Great Wall is a car company from China that makes vehicles like SUVs and trucks. They are planning to build a factory in Europe to sell more cars there.
The Wuling Xinguang 730 is a family car that can seat seven people. It comes in different versions, including one that runs on electricity, one that combines electricity and petrol, and one that runs only on petrol, all at a low price.
A plug-in hybrid is a type of car that can run on electricity and petrol. You can charge it like an electric car, but it also has a petrol engine for longer trips.
A 60kWh battery is a way to measure how much energy an electric car's battery can hold. The more energy it can store, the farther the car can drive before needing to be charged again.
A battery subscription means you pay a monthly fee to use the battery in your electric car instead of buying it. This can make getting an electric car cheaper at first, but there might be rules about how much you can drive.
The Peugeot iOn is a small electric car that runs on batteries instead of gasoline, which means it doesn't produce any pollution while driving. It's perfect for city driving because it's easy to park and helps reduce harmful emissions. People talk about it because it's part of the shift towards cleaner, more eco-friendly cars.
The LS9 is a new SUV from IM Motors, a Chinese car manufacturer. It's a hybrid, which means it uses both a traditional engine and electric power, and it even has a shower inside, making it unique.
A long-range hybrid car can drive a long distance using both gas and electricity. It has a battery that helps it run on electric power for a while, which is good for saving fuel.
The Geely EX2 is a type of small car known as a hatchback, which has been very popular in China. It's designed to be practical and efficient, and it's part of Geely's push to make more electric vehicles.
Powertrains are the parts of a car that make it move, like the engine and transmission. In electric cars, it's the electric motor and battery that do the work.
The BYD Seagull is a budget-friendly electric car made by a Chinese company called BYD. It's meant for city driving and is one of the cheaper options available.
The Ford Galaxy is a big family car that can fit a lot of people inside, making it great for trips or transporting groups. The new version, the Galaxy V900, is designed to hold up to 42 passengers, which is pretty impressive! It's a good option if you need a lot of space for family or friends.
An e-rev is a type of car that runs on electricity but also has a gas engine to help it go further when the battery runs out. It's like having two ways to power the car.
The Toyota RAV4 is a popular SUV that many people use for family trips and daily driving. It's known for being reliable and having a lot of space inside.
Car
VW Campervan
The VW Campervan is a famous van that people use for camping and road trips. It's known for its distinctive look and the ability to sleep inside.
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Hi, I'm Andy Staples from Andy and Ariane 3 and another five-star quarterback just entered
the transfer portal. That's what college football is now a non-stop adventure,
and we cover it every day at Andy and Ariane 3, whether it's the transfer portal,
the college football playoff, the coaching carousel, you name it, and guess what? It doesn't stop
even when the season ends. So, join us every day, Monday through Friday, new episodes drop
at 3 p.m. wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the podcast. Neo deliveries
and margins are improving. Chinese EU factories on the way, and Li Auto slips into the red.
Plus, stay tuned. Later in the show, I'll tell you why one Chinese people carrier
set a world record for the amount of people on board. Welcome to EV News China, the podcast
dedicated to the world's largest electric vehicle market. Each day, I bring you the
latest headlines, insights, and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry,
and decode how fast-moving developments in the east are shaping the global EV landscape.
We'll start with Neo. Q3 deliveries are swelling, as margins and cash are improving.
In the third quarter, Neo delivered 87,071 vehicles, that's up 41% on the quarter
compared to last year, and 21% up on Q2 this year. Revenue hit a record 21.79 billion yuan,
that's around $3 billion, rising 16.7% year on year, and 14.7% quarter on quarter.
And the quality of its finances improved as well. Gross margin climbed to 13.9%,
while vehicle margin reached 14.7%. The balance sheet also looks less fragile. Neo ended the quarter,
with $36.7 billion in cash, nearly $10 billion more than three months before,
and it turned both operating and free cash flow positive. And the outlook is more
cautious on volume, but ambitious on hitting a profit. For the fourth quarter, Neo guides to
125,000 deliveries, implying growth of around 72% from a year ago,
with revenue up to 34 billion yuan. That is roughly 30,000 vehicles below previous
targets that they had set. But it's a clear signal that management now values margin,
cash flow, and the quality of the business over just growing for growth's sake.
