June, the CEO says, we don't know who this is.

It's not a Xiaomi car.

We're not testing it over there.

This must be one of the evaluation vehicles or someone doing it.

But then again, he seems to humble brag a lot, such as saying things like,

oh, yeah, we were faster than a Porsche at the Nürburgring.

But, you know, we still have a lot of learning to do.

So we'd like to see you again on the track Porsche.

So a bit of humble brags there, but, you know, maybe they are testing it.

Maybe they're not.

So 2027, I think is the year.

Of course, we saw the Su7 spotted at the Ferrari testing grounds as well, right?

Earlier, our last year, I should say.

And this week, Ferraris revealed their electric.

That's right.

That's true.

It's called the Luce?

L-U-C-E?

Yes.

Yes, that's a look.

L-U-C-E.

Maybe.

Yeah, probably Luce.

Here we go.

Let's put it up.

Let's see.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

Yes, I did see news about it.

Here we go.

Pictures for you guys.

What is it like a SUV?

No, like a cross-terismo kind of thing.

I don't know.

What do you call this thing?

Coupe?

Yeah.

And apparently they reckon the U7 was based off this.

Oh, not this, but one of the Ferrari designs.

I can't even say the name.

But the interior was revealed,

which is in that second photo there.

I don't know what's going on there.

It was from the design.

The whole thing was the previous Apple design or something,

I think I read.

Right, all right.

Rounded edges.

External design company was, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, let's just look at some specs now.

They're not trying.

They're not trying based on the specs.

It says 2.5 seconds 0 to 60,

which is like 0 to 96 kph in turn of 100.

You heard it here first.

I know the Chris Feed.

Roll and spec.

It's not rolling spec.

Roll and slagging a Ferrari.

If you see all the other cars,

you know, I don't know.

For me personally, like when I saw the specs,

I was expecting more.

Yeah, 122 kilowatt hour.

It's a big boy again, 800 volts,

apparently, 350 kilowatt DC.

So, you know, they're saying the right things,

but it's not fast enough for rolling, clearly.

So we have now on the, you know,

the EV show by Ludacris Feed.

We have the interior knob.

We have the top specs knob.

And who knows what I have, the Bonza knob.

It's all going to happen.

You're the flying car snobbers.

Yeah, that's right.

Flying car.

Oh, yeah.

Wait till Bonza release one.

I've got some more interior specs here,

because I am the interior snob apparently.

So there we go.

Gears stick.

And what do you think of that as the interior professional?

I think if you're going to drive a Ferrari,

you want to feel like you're shifting gears, right?

So I don't mind that.

That's fine.

This steering wheel, yeah?

Very sporty, of course.

Lots of, lots of dials and things.

Look, are they button indicators, Gens?

Button indicators.

Yeah.

Making buttons.

There's the instrument cluster with a g-force meter.

I expect nothing on this.

So that's digital, but representative as an analog.

They're trying to make it retro, I think.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, it's Ferrari, right?

Look at that tilted center screen.

Just very driver focused.

Interesting.

I don't mind these switches.

Well, there was another car with switches like this.

I'll forget.

I think it might have been Fiat possibly.

Something had switches like that.

Is it Fiat or is it the Mini?

Oh, Mini.

Yes, it was.

Riz, you're right.

Yes.

The Countryman.

Yes.

That's it.

Yes.

Look at that.

Analog clock.

Old skill.

Oh, geez.

What is this?

Interiors.

If you want proper reviews of interiors,

you've come to the right place.

We are really looking at the different mode shifter in red.

Because it needs to be in red.

Dry, dry, wet, ice, sport.

Interesting.

There you go.

It's a camo.

Is that a cyber trap?

Something weird going on back here.

There you go.

Don't say when I cover all cars, not just good value ones.

Yes.

Switches, which says Richard, are very 1960s retro.

I agree.

Jagman's calling you an all-round snob, Riz.

100%.

You don't need much better than that in these two rack.

Spectre snob.

There you go.

Yep.

100%.

And thank you, Tazzy EV.

Atto 3 has the new guitar strings, which is good.

I'm happy with that now.

Good.

Yeah.

Why even bother having traction control in a Ferrari?

Just, it shouldn't even be an option.

Just turn it off.

Did they say that?

I think one of the modes was ESC off or something.

Yeah.

Electronic stability control off.

Put that back on.

Here we go.

This is one to the far right.

Is that what it says?

ESC off.

It should be just permanently off.

735 kilowatts.

Is that what they're saying?

One motor at the front.

Yep.

Rearmaking 620.

The U7, I don't know if we covered this last week,

but the U7 GT, that has like 1,000 horsepower.

Why?

Why not?

Yeah, why not?

That's right.

Because they can.

No one needs that much power.

So the model Vi performance, I think it's under 400 kilowatts,

isn't it, Roland?

It's slightly under from me.

390 something.

Yeah.

And they can get that sort of acceleration out of that.

But yeah, the U7 GT, they're like, well, stuff that

will put like twice as much power or something into it.

Yep.

Confirmed 393 kilowatts, 693 Newton meters of torque,

0-103.5 seconds.

That's the Tesla Model Vi performance all the drive.

Yep.

Yeah.

There we go.

All right.

Well, Gents, I think that might be enough.

We've done.

Might as well end off on a high note with the Ferrari.

Can't top that, right?

The Luci.

Luci.

Sorry to our Italian friends if we pronounced that wrong.

You can correct us in the comments.

But yeah, that might be it for tonight.

Thank you for joining us in the comments.

Appreciate all your engagement, of course.

And thank you to Riz and Roland, of course,

our co-host for this evening.

Anything exciting coming up, Gents, the next few days or weeks?

Anything exciting?

I don't know.

I guess quite a few things sort of on.

I'll have a bit more to share what's happening tomorrow

and Friday on my end next week.

But yeah, there's just so much activity.

I think there's a couple of launches on this week.

Leap Motor B10 was on this week.

Hyundai Lexio next week.

So that's going to be coming very soon.

And yeah, I think the calendar is going to fill up

very, very quickly.

So yeah, that's all on my end.

It's very good, Riz.

What about you, Roland?

Nothing car related.

Finally getting my battery.

You heard it here first.

But oh, watch this face.

Excellent, good, good.

Long awaited.

Start earning like we can, like we all are.

Yes, yes.

Three phase, thankfully.

Three phase.

Very good.

And of course, to our friends who do celebrate

the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year on the Spring Festival.

Yes, very happy New Year indeed coming up next week.

I think it's been quite ish on the EV front

because of the new year.

I think once that is over, I think it will just start to kick off again.

Lots of cars to comment on and review, of course,

from all three of us.

So stay tuned.

And just back on the Norway class, I've got possibly some

content coming up on that as well.

So stay tuned.

Can't say too much yet, but it should be exciting

once we have a look at that hopefully soon.

So thank you to Riz and Roland as always.

Thank you very much, Gents.

Three time.

Anytime, Tom.

Very good.

And thank you to our viewers.

Thank you very much.

And we shall see you all next week.

Same bat time, same bat channel.

All right.

Thank you, everyone.

See you.

you

BMW Neue Klasse iX3, Denza Z9GT, Xpeng GX, Subaru Trailseeker and Rivian R2

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