The Geely EX2 is a small electric car from the Chinese brand Geely. It's made for city driving and is usually more affordable than other electric vehicles.
The BMW X4 is a type of SUV that looks like a coupe, meaning it has a sloping roofline. The new version will be fully electric, which means it will run on electricity instead of gasoline.
The BMW iX3 is a fully electric SUV from BMW. It looks similar to their other cars but is designed to be more efficient in the air, which helps it go further on a single charge.
An electric vehicle is a type of car that uses electricity to run instead of traditional fuels like gas. They are usually better for the environment and can save money on fuel.
800-volt architecture is a type of electrical system in some electric cars that helps them charge faster. It means the car can take in more power at once, making it quicker to recharge.
The BMW New Class is a new line of cars that BMW is creating, which will mainly be electric. These cars will have the latest technology and are part of BMW's plan to make more eco-friendly vehicles.
An infotainment touchscreen is a screen in the car that lets you control music, maps, and other features by touching it. It's like a tablet for your car.
The Tesla Model Y is a type of electric car that looks like a small SUV. It's popular because it can go a long distance on a single charge and has lots of cool tech features, making it a great choice for people who want to drive an eco-friendly vehicle.
Geely is a big car company from China that owns other brands like Volvo and Polestar. They are known for making a variety of cars and are growing their business around the world.
Volvo is a car brand from Sweden that is famous for making safe and reliable cars. They focus on quality and have many innovations in how cars are built to keep people safe.
Mercedes-Benz is a well-known luxury car brand from Germany. They are famous for making high-quality cars that are often seen as symbols of wealth and success.
Car
Geely EX-5
The Geely EX-5 is an electric SUV made by Geely, meant for families. It's designed to be spacious and has features that make it a good choice for family use.
An electric SUV is a type of car that is bigger and can hold more people or things, and it runs only on electricity instead of gasoline. This makes it better for the environment because it doesn't produce harmful gases.
The Polestar 2 is a type of electric car made by a brand called Polestar, which is related to Volvo. It looks like a Volvo and shares some of its features, but it's made by a different company.
The used car market is where people buy and sell cars that have been owned before. Prices can be lower than new cars, depending on how old and how much the car has been driven.
MG Motor is a car brand that originally comes from the UK but is now owned by a Chinese company. They are making a name for themselves by producing electric cars.
BEV means Battery Electric Vehicle. It's a car that runs only on electricity and doesn't use gas or diesel, which makes it better for the environment because it doesn't produce pollution from an exhaust.
MG is a car brand from the UK that makes affordable cars, including electric ones. They used to be famous for sports cars but are now focusing on electric vehicles.
The MG Cyberster is a small sports car made by the MG brand. It's designed for fun driving and is known for being electric, which means it runs on batteries instead of gasoline.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an electric pickup truck that looks very different from regular trucks because of its sharp, angular design. It's designed to be strong and efficient, appealing to those who want a tough vehicle that doesn't rely on gasoline.
The Tesla Semi is a big electric truck made for transporting goods. It aims to save money on fuel and help the environment by not using diesel, but it's still in the process of being fully produced.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a new electric car that looks like a small SUV. It has a roomy inside and can charge quickly, making it a good choice for people who want a stylish and practical electric vehicle.
The Citroën C5 is a medium-sized SUV that's designed to be comfortable and easy to drive. It's a good option for families or anyone who needs a reliable car for everyday use.
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Welcome back to the podcast.
Today, BMW's IX4, Geely's EX2 goes global,
and Tesla launch rentals, plus stay tuned.
Later in the show, I'll tell you why European bus companies
have the jitters over China.
Let's get into it.
BMW is developing a third generation X4
as a coupade roof electric variant of the new IX3,
which reminder, 500 miles, new year class are very special.
There's prototypes now being photographed during testing,
and a plan to reveal early next year of the new BMW IX4.
It will be the first X4 with an all-electric driveline.
The model's been petrol and diesel only since 2014,
when it debuted.
Built on the IX3's architecture,
means that it should be really solid,
and shares many of the external styling cues as well.
Adopting a more steeply raked roofline,
reducing the second row headroom,
but improving aerodynamics,
very important in an electric vehicle.
Now, the new IX3 can do 500 miles between charges,
and the IX4's shape could well make it
the longest range EV sold in the United Kingdom.
Now, I know that you can get the really long range Lucids,
left-hand drive in parts of Europe,
but over here at least,
that would be our longest range electric vehicle.
The smaller BMW I3, that's the saloon,
again, same underpinnings.
Possibly that could exceed it.