Well, Great Wall Motor wants to be a major European player, not a niche importer,
so the Chinese carmaker is planning a European factory with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a
year by 2029, and has started scouting sites across the block. The push is part of an effort
to revive weak sales in the region. According to Reuters, Great Wall will launch at least
seven new models or derivatives for Europe in a first wave from mid-2026. Parker Xi,
president of GWM International, says teams are weighing factory locations in Spain and Hungary,
among other options. It's the most detailed update on the group's European
ambitions since 2023. Great Wall is following a path already taken by its Chinese rivals.
BYD is building plants in Hungary and Turkey. Xpong will have Europe-bound cars assembled
by contract manufacturer Magna in Grutz, and is also pursuing its own site. Local production
offers two key benefits. It can soften the blow of potential EU tariffs on Chinese imports,
and it shortens supply chains into core markets. Talking of factories, over here,
CATL and Stellantis are tying Europe's EV future more tightly to Chinese batteries
with a huge new plant in Spain. The factory, next to the Stellantis car plant in
Oregon, is due to start turning out sales by 2026. Work on the site started yesterday,
according to Reuters. Around 2,000 Chinese workers are billed the first of the
plants section. Stellantis and CATL will then hire and train 3,000 Spanish staff to run it.
The project is more than 300 million euros in EU money behind it, a clear sign that
Brussels would rather host Chinese battery tech than watch it stay in Asia.
Chinese technicians and managers are already on the ground in Spain,
with hundreds more due this year, and total Chinese headcount expected to reach around 2,000
by the end of this year. This is a move that cements CATL as a pillar of Europe's EV supply
chain and shows how the EU plans to localise production without reinventing battery chemistry
from scratch. Stellantis gains direct access to proven cell technology. On its doorstep,
CATL gains a locked-in customer inside the EU's trade walls. Local industry sees both promise
but risk as well. Over the next two years, the story will be about how fast the joint
venture can build higher and train. If CATL and Stellantis hit their ramp-up targets
through this year and next year as well, Spain will have secured 3,000 high-value local jobs
and a flagship role in Europe's battery rollout.
Li Auto is next, and they've gone from star pupil to warning sign in China's crowded EV class.
In just four quarters, it's flipped from hefty profit to loss, and the culprit is simple.
Fewer cars are going out the door and a bruising recall on its flagship as well.
In the third quarter, the company posted a net loss of $624 million, a year ago,
it made $2.8 billion. In the second quarter, it still cleared $1.1 billion. The sales slide
is at the heart of the problem. Li Auto delivered 93,000 vehicles in the quarter,
roughly in line with the 95,000 guidance, but that headline masks a drop. Deliveries fell
39% from the same time last year, and 16% down on the earlier quarter this year.
In a market where leading EV and plug-in hybrid brands are cutting prices to maintain market share,
that kind of decline strips away the scale that has been protecting their margins.
Management points to two hits, a significant reduction in vehicle deliveries, and the recall
of the big Li Mega MPV. The delivery drop drives up unit costs and forces
heavier spending to win buyers back. The Li Mega recall adds direct repair costs and dense trust
in the premium family niche that sits at the centre of Li Auto's brand.
Both squeeze profit at the same time, as rivals either slash costs to defend earnings
or swallow deeper losses to chase growth. Li Auto now has to show that it can restore
volumes, rebuild confidence in its flagship, and earn back those profits.
Staying with Li Auto, it wants to beat Nvidia at its own game. Chips. Next year,
Li Auto plans to ship its own in-house AI chip called the M100 in its mass market models,
rather than rely on Nvidia and local supplier Horizon Robotics. If the chip works as promised,
China's EV race shifts from who can buy the best silicon to who builds the best brain.
On its latest earnings call, Li Auto confirmed the M100 chip as its own inference chip for smart
driving and said it's already running large-scale tests on control units built around it.
A major software architecture overhaul lands this December. That update will tune Li Auto's
driving stack for the M100 and tighten how the car blends language and behaviour data
when making choices. The M100 doesn't stand alone, Li Auto says it co-designed the chip
with its base model, compiler and full software stack in mind, and the target, at least three
times the performance of today's top-end automotive chips. But for similar cost, inside a next-generation
autonomous driving system built on visual language action models.
