00:00
Welcome back to the podcast. The Neo Day was over the weekend. I'll give you the highlights.
00:04
The Yang Wang U9 Extreme just smashed a massive record and Lotus Electra goes plug-in hybrid.
00:09
Plus they tuned later in the show while telling you which Chinese are ranking in the top 10
00:14
searches from overseas buyers. Well, welcome to EV News China, the podcast dedicated to the world's
00:20
largest electrical vehicle market. Each day I bring in the latest headlines, insights and analysis
00:25
from the heart of China's booming EV industry and decode how the fast-moving developments
00:29
in the East are shaping the global EV landscape. Neo had their Neo Day over the weekend. On Saturday
00:36
they launched their third generation, all-new ES8 as they're calling it with official deliveries
00:42
starting on September 21st. Yes, that would be yesterday. The first one's handed over just
00:47
24 hours later by the founder William Lee. The model comes in three variants. Purchase it with
00:53
battery included and it starts at $406,800. That is $56,000. And with Neo's battery as a service
01:00
option, the upfront price goes down to $298,800. That's $41,200. So what does your $41,000
01:09
obviously with a monthly battery lease get you? Well, it gets you a big, big three-row vehicle,
01:16
5.28 metres long with a 3.13 metre wheelbase. Compared with the previous generation,
01:23
it is 18 centimetres or seven inches longer and the wheelbase up by six centimetres or two and a
01:30
half inches. So this vehicle is very much a full-size SUV. Inside the cockpit has a three-spoke
01:35
steering wheel and a horizontal central display that replaces the former vertical screen. Seat
01:46
pictures I've seen anyway. Front seats recline 180 degrees and can align with the second row
01:51
to form a flat, lounge-style surface. Neo says the all-new ES8 is the only SUV in the segment to
02:00
offer three zero-gravity seats, including the Queen's passenger seat and two independent
02:07
second-row chairs. These seats recline up to 151 degrees. The right-side second-row seat can slide
02:16
laterally, makes sense, by 15 centimetres or six inches. The second row features a ceiling-mounted
02:22
entertainment screen running on an independent Android system with voice controls and multi-screen
02:28
interaction with the front display. On-board amenities include the usual refrigerator completing
02:35
what Neo calls the three essentials, a sofa, a fridge, and a screen. Yeah, you can live inside
02:40
the Neo ES8. The front passenger seat back has a foldable table, second row has manual sunshades
02:45
and privacy glass, 12-volt outlets throughout the vehicle, 220-volt socket in the centre console,
02:53
and bidirectional AC port for vehicles to load six kilowatts of power. The all-new ES8 comes with
02:59
Neo's sensing suite called Aquila, comprising 31 perception components. So that's three LiDARs,
03:06
a forward-facing camera, 4D imaging radar, and all managed by Neo's in-house chip. The forward
03:12
LiDAR has a 500-metre or 1600-foot detection range, two wide-angle side LiDAR sensors covering 120
03:20
degrees, doing all the autonomy. This is an incredible vehicle. If I compare it to
03:27
a Range Rover, you're not far off. If I compare it to an Escalade, it's smaller, obviously, and
03:32
maybe not quite as luxurious. But look, the fit and finish of this thing looks very nice indeed,
03:37
for $41,000. It's once again utterly ridiculous the amount of car that you can get for that money.
03:44
And Chinese buyers agree with me because within 24 hours, they effectively sold out. Let me explain.
03:52
The outlet LatePost reporting that bookings for the ES8 surpassed the model's production cap
03:58
for the rest of the year. So they knew that they had production capacity of 40,000 models,
04:04
and I think within the first day, they hit that. People close to senior management telling LatePost
04:08
that lock-in orders received during the launch had exceeded their production cap. The actual
04:13
situation exceeds the figure as well by quite a lot. At a media Q&A the following day, so yesterday,
04:19
Sunday, founder and CEO William Lee said demand for the ES8 had surprised them. Strong than
04:25
expected. Doesn't surprise me because this is all of the vehicle. For about US$10,000 less than the
04:32
old one was selling for, it's a lot bigger. It's seriously better in every way. And buyers who bought
04:42
the old one, I don't know, last week or something, are probably going to be a bit miffed. This isn't
04:47
just a slightly better vehicle. This is kind of a reworking of it. Buyers, they say, predominantly
04:53
male. 70% of orders placed by men, mostly aged 30 to 50. Family users with a core group.
