Article: Why Slate's CEO Isn't Too Worried About Cheap Chinese EVs

[AZFox]

Top story on InsideEVs today

Why Slate's CEO Isn't Too Worried About Cheap Chinese EVs





Discussion by the author:

 

[cadblu]

It strikes me kind of odd that Slate isn't concerned about Chinese EVs coming to the US, when everyone else is. BYD has already outsold Tesla worldwide, and would be a major threat to Rivian, Ford and GM sales here in the US. Just as Slate, they are priced way below other new EVs due to lower manufacturing costs, and access to lower cost battery supply chains.

Even if Slate is firmly established in the US if / when Chinese EVs arrive, everyone should be concerned about Chinese EVs coming to the US.

 

[Sojourner]

Chinese vehicles (be it gas, EV, or EREV) should NOT be allowed in the US. Period. For a variety of reasons (political, economic, strategic, etc.). Just say NO.

YMMV

 

[SichuanHot]

It sounds like a lot of hubris coming from Slate management when all they're banking on is "we're more customizable" because somehow being able to add sticker packs to the wheel sets it apart from a Chevy EV.

 

[AZFox]

Chinese vehicles (be it gas, EV, or EREV) should NOT be allowed in the US. Period. For a variety of reasons (political, economic, strategic, etc.). Just say NO.

We'll soon see how saying "yes" works out for Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is reopening Canada to Chinese-made EVs, lowering a 100 per cent tariff on imports, imposed in 2024, back to six per cent.​

[...]​

Up to 49,000 EVs a year from China will be allowed into Canada, initially, which Carney says is less than three per cent of the overall car market.​

​

That will increase to approximately 70,000 over five years.​

CBC: Chinese EVs are coming to Canada. How soon will they be here? How much will they cost?

 

[RevCaptJack]

It sounds like a lot of hubris coming from Slate management when all they're banking on is "we're more customizable" because somehow being able to add sticker packs to the wheel sets it apart from a Chevy EV.

I really like the barebones minimalist approach to Slate. But the “customable” part is a little over done I think. To make it an SUV I’m sure would put it over $30K. And other “customization” seems mostly cosmetic. Not like putting on a high performance muffler or a new carburetor or new rear end etx.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

We'll soon see how saying "yes" works out for Canada.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is reopening Canada to Chinese-made EVs, lowering a 100 per cent tariff on imports, imposed in 2024, back to six per cent.​

[...]​

Up to 49,000 EVs a year from China will be allowed into Canada, initially, which Carney says is less than three per cent of the overall car market.​

​

That will increase to approximately 70,000 over five years.​

CBC: Chinese EVs are coming to Canada. How soon will they be here? How much will they cost?

The north american dealer association is absolutely losing their minds about this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it's a good thing.

 

[danielt1263]

For my own part. The fact that Slate lacks the "infotainment system" is a huge plus. These car companies just can't match the design chops of companies that dedicate their time to such things.
And the ability to use whatever mapping app I want (for example) is massive.
Frankly, as an iOS developer, I'm hoping they come out with an API for the vehicle so I can write a third party app for the truck. (They said they are seriously thinking about it because it fits with their "infinite customization" philosophy.)

Name another vehicle that lets you swap out the software used for the infotainment?

 

[AKrietzer]

Do the Chinese EVs have all safety features, and are they crash tested like our cars are? They were talking about allowing tiny 660 CC gas cars from Japan, but that does not sound like a good idea.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

Do the Chinese EVs have all safety features, and are they crash tested like our cars are? They were talking about allowing tiny 660 CC gas cars from Japan, but that does not sound like a good idea.

A bunch of them (chinese EVs, not japanese kei cars) are selling in europe with 5 star Euro NCAP ratings. Also, several here, like Volvo/polestar, are or were built in china.

 

[phidauex]

Chinese companies making products for export are going to be making very high quality stuff. Anyone who thinks that NA/US manufacturing will win out on the quality side is dangerously out of date.

I'm trying hard to avoid getting political, but I'd suggest that if you want to encourage US manufacturing you'd need to consider investing in US manufacturing at the levels that other countries invest in their manufacturing, rather than penalizing your own manufacturers with tariffs on materials, parts, and machines. We should be buying up old factories and just giving them to these companies.

Simply forbidding the sale of a high quality, low cost option is a losing strategy in the long term, economically.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

To be clear, I have issues with Chinese cars, but they're all the same issues I have with the rest of the automotive industry. The slow shift from cars being durable goods to disposable tech products is by a wide margin, the biggest problem with the global auto industry.

 

[Ali]

Chinese EVs are dominating the world and in many countries they wiped the floor with US and EU cars. And this includes all the parameters: safety, price, looks, features, reliability.

Shielding big Detroit from competition is what got us in this situation.

 

[AZFox]

Chinese EVs are dominating the world and in many countries they wiped the floor with US and EU cars. And this includes all the parameters: safety, price, looks, features, reliability.

Maybe they're building moderately-priced vehicles people want and can afford rather than feature-rich monstrosities that salespeople can upsell buyers into at dealerships.

Auto pricing seems to me like a it's in a bubble. The current situation doesn't seem sustainable.

When I looked for information about whether manufacturers are developing affordable models I found out at least some experts / prognosticators think they are.

• https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a63633840/automakers-plan-affordable-cars/
• https://www.jalopnik.com/automakers-plan-to-build-more-cheap-cars-because-were-a-1851753825/
• https://www.autoblog.com/news/stellantis-wants-to-bring-new-car-prices-back-under-40000
• ...

 

[ElectricShitbox]

US automakers saw the profit margin on luxury SUVs, and thought that they could replace their entire lineups with them. It's not working out for them, lol.