And Li Auto's not alone. Nio and X-Pung are also building their own smart driving chips,
betting that tight control of hardware and software is what will set them apart.
The next proof point for Li Auto is the December software upgrade that's fast approaching.
After that, the real test will come when M100-powered cars land with customers
and show whether an in-house chip can really match or beat Nvidia's best.
Now, the new Wuling Xinguang 730 is a 7-seat MPV in three powertrains and a very low price.
Comes in plug-in hybrid, pure electric and petrol. On one platform,
with every version priced under $110,000, that's $15,450 US dollars equivalent.
The range runs from $73,000, that's $10,000 US dollars.
Buyers get either a plug-in hybrid that'll do 125km on electric power,
or a 500km pure electric model. SAIC GM Wuling Joint Venture frames the car as the next step
in its long-running push to electrify everyday transport and not just premium cars.
The pure electric version has a 60kWh battery, the so-called magic battery.
Wuling claims 500km of CLTC range using 13.6kWh per 100km and 2C fast charging,
that's a 30-80% in 20 minutes, although we always like the 10-80 please car makers.
It also offers vehicle to load, power, export for appliances and tools.
Now, inside the Xinguang 730 is all set up for family hauling.
A 2 plus 2 plus 3 seating layout, a 230mm aisle in the second row to walk through,
and up to 1200 litres of cargo space. So everything from the school run to a road trip should be
pretty easy. Wuling has dotted the cabin with 25 storage pockets they say,
with dual electric sliding doors for simpler access in tighter parking spots to move around
7 people, and like I say, on a budget that starts at $10,000 USD equivalent. Extreme value
on this. Let's take a break, and when we come back, lots to talk about. JD.com in hot water,
with customers, and IM Motors with hot water out the back of their vehicle. Stick around,
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Monday through Friday, new episodes drop at 3pm wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome back to EV News China, the spin-off show of EV News Daily,
where we take a deep dive into what's happening in the east and how it affects the global
EV industry. JD.com has set out to prove that big-ticket EVs can be sold just like phones online.
The ION UT Super launch is now a case study in how fast trust can crack.
Early buyers rushed in for what was an exclusive JD.com model with an early bird discount. Many
said they did so after seeing the promo images pictured online. They trusted what they saw,
couldn't possibly be computer graphics or even AI generated images. No, they even spoke to customer
service. It showed the car with a sunroof, but once deliveries began, the reality hit. The
delivered cars had no sunroof, and there was no option to add one in the options list.
Some owners told Beijing Business they double-checked with JD.com before paying and
been told, oh yes, it comes with a sunroof. The mismatch did not stop at the glass in
the roof, though. Owners digging into the fine print of the battery rental scheme and the invoicing
rules found limits that also weren't publicised. Those details matter in China, where the invoice
comes from and the type of invoice affects if you get local EV subsidies if the invoice comes
from your local area. The battery plan is also a flashpoint. Launch material pushed the low
early bird fee of 399 yuan a month, writing to 499 a year later. What it didn't say
was that that was for 3000km a month. JD.com later confirmed the cap and said extra use
is 0.2 yuan per kilometre, with unused mileage rolling over but only a one-month roll over.
A staffer at a Beijing Ion store said the cap aims to block ride hailing, and that most
family cars never do more than 3000km anyway. And that may be true for most households, but
it also underlines the core complaint. When people sign up for a battery subscription,
they expect to know the rules up front, not limits they discover on social media once they
have the car. The wider risk here is not a mis-spec rue for a mileage cap on a battery
rental, it's a gap between glossy online marketing, new ways of buying cars, just like
you would buy your phone or tablet online. For JD.com and GAC Ion, this episode will shape
how willing Chinese buyers are to take a gamble on a new EV sight unseen.
Now IM Motors is sparking debate because they've included a shower in their latest SUV,
but they're deadly serious. It's new LS9, just launched in China, and it's a long-range hybrid
setup with six seats, it's got a heated floor and a built-in shower, and has kicked off a bit of a
fight over why. The basics first, revealed on November 12th, this year the LS9 starts at
$322,000, about 45,000 USD equivalent. It packs a 66kWh battery and a hybrid system
good for 402kms of electric only range before the gas engine kicks in.