05:01
Configuration choices skewed heavily to the six-seater. 95% of the orders were for the six-seater,
05:07
two plus two plus two. The seven-seat model was barely ordered. 60% of customers chose the luxury
05:13
trim, 40% signature trim, and 90% went for battery as a service. Think about that. 90% of the 40,000
05:22
people who, what I know, the production cap was 40,000, and they said exceeded it by quite a number.
05:28
So who knows what the number is? But 90% of them went for battery swapping. Interesting, all right.
05:36
Talking about Neo Day, the 89 Horizon Edition. This is their executive flagship. Deliveries begin
05:43
by the end of the month. The Horizon Edition starts at $818,000. That's $115,000, including the battery
05:51
pack, and that is about 6% above the base starting price of the ET9 if you want the Horizon Edition.
05:59
Get it with a battery as a service plan, and it starts at $98,000 equivalent. That 102 kilowatt
06:06
hour battery pack is going to cost you $155, about 1200 RMB every single month. The Horizon Edition
06:14
has a two-tone blue and silver exterior, unique wheels, special badging, much better interior
06:20
materials. Neo First unveiled the ET9 at Neo Day last year and began deliveries in late March of
06:27
this year. The ET9 is one of the most expensive cars you can buy from a Chinese automaker.
06:33
Think Mercedes Maybach, and you can't go far wrong. Really special. Beautiful vehicle. Stunning.
06:43
Full panoramic, glass roof, incredible choice of materials, everything, just the wood and all
06:48
that. The inside looks amazing. Really, really nice vehicle. And not cheap, of course. Now,
06:55
let's talk about BYD setting a new world record. I don't know if this is actually an official
06:59
world record, because they recorded it and did the speed test. But either way, we'll take it.
07:06
BYD's Yang Wang, U9 Extreme just drove at 308 miles an hour. Actually, it was 308.34. That is 496.2
07:17
to kilometers an hour. How gutting. I mean, not really, because it's a new world record, but
07:25
you know, just over three kilometers an hour more and then have hit 500, which is
07:31
a psychological milestone, isn't it? And maybe they did, because they haven't that I've seen.
07:36
I've seen the video they put out today. A lot of speed runs. They'll mount GoPros all over the cars,
07:43
especially, you know, Nordschleife runs and stuff. And then a lot of car makers will post that online.
07:49
And you can watch it, maybe 10, 15 minutes long. It's the whole run, unedited in full.
07:54
Ney opened out a very highly edited video with the graphics on screen, saying 496 kilometers an
08:00
hour. So you take their word for it. It was done on the high speed oval in Germany at the Pappenberg
08:05
test track, making it the fastest production car in the world. So this just took the record of the
08:10
Bugatti Chiron Supersport 300 plus. That did 304 miles an hour. This Yang-Wang U9 308 miles an hour.
08:20
Something like the Rimats-Navera R, vast on a top speed of 268 miles an hour. The U9 Extreme
08:27
still uses four electric motors, still about 3,000 horsepower or 2,220 kilowatts.
08:35
The regular U9 is only 1,300 horsepower. And that's about 1,000 kilowatts. And so
08:42
the Extreme version that did this run on 20 inch wheels rather than the regular ones.
08:49
And it uses a square tire setup. They say that the regular U9 employs the 800 volt architecture,
08:56
but the Extreme version 1200 volt platform. But it's a production car. So they're going to go
09:01
into production now and make 30 of these. That mirrors and matches the number of the Bugatti
09:07
Chiron Supersport 300 pluses. Onboard footage of the run does show some incredible scenes.
09:13
I'll pop a link in the show notes. Warren Buffett has sold his entire stake in BYD.