Powertrains, so if we mirror the IX3,
the top-tier 50X drive using a synchronous motor
on each axle, 464 horsepower,
and 0-62, 4.9 seconds, 800-volt architecture,
of course, charging at 400 kilowatts of power.
All that would carry over the new BMW Panoramic iDrive
with its 18-inch infotainment touchscreen
and a very thin driver display,
which spans the windscreen, all carried over.
BMW are on a roll right now.
Link to AutoCars, if you'd like to see some more.
Now, Geely will bring the EX2 globally.
That includes here for my UK listeners in 2026.
Now, if you haven't heard of the Geely EX2,
you would be forgiven,
because it's not a wildly well-known vehicle
outside of China.
It's derived, though,
from China's fastest-selling electric vehicle,
number two only, to the Tesla Model Y.
It comes from the Xingwan.
The EX2 is a compact hatchback, or electric, of course,
4.1 meters long, 1.8 meters wide.
So think Ford Puma Gen E, or the Renault 4,
the slightly bigger Renault, not the smaller Renault 5.
And the BYD Ato 2.
The Xingwan has sold 400,000 units
in the first nine months of this year.
In fact, it is the world's second-best-selling electric car,
only beaten by Tesla's Model Y.
This is the real deal.
And outside of China, when it goes overseas,
it'll be the Geely EX2.
Power trains, well, we think LFP cells,
30 kilowatt hours, or 40 kilowatt hours.
WLTP would be 192, or 255 miles, respectively.
Now, Geely, I'm sure you know who they are,
if not, then very, very well-known group,
Volvo, Polestar, Smart,
in that investment they've made
into Mercedes-Benz partnership.
Lotus, L-E-V-C.
They make the London Black Cabs
and some van versions of those as well.
They're effectively range-extended EVs.
Zika as well.
My gosh, their EVs are incredible.
They're launching their own brand, Geely, here in the UK.
OK, well, it's time that they're still on their own two feet
and will markets go for Geely?
It'll be an entirely new name to so many people.
That hasn't stopped other Chinese cars doing really well.
There's a pretty much rich vein running through the UK
EV industry at the minute with Chinese companies
that likes a J-Coup and O-Moda,
hitting sales records every single month now.
The first Geely will be the EX-5.
Now, that is a big family electric SUV.
But then the EX-2, that's the morning vehicle, will come.
Look, it all comes down to pricing.
There's no doubt that these J-Coups and O-Modas
are doing very well because they're priced very competitively.
And if not, then they will be when they're used.
Because if you look at some of the Chinese brands that came in
with intentions of being premium,
now, I say Chinese brands, you know, I own a Polestar.
And that Polestar 2, I just tell people it's a Volvo, right?
And people go, oh, OK, Swedish.
And it looks Volvo.
OK, well, actually, the Polestar 2 was going to be a Volvo.
So it's a Volvo, right?
But it's Chinese.
I mean, it's made in, where do they make it, Chengdu?
Either way, it's a Chinese car owned by a Chinese company.
And we'll get on to more Chinese stuff later in the show.
However, that is kind of a premium vehicle.
I didn't pay premium pricing because I got it used
three years old from the auctions.
But still, Polestar's are very premium.
But they're not known as to being Chinese,
although they are Chinese and you know that.
Whereas other companies that have come in here at least,
Great Wall Motor, GWM, launching what was then at the launch
edition was known as the Funky Cat.
That was priced, I saw that everything electric in Farnborough.
Maybe it was probably still called fully charged
in those days, years ago.
And I think they were saying, oh, we're going to bring this
to the UK, 32, 33,000 pounds.
It was something like that.
And now you can pick up really, really good,
nearly new ones for 10 grand used.
Like they have been hit massively.
In fact, my wife saw one the other day
when we've been away on holiday during the break
of the podcast and said, I like that.
What is it?
Oh, it's a Great Wall Motor.
You've never heard of it, but she just liked the styling
and didn't really care about the name.
I thought she might be like, oh, cool name.
But she was like, huh, but still loved the look of it.
And that's a lot of car for 10 grand, by the way.
So if Geely come in and price it very high,
not sure they'll sell too many of them,
but they will certainly sell on the used market
very cheap in a few years time.
If they are competitive on pricing, I think they would be.
Then they could join the ranks of those Chinese names
that are doing very well.
Moving on, talking of Chinese cars doing well.
MG Motor hit their 100,000th pure Bev here in the UK
at the end of October 31st.
Nice to Halloween treat for them.
In fact, it was six years after launching with the MG ZS EV
in 2019, the mighty, mighty MG ZS,
which I owned for a couple of years,
the first version of it.
