Live data from Hacker News

BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

electrek.co

371–380 of 467 posts

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#371

BYD has to me become an icon of US decline vs Chinese expansion. It’s just one example among many of China charting the way forward and innovating while the US recedes further into backward-looking, protectionist policy. See: US politicians on both sides trying to ban BYD imports rather than incentivizing stiffer competition from US automakers. Another example: massive growth in Chinese renewables while the US opens…

And even more an icon of european irrelevance. In Prague almost all EVs are Teslas. I see a BYD time to time. Škoda or Volkswagen almost never.

No wonder, VAG has only produced overpriced cars for a while...

I recently helped a friend looking for a brand new SUV in the 70-80,000 euro range (taxes included) and the audi Q5 was both the most expensive and the worst built one in that price range.

We checked loads of cars and agreed that the volvo XC60 was arguably the best value for money, the BMW X3 was the one which drove the best (but also the most uncomfortable), the Lexus NX450h was the most comfortable and the best built, the Mercedes GLC was probably the most balanced one (although the value for money wasn't great).

The Audi Q5 only stood out for poor build quality and being overpriced. It's literally the only car which we didn't see an upside for, we didn't even bother to test-drive it... Also it seems they aren't very reliable anymore...

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#372

BYD has to me become an icon of US decline vs Chinese expansion. It’s just one example among many of China charting the way forward and innovating while the US recedes further into backward-looking, protectionist policy. See: US politicians on both sides trying to ban BYD imports rather than incentivizing stiffer competition from US automakers. Another example: massive growth in Chinese renewables while the US opens…

Tesla would be considerably more popular globally if Elon kept his political opinions to himself and exaggerated capabilities and timelines a bit less.

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#373
post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US it's practically a right of passage to be a young adult and very vocally hate the country, hate the government. In China you don't have a life in front of you if you do that.

Try browsing Chinese social media (WeChat, Douyin, Weibo, etc). The internet is ripe with non-anonymous criticism of the gov't People often point to the take down of Winnie the Pooh memes as censorship but I don't think people realize there's a long history of racist groups using Pooh as a slur about Asian people and Tigger about black people. The meme exploded in popularity from a picture of Obama and Xi being compa…

We all saw what happened in Hong Kong...

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the biggest joke. It's not. China has literally _thousands_ of years of bureaucratic institutional memory. And it just keeps perpetuating itself. Before the 20-th century, the Chinese officials had to study the classic Chinese literature and pass exams based on that knowledge. These works were completely abstract and literally useless in day-to-day work. And you had to follow all the rituals to demonstrate you…

I fail to see how both can't be true. It demonstrates your allegiance to the parties main goal (communism) and filters out those who oppose it

[deleted]

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#375

BYD has to me become an icon of US decline vs Chinese expansion. It’s just one example among many of China charting the way forward and innovating while the US recedes further into backward-looking, protectionist policy. See: US politicians on both sides trying to ban BYD imports rather than incentivizing stiffer competition from US automakers. Another example: massive growth in Chinese renewables while the US opens…

Left in US sneer at technocrats but absolutely gobble up their products with gusto.

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's assuming the governments, policies, and economic conditions of China, US, and the world in May 2026 stay static.

I can't see China changing course. They're all in on renewables for energy independence. It's already the cheapest source of energy. They're exporting panels and batteries everywhere too. I hope the US does change policies.

China can continue to rely on coal for energy independence also. We're seeing this as countries that depended on LNG started firing coal plants again with the Hormuz crisis in effect. As a strong believer in climate change, it's admirable that China is innovating in renewables, but it's not a prerequisite for energy independence. They're already facing anemic job growth and overbuilt infrastructure capacity. If the government wants to redirect investment and spending elsewhere, they can switch back to coal plants rather than necessarily turning on renewables.

Manufacturing and shipping EVs I agree is going nowhere because they continue to be the leader and an increasing number of developing and underdeveloped countries are finding it easier to light up electrical sources than import oil.

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> LIDAR You still believe that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLgCJUeBuI

There are plenty of FSD failure examples on YouTube too. I don't think you can draw conclusions from that. Especially because FSD isn't actually driverless yet, unlike Waymos.

FSD clocked in 10billion miles, not in some geofenced playground mind you.

You should be able to share some videos?

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#379

BYD has to me become an icon of US decline vs Chinese expansion. It’s just one example among many of China charting the way forward and innovating while the US recedes further into backward-looking, protectionist policy. See: US politicians on both sides trying to ban BYD imports rather than incentivizing stiffer competition from US automakers. Another example: massive growth in Chinese renewables while the US opens…

Another thing overtaking the US is average IQ scores. Both in the current baseline and in rate of change. US has been declining, China has been increasing. > This is to say nothing of the CCP and their record on human rights and free expression. To be very practical here… the lack of rights and freedoms as they exist in China typically has no consequence to the lives of individual people. For example you have no righ…

I see claims like this all the time on HN. Where is this data supposed to be coming from? When I look it up on Google, I get data ultimately sourced from shady online IQ tests (which nonetheless purport to provide a monotonic ranking of every country in the world from China to Nauru, despite the fact that virtually none of these countries collect IQ scores from their populations).

I have no reason to doubt that China is modernizing and improving their gross aptitude for knowledge work! The directional point you're making may very well be valid! I'm just wondering how anyone could be quantifying it in terms of "average IQ", a metric that generally does not exist.

Re: BYD overtakes Tesla and Kia as the best-selling EV brand in key overseas markets

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't see China changing course. They're all in on renewables for energy independence. It's already the cheapest source of energy. They're exporting panels and batteries everywhere too. I hope the US does change policies.

China can continue to rely on coal for energy independence also. We're seeing this as countries that depended on LNG started firing coal plants again with the Hormuz crisis in effect. As a strong believer in climate change, it's admirable that China is innovating in renewables, but it's not a prerequisite for energy independence. They're already facing anemic job growth and overbuilt infrastructure capacity. If the g…

> China can continue to rely on coal for energy independence also.

At the cost of air quality. People are getting used to cleaner air. It's hard to go back.

Also the more solar they use, the more coal they can keep around for emergencies. The sun is free energy.

In 2025 China recorded a decline in generation from coal for the first time ever. [1]

1. https://ember-energy.org/countries-and-regions/china/#data

Post reply on HN