Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 237 posts

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#11

Post by indubioprorubik »

juujian wrote: post #2

Not just Tesla, all established brands we know are left behind. I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. Largest brands n terms of units, completely left behind in an emerging segment that's already dominating it's largest market (China). So many executives in the industry just didn't see the writing on the wall. I don't what GM was thinking…

It was a new race- and they where so comfortable having won the IC-race and customer base! Now everyone and his dog got a new chance to compete- and they just didn't want to do that. And now every advance in battery and solar, will drive them faster out of those markets.

These are not detached technologies- one completes the other.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#12

Post by toomuchtodo »

paxys wrote: post #7

Tesla was dead in the water when it became obvious that they couldn't make a sub-$30K car happen. They will still probably do well as a luxury brand, but China is going to fill in the demand for affordable EVs in the rest of the world outside USA/EU.

Tesla got far enough for Musk to have the power he wanted and then gave up innovating and expanding. China will win the race, they have a third of global manufacturing capacity and already sell as many NEVs (battery electric and plug in hybrids) domestically as are sold in the US every year, while continuing to scale.

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3334300...

https://insidechinaauto.com/2025/11/01/live-blog-china-octob...

https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-...

https://rhomotion.com/news/byd-announces-further-global-expa...

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-tesla-and-byd-...

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#13

Post by sofixa »

Gualdrapo wrote: post #10

It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD and the like and people here seems to be crazy about Tesla now. Time will tell how reliable they are on our poor roads. And that's one thing about EVs here in general - they are coming with no spare tire but a flat tire repair kit, which it's fine for small issues but may not be enough for the problems said tough ro…

> It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD

How could that be?

At least Renault's low cost models (like the Dacia Spring, sold as Kwid in Latin America) are sold for cheap in various markets, and are competitive to BYD pricing in the EU and Latin America (enough that they're seeing serious growth there). Tesla doesn't have anything close, price wise, so how could they be competing on price with BYD?

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#14

Post by Animats »

juujian wrote: post #2

Not just Tesla, all established brands we know are left behind. I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. Largest brands n terms of units, completely left behind in an emerging segment that's already dominating it's largest market (China). So many executives in the industry just didn't see the writing on the wall. I don't what GM was thinking…

Although Ford's CEO now gets it, Ford's product line doesn't reflect it yet. Farley has been bringing a few sample BYD cars to the US, for Ford people to drive around and to take apart. Farley dragged his executive team to China to see a BYD plant. They came back scared. But what Ford actually sells is 1) an F-150 converted to electric, 2) a Ford Mustang converted to electric, and 3) a Ford Transit converted to electric. They're all more expensive, and heavier, than their gasoline-powered versions.

BYD shows that electric cars are cheaper if designed properly from the ground up. The problem is that the US no longer makes many cars. Mostly giant trucks and SUVs. Hauling all that mass around requires a huge battery, resulting in 3-ton vehicles.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#15

Post by freddier »

sofixa wrote: post #13
Gualdrapo wrote: post #10

It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD and the like and people here seems to be crazy about Tesla now. Time will tell how reliable they are on our poor roads. And that's one thing about EVs here in general - they are coming with no spare tire but a flat tire repair kit, which it's fine for small issues but may not be enough for the problems said tough ro…

> It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD How could that be? At least Renault's low cost models (like the Dacia Spring, sold as Kwid in Latin America) are sold for cheap in various markets, and are competitive to BYD pricing in the EU and Latin America (enough that they're seeing serious growth there). Tesla doesn't have anything close, price wise, so how…

Colombians are asking that question too. My guess is that Tesla is selling them at a loss to compete against BYD. They may be sending unsold inventory from the US/Mexico market as well.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#16

Post by happosai »

billy99k wrote: post #5

This is a result of over regulation in the auto industry. I always shake my head at the group of people that wants cheaper prices on goods and services, but propose regulating large companies to death. China is winning because they don't have to work around pesky labor or IP laws. Then we have people pointing to how much better they are at business and also want all these protections.

You have no idea how regulated car business in China is... For example china is regulating the "innovative" Tesla style door handles..

https://carnewschina.com/2025/09/24/new-safety-requirements-...

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#17

Post by noosphr »

paxys wrote: post #7

Tesla was dead in the water when it became obvious that they couldn't make a sub-$30K car happen. They will still probably do well as a luxury brand, but China is going to fill in the demand for affordable EVs in the rest of the world outside USA/EU.

I don't think we've seen the end game yet.

I have an electric cargo bike. During a kids party yesterday I ran 5 different errands with it while someone with a car managed to get stuck in traffic, not find a parking spot, and miss the whole thing.

The only reason why cars are the size and shape they are is because ICE engines couldn't be made smaller. Electric engines on the other hand are small enough that I can have the chassis of a fully functioning car be light enough to lift by one man.

I think we will see small, light weight and intrinsically pedestrian safe cars made of tubes and canvas replace the heavy monstrosities we have now.

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#18

Post by weinzierl »

When I grew up in Germany it always made me proud that 100% of taxis were Mercedes Benz. If a car can withstand the rough demands of taxi service, it has to be good. And even in South America back then German cares were ubiquitous, especially Volkswagen.

When I was in Brazil this spring[*] I rode a lot of Uber and they were 100% BYD - 100%, no exception. It's not that my head hadn't known that German auto was dead but seeing it playing out like this hit hard.

[*] northern hemisphere

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#19

Post by analog31 »

freddier wrote: post #15
sofixa wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It was announced a few days ago some models of Tesla are coming to Colombia at cheaper prices than BYD How could that be? At least Renault's low cost models (like the Dacia Spring, sold as Kwid in Latin America) are sold for cheap in various markets, and are competitive to BYD pricing in the EU and Latin America (enough that they're seeing serious growth there). Tesla doesn't have anything close, price wise, so how…

Colombians are asking that question too. My guess is that Tesla is selling them at a loss to compete against BYD. They may be sending unsold inventory from the US/Mexico market as well.

Does that mean there's an arbitrage to be made by re-importing them?

Re: Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

#20

Post by sofixa »

juujian wrote: post #2

Not just Tesla, all established brands we know are left behind. I never understood Volkswagen's pivot from 'wait and See's to 'were inversing billions' to 'we were too late, abort'. Largest brands n terms of units, completely left behind in an emerging segment that's already dominating it's largest market (China). So many executives in the industry just didn't see the writing on the wall. I don't what GM was thinking…

> 'we were too late, abort'

What do you mean, the ID series for the main VW brand have 7 upcoming models over the next two years (4 for the Chinese market, 3 for everywhere).

> all established brands we know are left behind

I wouldn't go that far. The Renault 5 is one of the best selling EVs in Europe, and all the reviews are extremely positive (it's a fun and good looking car overall, and accessible). They have the 4 rolling out, and the small Twingo coming next year. They've also managed to narrow down the time from concept car to production at scale to less than 2 years (which according to the article on the topic I read is very fast).

Post reply on HN