09:17
Berkshire Hathaway cut its BYD holding to zero in the second quarter of this year,
09:22
down from $415 million at the end of last year, according to filings today. The disclosure came
09:29
as BYD's Hong Kong shares fell 3.4% on the news and Buffett first bought BYD shares back in September
09:37
2008. Nobody knew who BYD were then when Warren Buffett invested. A BYD share price has risen
09:44
4,500% since then. It's weakened slightly this year. Buffett's been reducing his position over
09:51
the last three years and other Western investors have also been selling as well. Let's talk a little
09:56
bit about the Lotus Electra. A performance version of the Lotus Electra with the plug-in hybrid
10:03
powertrain is now testing in China as they move towards hybrids. The plug-in hybrid will have a
10:08
900 volt high voltage system, 1100 kilometers or 685 miles of combined range. The Electra
10:16
is the full size electric SUV. This was introduced three years ago in 2022. Really special, quite a
10:23
vehicle, actually. The Electra was sold in a pure BEV layout or specification,
10:31
rather like all future Lotuses were going to be. It was their first mass-produced all-electric model.
10:37
In China, it started at 548,000 yuan, that's $77,000 US dollars equivalent. The BEV uses a 112
10:44
kilowatt-hour NMC battery. New electric models from Lotus underperformed in China and they say
10:51
underperformed internationally as well. Somebody at the end of my road has one outside,
10:56
occasionally. I'm not sure it's their car, but maybe it's a regular visitor of theirs.
11:00
Not my neighbor, so I don't really know them. Just say hello and smile to really
11:04
there are a few houses down, but boy, is that a beautiful vehicle when I see it parked in the
11:09
street. So, Lotus have had to work out what do we do? We're not selling enough vehicles.
11:16
Let's go plug-in hybrid. So, the exterior of these spy shots of the plug-in hybrid testing,
11:21
same as the BEV design. Floating roof split spoiler, flush door handles and camera-based
11:27
side view system. We'll see if those flush door handles make their way past the next set of China
11:32
regulations incoming. As a Geely-owned brand, Lotus has access to the horse powertrain stuff,
11:37
that's Geely Renault Aramco joined venture. We'll take a break, we'll come back. A bit more Lotus
11:42
stuff and MG4 in the news too. Stick around, back in a moment.
11:47
All right, welcome back to the podcast. Now, let's talk a little bit about Lotus updating
11:52
the EMEA and ELECTRA in PureBev forms, refreshing them for this year with updated lineups and
11:58
clearer equipment steps while retaining their established designs. The EMEA now starts at
12:03
538,000 yuan. The ELECTRA at 558,000 yuan. Three variants, 600, 600 SE or 900. So, the ELECTRA
12:13
carries forward its wide stance and some subtle styling tweaks on this. Got some new black badging
12:20
to have a look at all the versions right on 22 inch forged wheels. The braking moving from
12:27
six piston front calipers on the lower trims to 10 piston carbon ceramics on the 900 spec.
12:36
That is the ELECTRA that we're talking about. The entry model brings 12-way heated and ventilated
12:42
front seats, a 15-speaker KEF system. Higher trims add massage seats and active rear steering.
12:48
Dual motor all-wheel drive delivers 450 kilowatts and 0-100 kph, 62 miles an hour in 4.5 seconds.
12:59
Top spec on that, 675 kilowatts and 0-62 miles an hour in 2.95 seconds with a two-speed gearbox
13:12
on that one. The EMEA, on the other hand, does maintain its sleek four-door coupe proportions.
13:21
Very low vehicle, very sleek, very sexy, still 5.13 meters long. But now with the 21-inch wheels
13:33
and matching brake upgrade standard equipment, 15.1 inch OLED display, big augmented reality
13:39
head-up display. Performance mirrors the ELECTRA, by the way, with the 102 kWh battery
13:47
still purebev and some updates for this year as well. Big active rear spoiler that pops up on
13:55
that thing at high speed too. Let's talk about something not quite as pricey. In fact, nowhere
14:01
Let's talk about MG. A brand of SAIC motor has delivered over 10,000 units of the redesigned
14:08
MG4 as of today. The model went on sale 24 days after the model went on sale. They delivered
14:17
the first 10,000. MG4 was launched in China on August 29th, the opening day of the Chengdu Auto
14:24
The new MG4 is a lot softer than the outgoing styling, which was quite
14:31
Cooperish, quite hard lines and some would say perhaps aggressive styling. The new MG4,
14:37
softer, more friendly, more VW ID4-ish or ID3, that's a better comparison. This is
14:46
the updated, it looks quite a lot different to be honest with you than the outgoing MG4.