And I love that car, by the way.
MG sells in 34 European countries now via 1,255 dealer partners.
The warranty is seven years.
They never quibbled in the two warranty claims that I had.
One was the wiring loom broke on the boot.
It was just the pinch point, bad design.
And the other one was the auto headlights or auto wipers,
auto something.
It's all that little sensor suite
up by the rear view mirror that faces outwards.
Either way, that went.
Took a long time to arrive from China,
but they never quibbled.
And I had to turn either the lights or the wipers
on manually, first world problems,
but big warranties on the MG.
If it's other than not seven years,
150,000 kilometer warranty,
no problems with battery deck, anything like that.
The UK is MG's biggest European market, though.
And the 100,000 unit milestone outpasses other territories
as the brand aims to replicate their UK success
across the continental European markets
where EV adoption is accelerating too.
The big models are, you know, the MG ZS is still on sale
and then you've got the MG5.
My mom has that.
It's the estate car, the MG4.
Brilliant chassis, by the way.
There's a new one in China, which is stupid cheap.
No, cheaper than that.
It's stupid, stupid cheap, but it's a whole new car.
It's not the MG4, it's front wheel drive.
It's, they've changed it.
It's not a driver's car anymore.
Like no one cares about that.
Let's face it.
They care about the price they pay.
And, you know, nine people out of 10.
And so that is a very cheap car.
We're getting a new one of those.
And then you've got the premium brands.
IM5 and IM6, not really MGs.
Whisper it quietly.
They're sold over here as IM,
maybe they're sold as MG.
In Australia, they're sold as presented by MG.
But they haven't put the MG badge on.
I can't find out why.
Somebody told me it was
because they have to do the crash testing again.
Is that true?
Just for changing the badge, maybe.
And so the MG Cyberster is the little two-seater sports car,
which you can get in probably half the MG dealerships.
If your local one doesn't have the ability
to sell or test drive one,
you don't have to go too far to get one.
Okay, Tesla is now offering rentals up to seven days,
letting drivers try before they buy.
But I think this is actually a huge move
into the rental market.
So yeah, of course, Tesla rentals daily rates vary,
but it starts at $60 a day for three or a Y.
The Cybertruck is 75, the Model SNX, $90 a day.
Rentals include vehicle connectivity,
and you get access to the Tesla smartphone app.
You can have it up to seven days,
and you also get FSD supervised,
and of course you can use superchargers.
No mileage limits on Tesla rentals.
That's huge.
Rentals may not be driven into other states, though,
and it's not available everywhere yet.
Rentals are gonna be 21 years old
with a valid U.S. driver's license,
a valid credit card, a proof of insurance, as well.
But look, $60 a day.
I know they say, you know, have it up to seven days,
try before you buy if you like it, then go buy Tesla.
Just in the rental market,
60 bucks a day, unlimited mileage?
What can you put on a car in a day?
Well, say you gotta sleep for eight hours,
you gotta supercharge it a bit,
then you gotta have it back the same time the next day,
probably, and then what's a safe amount of driving to do?
I don't know, depends on highway speeds in your state.
500 miles, six, seven, 700 miles?
Could you add that if you had to do a big old car journey?
I mean, not a drive tired, but wow, $60 a day.
That's incredible.
And so I know it's aimed at getting people
into the brand to sell more cars,
but just as a rental company,
I think that's a stellar deal.
If they did it here,
of course they'd have a Cybertruck for a week.
I don't, I never want to own a Cybertruck
because our roads are too small,
but I'd love one in the driveway just to play with.
There's a toy for $75 a day,
and the S and the X are still really special,
even though they're long in the tooth, like those.
And so that's an amazing little development,
not in every state yet, by the way,
but if they roll that out,
I think Tesla rentals could be a bit of a sleeper hit for them.
Tesla Semi, on the other hand, has been sleeping,
and it hasn't hit yet.
Oh man, Tesla's delays with some stuff drive me mad
because they've got all the talent
and the engineering and the knowledge and the money,
if they wanted to launch the Semi years ago,
they could have done,
but they haven't, and who knows why?
Well, they know, but Tesla confirmed
the full production of the Semi is delayed again.
Earlier in the year, it was reported,
I think electric picked it up,
that there was a report saying it's gonna be pushed back
into 2026, the head of the Semi project,
Dan Priestly hit back on social media saying,
it's all fake news, of course, the Semi is on track,
and then lo and behold, yesterday or last week
when they had the shareholder meeting,
they said that the Tesla Semi was indeed pushed back,
so maybe those media reports were indeed correct.
