Auto execs in the US, Europe, and Japan never thought Chinese EVs were a threat. Now they’re coming to wipe the floor with their Western counterparts.
“You won’t believe what’s coming,” warned the title of a January 2023 video from the Inside China Auto YouTube channel. “Europe’s premium car makers aren’t ready for this,” warned another video from the same channel, uploaded in July.
Produced by Shanghai-based automotive journalist Mark Rainford, a former communications executive for Mercedes-Benz, the channel is one of several by China-based Western commentators agog at what they are seeing—and driving.
I tried the Atto 3 and it’s really nice, luxurious. But there’s no way that I’m paying 40k for something that launched in my country one month ago
Yea, the newcomer status of these vehicles is a red flag for sure.
It’ll be interesting to see these reviews with a few years of hindsight.
What do you mean by luxurious with regard to the Atto3? I have not driven one yet, although I am heading to China again in January.
the driving seat was like a leather couch, with comfy armrests
probably the european dealer chose the highest trim possible in order to justify the 40k price tag. I don’t know others, but for me paying 40k to be a beta tester… uhm…
Yea, that’s tricky, especially from such a volatile industry in the first place with no historical certainty about the manufacturing or safety data that was provided before the EU did their own safety tests on the newer exported models.
With that said, I have a leather-upholstered compact SUV right now and I do love that, so will definitely try the atto3 if it’s near where I’m staying when I visit, although a domestic product in China is often nothing like the exported product.
I’d love it if the atto 3 was the first legitimate an independently ratified step into the internal ev industry, but I’ll take all of these new reviews with a grain of salt until they’re a few years in without major incident.