14:51
Still looks like a lovely car. It starts at $9,500. Wow. Now, one of my neighbors do have
15:00
one of these. He's a couple of doors up from me. He's got the orange one. I've never looked if it
15:05
is the high specification one, but it's a striking orange that the MG4 comes in.
15:10
This vehicle starts at 9,500 US dollars equivalent. A discounted entry price was
15:15
announced as $65,000 RMB. Now, a variant equipped with a semi-solid state battery,
15:22
which according to many reports, is the first mainstream model with a semi-solid state battery.
15:28
Well, that's listed at 102,800 RMB. That's $15,700 US dollars equivalent, but there are
15:34
some discounts to be had on that as well. Avatar has refreshed the 07. The 07 is an SUV
15:43
from Avatar, and again, another really good looking vehicle here, positioning it as China's
15:49
mid to upper EV choice, starting price of 220,000 yuan, about $32,000 US dollars before any incentives.
16:00
This one, again, a bit like Polestar have done, I think, at times where the lower door panels
16:06
are painted black, but the black kind of rises quite. I think it's gloss black on the pictures
16:11
I've seen here anyway, and it does make it look like it sits up a little bit more than it probably
16:17
does, but they try to make it look a little bit more of an SUV than maybe it is. But either way,
16:24
again, a really good looking vehicle. The model joins the 11 fastback, the 12 liftback, and the 06
16:30
sedan under the premium joint venture between Chang'an, CATL, and Huawei, which has been going
16:36
about three years now. Very distinctive two-tier lights on this, very sloped nose, retractable
16:45
handles, lidar, but quite slim lidar, to be honest with you, and very similar drag coefficient to
16:53
Tesla's Model Y, and yeah, bang up against that, I would say, measuring 4.8 meters long with a 2.94
17:03
wheelbase. So that's what kind of vehicle this is, but inside it is, once again,
17:12
man, it is just China with all the tech inside it. So a 35.4 inch 4K panoramic display, a 15.6
17:22
inch driver screen running Harmony OS, 25 speaker meridian auto system, yeah, gravity seats,
17:29
the refrigerator, it's got the lot. The Bev rear wheel drive version delivers 252 kilowatts
17:37
with dual motor all-wheel drive that goes to 440 kilowatts using an 82.2 kilowatt hour LFP pack
17:44
from CATL. There's an E-Roe version as well with a 52 kilowatt hour pack. These E-Roe's come with
17:51
massive batteries. Drive resistance features include Huawei ADS-4, navigate on autopilot
17:59
for highways and cities, autonomous parking, and with the revised suspension, the 07 competes
18:05
directly with some really premium rivals like the Li Auto L6 with the Aito M7, very comfortable
18:11
high-tech and long range as well. And finally, Chinese automakers are gaining strong momentum
18:16
in the United Kingdom overseas with the JQ7, the most searched four car on the platform
18:24
Auto Trader, which is new and used cars. That's the second month in a row. It's been the most
18:31
searched for new car. Isn't that incredible? The SUV was 5.8% of all September inquiries so far
18:39
outperforming European models, three Chinese brands now ranking Auto Trader's top 10 most
18:45
inquired about vehicles. There's the MG HS5, that was in fourth, BYD's CLU, an electric SUV
18:53
which is up against Tesla, also in eighth. Together the five largest Chinese brands
18:58
generated 11.2% of new car leads in September, triple the rate at the start of the year. The
19:05
JQ7 appeals to UK buyers with a plug-in hybrid option, starts at £30,000. Their hybrid system
19:13
prioritises what they say is electric driving for higher efficiency. Chinese market growth is
19:19
supported by favourable tariffs overseas in countries like the UK, and investment from
19:25
state-owned manufacturers as well, with financing partnerships through Aval in the UK and BMP Paribas,
19:32
expanding dealerships as well. Chinese brands are rapidly expanding and establishing themselves
19:38
as serious competitors through tech-driven models, competitive pricing and a very strategic
19:43
market position around that £30,000 price point. And that's your podcast for today.
19:49
Thank you very much for listening and I'll catch you on the next one.