They unveiled the truck in 2017,
and it was gonna go into production at the time in 2019,
and we thought that's reasonable,
two years on a program that's probably two or three years in,
that makes sense.
Then in 2022, they showed off a production version,
and they gave some units to PepsiCo.
Since then, Tesla's run a very low volume pilot line
at Nevada, delivered, I think a few dozen trucks
is what we can say to customers as test units.
Now, the manager of the Semi program, like I say,
Mr. Priestly said during the Q3 earnings call
that they are installing production equipment
that the builds should be into the first half of next year.
That could be June 30th though, couldn't it, man?
Tesla's the latest kill me, and annoys me so much
because if they wanted to, they could.
There's obviously just, you know, reasons,
but they got some smart girls and boys working there,
and that Semi needs to be out
and taking emissions off the road as soon as possible.
We'll take a break, we'll come back.
Talking about Waymo with Arnick Fives,
and BYD going overseas, stick around, back in a mo.
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Welcome back to the podcast.
Now, we'll finish off some Tesla news today,
and Tesla's retail in China has fallen to 26,000 deliveries
in October.
That's its lowest monthly total in three years.
It's a 36% decline from September's number,
when Tesla began delivering the China-only
Model Y long-wheel-based six-seater.
Despite the drop, China is still Tesla's
second-biggest market after the US.
Some China production was redirected to exports
with vehicles built in China, now going abroad
in increasing numbers.
The drop coincided with weak October results
in parts of Europe, Germany, Spain,
Netherlands, Nordics, all being a really tough market
for Tesla right now.
Waymo and Hyundai are going to roll out the Ioniq 5
with the latest sixth-generation Waymo technology.
The testing is the next step in the Hyundai Waymo collaboration
for autonomous mobility.
The on-road phase lets Waymo validate and refine
the next-generation autonomous architecture.
After testing is done, the Ioniq 5 will be added to the Waymo fleet
to provide ride-hailing in some markets.
Those vehicles are assembled in the US
at Hyundai Motor Group's MetaPlant America in Georgia.
That reflects Hyundai's investment in American manufacturing,
they say.
Now, talking of going overseas,
mentioned Geely a little while ago,
BYD is targeting up to 1.6 million overseas sales
next year.
That is according to a new report coming out today.
So, they're probably doing about a million vehicles this year,
I think.
I mean, the numbers haven't come in yet, obviously,
but they'll shake out about a million vehicles overseas.
1.6 million overseas next year is the plan.
According to this report, that's what they're guiding to as well.
New model launches in Europe, North America,
and Asia as well.
That's interesting.
Management signals some lower investment at BYD
as they're trying to manage both that and making money as well.
But BYD has built at least eight large-scale factories in China
over the last five years, huge growth phase.
It seems like many of the Chinese companies,
the ones that make it are going to enter a consolidation phase now,
where they're right, we've built a lot of capacity,
we have a huge amount of spare capacity,
and now it's time to find markets to sell those cars overseas,
obviously, as well as at home.
Moving on, orders are open for the Citroën EC5 Aircross.
That's a mid-size SUV.
I think it looks pretty good.
A typical Citroën styling on this,
some sort of angles and things like that.
It's the long-range mid-size SUV.
The long range is a 97 kilowatt-hour pack.
That's huge, isn't it?
97 kilowatt-hour pack in a Citroën family SUV.
Single motor, 230 horsepower, 421 miles WLTP.
So we're talking about 500 mile BMWs earlier, but they're pricey.
This is not an expensive vehicle.
This is 421 miles WLTP,
with cells that are made in Europe
at the Stellantis Joint Venture Plant in France.
Citroën says it reduces emissions
because the cells are made close to where the vehicle is made.
It's the first vehicle of its type to get the full
UK government grant of almost 4,000 pounds
and is offered in different trims called U+, and Max.
And it starts at 32,935.
That is so cheap.
I know it's a lot of money, but it's in context.
Not a lot of money for a lot of miles.
There is an amusing story around this vehicle as well,
which is not amusing if you work at Citroën.
The UK government, in its wisdom,
announced that this vehicle now qualified
without telling Citroën, which was very helpful.
And so people saw the news,
contacted their Citroën local dealers,
and said, wow, the long-range version now starts at 32,995.
That's cheaper than the low-range version.
So I'll order that one, please.
And so the story goes, Citroën dealers were like,
we don't know anything about this.
A select amount of people at Citroën would have known about it
with very short notice and had to communicate that
throughout the company.
And yeah, well done, UK government,
for not working with the car industry yet again.
