Electric vehicle sales are booming in South America – without Tesla

Post by fragmede » Sun, Nov 30, 2025, 2:15 AM UTC

tensor wrote: post #115

dzonga wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla has no moat 1. Batteries - BYD has them beat 2. Self Driving tech - other players are better 3. Luxury brands already provide the luxury aspect & even better built cars 4. in the US they're being saved by US protectionism. in Europe etc - we already see the chinese brands making inroads for EV sales

I mostly agree on all points, but what self driving tech is better? I've periodically looked at the options, and nothing really seems to compare in North America. Maybe BYD and others have great tech, but stuff like Blue Cruise works hardly anywhere in Canada, and to me, that makes it virtually useless.

Post by fragmede » Sun, Nov 30, 2025, 2:20 AM UTC

cmxch wrote: post #151

JKCalhoun wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Americans only want trucks and SUVs." (I hear people say.) Cool. Then allow BYD non-trucks, non-SUVs into the U.S. then. The Japanese back in the 70's showed U.S. automakers that price and mileage (in that decade anyway) were important to Americans. I suspect price is still important.

When BYD makes an affordable clone of the Crown Vic that doesn’t phone home to the PRC, I’ll look at them.

Post by araes » Sun, Nov 30, 2025, 2:36 AM UTC

AngryData wrote: post #114

rr808 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is to create an ICE is a very complicated process requiring lots of specialist knowledge, skills and technologies. An EV is just much simpler, comes down to who has the cheapest batteries. Europe and Japan are great at the former, the latter no chance.

Im sure some of it is personal bias from experience with them but I don't think ICE are as complicated as some people think. 90% of the extra shit on them are unnecessary for it to work but what those things are and what they do and why it broke or failed or how important they are is essentially obfuscated from the general public so they seem like overly complicated magic. The vast majority of cars I see do not fail…

  - Inaccessible Components (Poor Physical Layout): One of the main ones you're talking about.  Take out the engine to repair a light on the dashboard.

  - Integrated, Non-Modular Systems: Minor damage or failure ruins an entire assembly.  You dinged the bumper, replace the entire front.

  - Lack of Standardization: Even from year-to-year, designs change and mechanics have to learn yet another system.

  - Forced Replacement over Repair: Object is "black box", thou shalt replace, not repair.

  - Dead/Onion/Boat Anchor Components: No longer used, maybe need it, build stuff on top of it, layer after layer, "can we even remove it"?

  - Spaghetti Wiring/Code and System Coupling: Single modules that route all over the car, another "can we even remove it"?

  - Proprietary Diagnostics and Restricted Data Access: Don't have the special tools, you can't repair, or even find out what's wrong.

Post by harrall » Sun, Nov 30, 2025, 4:39 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #182

mechagodzilla wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kodak didn't really have the option to compete. Their business was largely film, which just disappeared completely, and even digital cameras got replaced pretty quickly with phones. There was nothing to pivot too for Kodak.

What company does the digital camera sensor inside your phone come from? Why couldn't have that been Kodak?

Post by seanmcdirmid » Sun, Nov 30, 2025, 4:45 AM UTC

moffkalast wrote: post #82

toomuchtodo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BYD recently went live with a highly automated, large scale manufacturing facility in Brazil. The BYD Dolphin Mini sells for ~$22,500, and the manufacturer already has 200 showrooms open across the country. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/22/cop-brazil... https://www.byd.com/us/news-list/First-BYD-Electric-Vehicle-...

I'm surprised Mercedes was ever price competitive for taxis even in Germany, I mean the average VW would do the job just as well at half the cost. These days they're both priced like they're selling Ferraris anyway so yeah. The ID Buzz starting at 70k EUR is such a joke.