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2011: Elon Musk couldn’t stop laughing when the interviewer asked if BYD is a competitor. Q4 2023: BYD surpassed Tesla as the world’s #1 EV maker (in unit sales). And now Elon wants tariffs to protect the US market from the Chinese cars that he once laughed at.

S.L. Kanthan

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2,042,467 views • 2 years ago •via X (Twitter)

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9 Comments

S.L. Kanthan2 years ago

In Q4 2023: BYD surpassed Tesla in pure battery electric vehicles (BEV). This does NOT include PHEV or plug-in hybrid vehicles. The term EV is used loosely by the media. Hence the clarification here.

S.L. Kanthan2 years ago

How does BYD succeed? Three reasons: 🔹BYD makes its own batteries & even supplies batteries to Tesla. Battery is the most expensive part of an EV 🔹BYD has 30 subsidiaries which make almost all the components! Vertical supply integration. 🔹BYD uses robots in assembly 👇🏽

S.L. Kanthan2 years ago

China buys/installs more than half of all the industrial robots in the world!

Theo Gregoire2 years ago

“All of us need to be on guard against arrogance, which knocks at the door whenever you’re successful.” - Steve Jobs

Mari2 years ago

I see the car what’s wrong with it. Who is laughing now

Yuliana Dlugaj 🇷🇺🇨🇳🇰🇵2 years ago

He ain't laughing now. Proves that those who laugh last, laugh best. 🤷🏽‍♀️😁

Fred Johnston2 years ago

US Government puts massive lawsuits and restrictions on US Industry. In China the Government subsidizes Industry (I'm not advocating for subsidies). I was not in the car industry, but in the Electric Utility industry forced regulation, taxes, compliance costs are 50-60% of the cost of your electric bill. About 20 years ago we staffed more Lawyers than Engineers - think about that. I would assume it's similar to cars. Is BYD a competitor in a free market? No. But if you want all the Government regulations and massive Government intervention/socialization in business, US Industry can't compete. That's why many different industries moves to China. There is much more to this story than what meets the eye.

S.L. Kanthan2 years ago

It’s so strange that elections, lobbying, democracy, free speech etc. don’t fix the dysfunctional government in the USA. 🤔

MZ2 years ago

Same American arrogance! The future of Tesla is like Nokia🤣🤣 Who is going to buy expensive cars? Geopolitics is a massive issue as well. Chinese car will easily take over Tesla in Asia, Latin America, Africa , Russian Federation and significant share in EU and North America .

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