And really kind of messing things up for Citroën
because, yeah, they've got to get their ducks in a row.
You can't have the better car now being cheaper
because of the government money being off,
and they've got to rejig all their pricing.
Just work with the car industry.
But yeah, it's a bit of a shambles at the minute,
this grant thing.
I voted for this lot last year, by the way,
because I was sick of the last lot.
And with great hope, I would say, last year.
And although they're getting on mostly quietly
with the job of governance, which I approve of
much more than the sort of comedy style
that we had before,
which was a pretty horrific, by the way,
but this is just a shambles.
This whole EV grant has been rolled out terribly,
not in collaboration with the car industry.
Look, it's foreground off a car, and I'm not whinging about it,
but this has been handled incredibly poorly
when you talk to people in the industry.
And yeah, the current lots are room to improve,
let's say that.
Most politicians are pretty similar, aren't they?
Now, let's talk about Nissan,
has started public on-road testing
of its new all-electric Duke.
And they have described it themselves
as being a Marmite sibling to the leaf.
If that means nothing to you,
maybe because you've got a Vegemite where you are.
So Marmite is, yeah, Marmite Vegemite,
a yeast-based spread.
It's the best way I can describe it.
If you don't have Marmite where you live, by the way,
it's an odd thing to try and even describe,
but because it has a curious taste to it,
which I love on toast,
they have an ad campaign which is,
you either love it or hate it.
And so things are described as being Marmite.
It has worked its way into the vernacular here.
And so that's how Nissan have described
the styling of their new all-electric Duke.
Again, this will go up against Kieri V3 Puma Gen E.
On the same platform as the leaf, the CMF BEV platform.
Same batteries and motors, you would think.
And so maybe 350 miles of range,
single-motor powertrain of 215 horsepower, perhaps.
On-road testing now of the new Duke,
but not too...
Well, I'd like to just see more of it.
We've got some exterior pictures in auto-car,
but yeah, what do they mean by Marmite styling inside you?
Will either love it or hate it? Wow.
Current Duke, by the way,
in combustion dirty world, starts at 21,000 pounds.
And they want to get the EV priced similar.
So that's all about right with Renault 5E kind of territory
of low 20s, 21, 22.
That's going to get an audience, by the way.
Now, finally, European authorities are getting twitchy
over Chinese-built electric buses
because they are being told
that the Chinese will remotely disable those buses
should there be reason to.
There was a Norwegian test recently which raised concerns.
The probe focused on the Chinese company Yutong,
the world's largest bus maker by sales,
exporting nearly 110,000 buses to over 100 countries
and about 10% of the global bus market.
So they're a really big deal.
A Norwegian investigation concluded the buses could be stopped
or rendered inoperable.
And half of Norway's public transport,
run by, is it a company called Ruta?
I don't think it's Ruta.
Said Yutong has direct access to every bus
because they say, well, it needs updates and diagnostics.
But those could be exploitable.
Some people are talking about how they could trigger
a thermal runaway in the battery
and explode all of Norway's buses in some sort of, I don't know,
James Bond, Dr. Evil kind of plan for world domination.
How is China going to take over the world
by blowing up Norway's buses?
I don't know.
But they said that tests in a mountain tunnel
were done to block signals compared new Yutongs
with old VDL buses.
The Dutch vehicle lacked over-the-air updates.
Well, the Chinese bus does have over-the-air updates.
And so they said that there's no evidence
that Yutong have been controlling the buses.
But there's concerns that the cameras could be used.
Look, they're not internet-connected cameras.
And even if they are somehow through a back door,
if China wants to look at my garage door
from my reverse camera on the Polestar all night long,
they're just going to see, I don't know,
a couple of friendly hedgehogs that we have in the garden.
Not this time of year that I've been like,
but I don't know if you see like the cats in the hedgehogs.
I mean, China, you're welcome to my Polestar cameras.
I really don't. Life is too short to worry about.
But Denmark has also opened an inquiry now.
And the UK Department of Transport
and National Cyber Security Centre
are also reviewing Chinese vehicles
and what could be sent back.
And that's your podcast for today.
We have a new premium partner coming on board the podcast,
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About this episode
The episode covers exciting developments in the EV market, including BMW's upcoming all-electric iX4, which promises impressive range and performance. Geely's EX2 is set to go global, capitalizing on its success in China. Tesla is entering the rental market, allowing potential buyers to test their vehicles for up to seven days. The episode also discusses the challenges faced by Tesla in China and highlights the growing concerns over Chinese-built electric buses in Europe. Notable insights into the competitive landscape of EVs and the implications of pricing strategies are also shared.