The odd parts are on the options list though, buyers can add gruffine underfloor heating
and an outdoor luxury pack. That hides a 10 litre heated water tank, a shower head,
and even a shower curtain that you can deploy when you lift up the big boot lid or tailgate
as it swings outwards and hinged from the top, it swings up, and so looks like you would stand
underneath it to have a shower. And that hardware turns the LS9 into something between an SUV and a
rolling wetroom. Engineers and buyers remain unconvinced, a 10 litre water tank means
a brief rinse, not a full shower, and that's before you think about families. Plumbing and
tanks require cabin and boot space to be taken up. To critics, these are simple gimmicks that
distract from what buyers say they want, safe, efficient, affordable transport with some solid
road manners, not a day spa on wheels, but fans see things differently. In Northern China,
where underfloor heating at home is more common, a warm cabin floor isn't a toy or a gimmick,
but it's a comfort that people know and value from having in their house and actually
make sense in their car. For campers, long-haul drivers and anyone who spends days off-grid,
perhaps, even a quick wash in the car with some heated water, heated up from a big traction
battery anyway, could be worth the trade-offs. In fact, IM's own CTO, Chief Technology Officer,
has leaned on that point, saying that while warm floors and an in-car shower might look
maybe childish to purists, they came from real-user requests in colder regions.
Now, Geely isn't waiting around. It's EX2 hatchback just topped China's sales charts this year,
and yet test mules are now on the road for the next one. Fresh spy shots from China point to a
facelift on the outside and a bigger push on cabin tech. Signs that Geely wants this car
to scale. Launched in October last year, 2024, as the Xingwan in China, the EX2 had its first
update less than a year later on October the 10th this year. Now comes a bigger revision.
From January to October, this was China's best-selling car in all powertrains, with 387,000
units sold according to China EV Data Tracker. With volume now under control, Geely has
started exports while it trials a refreshed model on home roads. Auto homes, spy shots show a shape
that stays similar to the car that's out there at the moment, a new set of aero wheels, and
they've not shared powertrain changes. They may not come at all. Today's base EX2 has a 58kW
motor, a 30kWh LFP pack, the higher spec has an 85kW motor and a 40kWh pack. That's good
for 410km of range. In China, prices start at $68,800 yuan. That's around $9,700 USD. That drops it
straight into a fight with BYD's Seagull. Now finally, Geely will finish us off in the news
today. They didn't just launch their Galaxy V900 MPV. It actually crammed 42 people inside
and called in the world record, or the world records people with their clipboards,
to watch the attempt. The extended range minivan now is the official world record holder of the
most people crammed into a multi-purpose vehicle. A blatant publicity stunt aimed squarely at proving
how much space is inside. All 42 participants were adult female dancers with an average
height of 170cm, so this was a no kids only trick. The V900 itself is an e-rev, an extended range
version of the LEVCL380 and secured Chinese sales licenses earlier this year. The numbers back
up the headline though. Geely claims 8.41m2 of interior floor and cabin utilisation rates of
92%. More than 1m between each seating row allows plenty of room to go down the middle
and explains how 42 adults squeezed inside the thing. On the outside is a full-size MPV,
5.36m long, 2m wide, 1.94m tall, and a 3.2m wheelbase with short overhangs as well.
The record itself is admittedly a narrow category. A Toyota RAV4 once held 41 people.
The VW Campervan 50, but the world records people track each car body style separately, apparently.
As marketing stunts go, this one's obvious, but it did gain attention. The car's pitch is
high efficiency and maximum cabin space, so what a curious way to prove it. The real test
does come next though. Regulatory sign-off, pricing, delivery data. If buyers care more
about real-world comfort, running costs and range than about party tricks, well Geely could be on
to a winner. And that's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.
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About this episode
Nio sees a significant boost in deliveries and margins, reporting a 41% increase in Q3 vehicle deliveries, while Li Auto faces challenges with a net loss of $624 million due to declining sales and a recall. Great Wall Motor plans to establish a European factory to enhance its market presence, and CATL partners with Stellantis for a new battery plant in Spain. The episode also discusses the unique features of the Wuling Xinguang 730 MPV and Geely's world record for cramming 42 people into its Galaxy V900 MPV, showcasing the innovative trends in China's EV market.
